National Fisherman July 2020

I N F O R M E D F I S H E R M E N • P R O F I TA B L E F I S H E R I E S • S U S TA I N A B L E F I S H Incorporating

July / 2020

NATIONALFISHERMAN.COM

Maker’s mark

Patti Marine’s 101-foot shrimper gets an overhaul for its next life as an icon to the region’s fishery

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ON DECK

National Fisherman / July 2020 / Vol. 101, No. 3

18

Doug Stewart

In this issue

Covid-19 aid trickles in

22

26

Cover Story | Boatbuilding: Keeping it in the family

Vision quest

Frank Patti Jr. rebuilds the Captain Joe for a new mission after a quarter-century.

New transducer designs, faster processing speeds offer threedimensional fishfinding.

Boats & Gear

On Deck 06

A Letter from NMFS

Fashion Blacksmith

Observer requirement waivers protect the health of everyone in the industry.

30

Around the Yards Garveys grow on Chesapeake oystermen; lobster boat rebuilt from fire; modern crew comforts for a Seattle dragger.

34

Product Roundup Evoy’s electric outboards; Bekina’s breathable boots; new man-overboard system from ACR.

07

Northern Lights The Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit helps the new generation navigate careers.

02

Editor’s Log

04

Fishing Back When

06

Mail Buoy

08

Around the Coasts

16

Market Reports

44

Last Set / Solomons Island, Md.

Reader Services 36 Classifieds 42

Advertiser Index

National Fisherman (ISSN 0027-9250), July 2020, Vol. 101, No. 3, is published monthly by Diversified Business Communications, 121 Free St., Portland, ME 04112-7438. Subscription prices: 1 year - U.S. $22.95; 2 years U.S. $43; 3 years U.S. $62. These rates apply for U.S. subscriptions only. Add $10 for Canada addresses. Outside U.S./Canada add $25 (airmail delivery). All orders must be in U.S. funds drawn on a U.S. bank. All other countries, including Canada and Mexico, please add $10 postage per year. For subscription information only, call: 1 (800) 959-5073. Periodicals postage paid at Portland, Maine, and at additional mailing offices.

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Patti Marine

Fishing advocates and supporters in Congress say $300 million can be no more than a small first step.

ON DECK

Editor’s Log

Digital draft Jessica Hathaway Editor in Chief jhathaway@divcom.com

our digital NF is here, but never fear — we’re still printing magazines. I’ve fielded a lot of queries about this one-off digital edition.

First, this is a one-time digital-only edition of the magazine. I know we’re not alone in doing our best to deliver a quality product in trying times. We see you all out there selling direct to your customers. I hope you’re covering more than the fuel bill and that public demand sustains your boats and businesses through 2020 and beyond.

We’re doing our best to do the same.

We have long wondered about an occasional digital-only edition of the magazine, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity to try it out. Next month, you should look back to the mailbox for your print copy. Or perhaps some

Y

of you will find that this digital edition serves you just as well or even better than the classic paper in hand. Either way, we’ll be there.

This month, we hope you’ll find all the stories you rely on to make decisions, stay informed and provide this nation and many corners of the world with wild, sustainable, nutritious and delicious American seafood.

Associate Editor Kirk Moore and I put together a legislative update, which starts on page 18. Boats & Gear Editor Paul Molyneaux profiles a 101-foot shrimp boat in the Cover Story on page 22, as well as a top-notch survey of the latest in fishfinding sonars on page 26. As long as you’re still out there hauling and sorting, we’ll be here reporting.

In a recent correspondence with a New England fisherman, I asked how he and his

On the cover The 101-foot shrimp trawler Captain Joe is an icon of Florida’s Patti family as well as the Gulf Coast fishing fleet. Patti Marine photo

family were faring in these times. His response was exactly the kind I’ve been hearing from many independent fishermen since the shutdowns: “One thing I have already noticed is resilience in the remaining boats. The government has worked diligently to exterminate us for 40 years; some pesky virus is not going to succeed either.”

I want to thank you all for working to keep seafood on our tables. Many Americans in coastal communities (and beyond) are just discovering that they have access to fresh, local fish and shellfish. Like Dorothy’s ruby slippers — you were there all along, but it took a shake-up for some folks to wake up. No doubt, these new consumers are also learning that there is nothing in the world quite like buying right off the boat.

I’d also like to thank our industry partners and advertisers who have been incredibly supportive of our mission despite these unpredictable times.

Lastly, we were delighted to launch a new website this season. We’re still running sea trials with more features to come. I hope you’ll check it out and let us know what you think.

In partnership with Pacific Marine Expo The largest commercial marine trade show on the West Coast, serving commercial mariners from Alaska to California. www.pacificmarineexpo.com

PUBLISHER: Bob Callahan EDITORIAL DIRECTOR: Jeremiah Karpowicz EDITOR IN CHIEF: Jessica Hathaway ASSOCIATE EDITOR: Kirk Moore BOATS & GEAR EDITOR: Paul Molyneaux PRODUCTS EDITOR: Brian Hagenbuch ART DIRECTOR: Doug Stewart NORTH PACIFIC BUREAU CHIEF: Charlie Ess FIELD EDITORS: Larry Chowning, Michael Crowley CORRESPONDENTS: Elma Burnham, John DeSantis, Maureen Donald, Dayna Harpster, Sierra Golden, John Lee, Caroline Losneck, Nick Rahaim ADVERTISING COORDINATOR: Wendy Jalbert / wjalbert@divcom.com / Tel. (207) 842-5616 NATIONAL SALES MANAGER: Susan Chesney / schesney@divcom.com / Tel. (206) 463-4819 CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING: (800) 842-5603 classifieds@divcom.com SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION (818) 487-2013 or (800) 959-5073 GENERAL INFORMATION (207) 842-5608 Producer of Pacific Marine Expo and the International WorkBoat Show Theodore Wirth, President & CEO | Mary Larkin, President, Diversified Communications USA Diversified Communications | 121 Free St., Portland, ME 04112 (207) 842-5500 • Fax (207) 842-5503 • www.divcom.com

2 National Fisherman \ July 2020

© 2020 Diversified Business Communications If you prefer not to receive such mailings, please send a copy of your mailing label to: National Fisherman’s Mailing Preference Service, 121 Free St., Portland, ME 04112. PRINTED IN U.S.A.

www.nationalfisherman.com

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ON DECK

Fishing Back When July

By Jessica Hathaway

2010 — Deckhand Todd Lyons wears a protective suit to mop up oil on one of the Chauvin family’s shrimp boats, Mariah Jade, off the coast of Louisiana in the days following the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon.

1 9 7 0

1 9 9 0

2 0 1 0

“Fightin’ the Jib” is a prize-winning photo taken in the 1930s by Robert H. Burgess and entered into the 1970 Annual Exhibition of Photography of the Mariners Museum in Newport News, Va.

The crew of the factory trawler Seattle Enterprise tends to business on deck.

We celebrate our East Coast Highliners a little early this year.

Honoring Bob Evans of Churchton, Md.; Jim Odlin of Portland, Maine; and David Spencer of Jamestown, R.I.

Northeast Atlantic nations agree to enact first-ever measures on the control of Atlantic salmon fishing, starting with a 45-week ban between July 1, 1971, and May 5 the following year.

The North Pacific Vessel Owners Association goes to battle for Bering Sea king crabbers at the June council meeting, saying a 60-pot limit off the Alaska Peninsula and Aleutian chain is an economic attack on large vessels.

4 National Fisherman \ July 2020

A look back at the first year following the Exxon Valdez oil spill: Some 525 miles of beach along the western shores of Prince William Sound and the Gulf of Alaska still show signs of oil.

Capt. Joseph Hazelwood is acquitted of felony charges in connection with the grounding of the supertanker.

Duffy & Duffy Fiberglass Boats in Brooklin, Maine, introduces a fast 48foot lobster boat. They deliver the first to Maynard Curtis in Rockland, who moves up from his 33-footer.

Inside begins our first feature of many to come on the aftermath of the April 20, 2010, explosion of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

Also on April 20 en route to Dillingham, Alaska, the Seattle-based tender Northern Belle took a beating in a storm surge. Skipper Robert Royer ordered the crew to abandon ship while he made a mayday call. Royer and his dog perished, but the crew survived.

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ON DECK

Mail Buoy

Reps ask for more federal aid [The following is excerpted from a letter to Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi and Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy.]

W

e write to urge the inclusion of support for the American seafood industry in the next coronavirus relief

measure.

The seafood industry is critical to local and regional economies across the country. In 2016, the industry supported over 1 million good-paying jobs and generated more than $144 billion in sales, adding an estimated $61 billion to the nation’s GDP. In addition to the jobs, families, and communities it supports along every part of our country’s coastlines, the seafood industry fuels jobs throughout the country in processing and distribution.

A near total shutdown of restaurants and other outlets serving fresh seafood, the supply chain of fishermen and seafood processors has been decimated. Notably, more than 68 percent of the $102.2 billion that consumers paid for U.S. fishery products in 2017 was spent at food-service establishments. It has been reported that many of the nation’s fisheries have suffered sales declines as high as 95 percent.

In addition, while many other agricultural

sectors have seen a significant increase in grocery sales, seafood has been left out of that economic upside, as stores have cut back on offerings.

We strongly urge you to include in the next coronavirus stimulus package at least $2 billion for the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase domestically harvested and processed seafood products and distribute them to local, state, and national non-profits providing food to hungry Americans. Given that few seafood producers have historically participated in USDA commodity purchasing programs, we request that $1 billion be set aside to finance the purchase by USDA of seafood products that have not typically been purchased and that have experienced economic impacts as a result of coronavirus.

We also ask that you include an additional $1.5 billion for NOAA under the terms of section 12005 of the CARES Act (P.L. 116-136) in order to provide direct relief to Tribal, subsistence, commercial, and charter fishery participants, impacted by

A letter from NMFS

Observer waivers for your health

By Chris Oliver

roviding seafood to the country remains an essential function even in these extraordinary times. Adequately monitoring U.S. fisheries remains an important part of that process.

However, in recognition of numerous travel restrictions and varied guidance across the country, NOAA Fisheries issued an emergency action to provide the authority, on a case-by-case basis, to waive observer coverage, some training, and other program requirements while meeting conservation needs and

P

6 National Fisherman \ July 2020

coronavirus. We request that Congress appropriate and permit the secretary to make funding available as soon as practicable to all fishery participants, including commercial and recreational fishing and seafood businesses that have been impacted by declines in tourism and the closure of restaurants and other food services industries.

We urge you to facilitate the government purchase of seafood products that would both ensure stability in this key sector and provide healthy, domestically produced food for Americans.

Thank you for your attention to this critical request, and for your continued support of America’s seafood industry.

Rep. Jared Huffman (D-Calif.)

Rep. Garret Graves (R-La.) Rep. Steven M. Palazzo (R-Miss.)

Rep. Kurt Schrader (D-Conn.)

What’s on your mind?

Send letters to jhathaway@ divcom.com. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity and style.

For more information visit: www.nationalfisherman.com

providing an ongoing supply of fish to markets.

We did not take this emergency action lightly, but we thought this step was in everyone’s best interest to ensure the fishing industry is able to provide an ongoing supply of fish to markets and protein to the American people.

Under this emergency action, a NOAA Fisheries regional administrator, office director, or Science Center director has the ability to waive observer requirements. The action took effect immediately on March 24, 2020 and has a 180-day duration, but could be extended, if necessary.

My true hope is that our employees, partners and fishing community maintain their health and safety now and into the future and the entire seafood industry is quick to rebound from the impacts felt over the last few months.

Chris Oliver is the director of the National Marine Fisheries Service. Oliver oversees the federal agency responsible for recreational and commercial fisheries.

www.nationalfisherman.com

ON DECK

Northern Lights

up with people facing similar opportunities and challenges in other regions.

VIEWS FROM ALASKA

Q&A: Alaska’s youth summit

What concerns young fishermen?

You know, the same thing most fishermen are concerned about, I think. What is the market for my fish going to look like this year and into the future? Should I invest in a vessel upgrade or new permit now, or wait? Am I making the right decisions and taking the right precautions to decrease my risk? What ocean changes and fisheries management decisions are going to impact my operation?

By Sunny Rice

The last Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit gathered in January at the Alaska State Capitol building in Juneau.

What prompted the start of the Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit?

I met up with Casey Campbell, who helped us on many of the earlier Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit events.We started talking about younger fishermen needing to have a voice in the regulatory processes that impact their operations. So we thought about having a meeting or conference. We quickly brought Alaska Sea Grant’s Torie Baker into the discussion, who prompted us to take advantage of such a gathering by providing some training as well. Paula Cullenberg, then director of Alaska Sea Grant, suggested we get other industry members involved through sponsoring participants, but also as speakers and trainers.

We’ve kept pretty true to those three principles over the years: Prioritize networking opportunities for new fishermen, provide practical training taught by those with experience in the subject, and encourage skippers and fishing organizations to nominate and support promising upcoming fishermen to attend.

How has it changed since its inception? What parts of the program have remained the same?

We started out covering the business management aspects, understanding the To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Dawn Montano

What do young fishermen wish old salty dogs knew about them?

global market for seafood and getting involved in the regulatory process. After just one or two summits, we added in a safety component and a bit on understanding the science and management of Alaska’s fisheries. After getting feedback about too much “seat time,” we started adding in a field trip to each event. After a few times in Anchorage, we also decided to try out Juneau, to introduce folks to the legislative process. We also changed from a two-day to a three-day event, with some optional breakout sessions.

We try to make sure those sessions have something for the very new, first-year type person, as well as the more experienced fisherman.

What do first-timers hope to learn?

What is one of their biggest “Aha!” moments from the conference?

We hear over and over again about how useful the financial and risk management information are for participants. We’ve had a stellar team, including lenders, a certified public accountant who also fishes, and an insurance broker to really help them get a good picture of what they need to be thinking about in terms of their business operations. We also get a lot of great comments about how nice it is for them to learn about fisheries in other parts of the state and meet

Interesting question. I’m not a young fisherman myself, so I can only speculate.

But I think they’d say they aren’t looking for any extra coddling or help. They just want an opportunity to give it their best shot and test themselves against the very challenging career to see if they can succeed. I am so impressed by the participants in Alaska Young Fishermen’s Summit; they are bright and motivated and really savvy.

Where are they now? Do you have any updates on past attendees?

I mostly hear or read about past participants as testifiers at Alaska’s Board of Fisheries or North Pacific Fishery Management Council meetings or see their names pop up at other Alaska Sea Grant workshops. A group of participants from Cordova started their own Cordova Young Fishermen’s Facebook group. I see letters to the editor and articles in industry magazines from past participants as well. Some are direct marketing their fish, which is fun to see. We’ve had more than 500 people attend the eight summits we’ve put on, so there are a lot of alumni out there. As of a survey we did a few years back, only a tiny percentage have quit fishing.

Sunny Rice has been the Alaska Sea Grant Marine Advisory agent in Petersburg for 16 years. She began her career in Alaska in 1990 working on the slime line in Valdez.

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 7

AROUND THE COASTS

AROUND THE COASTS

An ocean fish pen design by Hawaii-based Kampachi Farms, which proposes a fish farm off southwest Florida.

Nation / World

Kampachi Farms

NEWS FOR THE NATION’S FISHERMEN

“Commercial fishermen and their friends have been raising concerns about the overregulation of the industry for years.” — Ryan Mulvey, Cause for Action Institute

domestic products.

Fishing advocacy groups hastened to praise the White House order — and press their own specific issues to be considered.

“Commercial fishermen and their friends have been raising concerns about the overregulation of the industry for years,” said Ryan Mulvey, a lawyer with the free-market Cause for Action Institute, which is suing NOAA to overturn observer requirements on Northeast herring vessels. But foes of offshore aquaculture portrayed the executive order as dangling carrots to fishermen while granting advantage to fish farm developers.

The order “to streamline offshore aquaculture permitting and gut other protective regulatory processes… threatens our ocean ecosystem, local fishing communities and coastal economies,” according to a statement from Don’t Cage Our Ocean Coalition, comprised of environmental, food safety and fishing groups opposed to open water pen culture.

The Northeast-based Fisheries Survival Fund said it wants to see fishing grounds on the northern edge of Georges Bank opened up.

“These grounds have been closed for nearly 30 years, at the cost of billions of dollars in lost revenue,” according to a statement from the group. “The closures have long been unnecessary for the conservation of the species in the area, making them a prime candidate for reform under this order.”

— Kirk Moore

Trump executive order promises fisheries reforms

Fishermen, small seafood businesses call for new aid

Policy statement directs NOAA, other agencies to speed offshore aquaculture

$1.5 billion to rebuild supply chains

T

he Trump administration executive order on aquaculture and fisheries is raising hopes among some commercial fishing advocates to roll back what they view as excessive regulation.

But the statement’s strong emphasis on streamlining the permit process for ocean aquaculture alarms opponents. They won a 2018 federal court ruling in Louisiana that NOAA lacked authority to regulate fish farming, while aquaculture supporters have been hard at work with the Department of Commerce and Congress since then.

8 National Fisherman \ July 2020

The “Executive Order on Promoting American Seafood Competitiveness and Economic Growth” directs federal agencies to “identify and remove unnecessary regulatory barriers restricting American fishermen and aquaculture producers” and “facilitate aquaculture projects through regulatory transparency and long-term strategic planning.”

The document has other promises to U.S. seafood producers, especially in seeking fair trade and competition with imported seafood — including to hold imports to the same food-safety standards required for

I

ndependent fishermen and small- to medium-sized seafood business are calling on the Trump administration and Congress to come up with an additional $1.5 billion in covid-19 emergency funding, and new investment to build community-based supply chains to feed Americans.

The $300 million allocated for the industry by the CARES Act will help, but “it will not adequately mitigate the unprecedented losses that have been suffered nor the impacts that we anticipate over the coming months,” according to a letter co-signed by a coalition of 238 including commercial fishing trade www.nationalfisherman.com

associations, seafood businesses, food and agriculture groups, and environmental and social justice advocates.

The coalition letter came out of collaboration among the Local Catch Network, a bicoastal organization connecting and promoting producers, suppliers and consumers of locally sourced seafood.

The network held a series of online webinars to help fishermen navigate new direct marketing channels, and the idea for a letter to federal decisionmakers came from a Congressional staffer who participated in a session, said Brett Tolley of the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance, one of the organizers.

The covid-19 epidemic has forced the

Dock to Dish

AROUND THE COASTS

Fishermen in Montauk, N.Y., are working with the community fisheries group Dock to Dish to get more seafood to New York residents.

fishing industry to pivot to new supply routes and sales, and “there’s no template that can apply to every community,” said Tolley.

“In the last couple of weeks, we’re seeing more of these systems evolve. The demand is clearly there,” with direct, dock-to-consumer sales events drawing long lines, said Tolley. A few local efforts are starting to build supply relationships with local institutions, such as schools and even a hospital, and that could be one way to build volume and consistency for new networks, he said.

Small suppliers and community supported fisheries, or CSFs, have long labored to rebuild local seafood supply chains and “now more than ever they’re really stepping up,” said Sean Barrett, co-founder of Dock to Dish, a CSF program based at Montauk, N.Y. — Kirk Moore

Snapshot Who we are Ryan Gandy / St. Petersburg, Fla. / Stone crab

A

fter the federal government turned over management

the

of Florida’s lucrative stone crab fishery to the state

“Oftentimes

relationship

a few years ago, commercial crab fishermen formed

fishermen

at

work.

you

find

odds

with

their own advisory panel to help guide resource managers —

science, but that’s not the

and they asked the state’s top shellfish scientist to join them.

case here,” Kelly said. “Ryan

Six years later, Dr. Ryan Gandy — known best as the Florida

knows

the

fishery,

and

he

Fish and Wildlife Research Institute’s stone crab guru — is still

has made it a point to know the

working alongside the crabbers, focused on boosting sagging

fishermen. That’s made all the difference

stone crab populations and building resilience in the fishery.

in the world.”

Since 2000, one of the state’s most valuable seafood

Gandy, a 47-year-old Miami native, grew up in a fishing and

products has experienced a 22 percent decline in landings

boating family — stalking the flats of Biscayne Bay with his

(712,000 pounds of claws), with last year’s catch sinking to an

uncle catching stone crabs at low tide by hand.

historic low of about 2 million pounds. But the exorbitant market

In high school, Gandy became interested in the emerging

price commanded by Florida’s signature seafood delicacy has

aquaculture industry and later attended the College of

kept the fishery afloat.

Charleston, working part time as a field hand on a clam farm

Now the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission

to help pay tuition. He earned his doctorate at Texas A&M

is poised to make some potentially big changes to stone crab

in wildlife and fisheries science, focusing on techniques for

laws — based in part on the recommendations of the advisory

raising bait shrimp. He returned to Florida and took a job

committee. Among the proposed rules: shortening the harvest

at Mote Marine Laboratory in Sarasota, developing indoor

season; requiring an escape, or cull, ring on all plastic and

recirculation systems for shrimp production.

wooden crab traps before the 2023-24 season; increasing

From there, he moved over to Bay Shellfish near St.

minimum claw size; and setting a limit of two checker boxes for

Petersburg, producing bay scallops for population restoration.

handling the catch on boats.

He joined the nearby Fish and Wildlife Institute in 2009 to

“It’s been good. We’ve had an open dialogue,” Gandy, a

pursue his deepening interest in fisheries restoration.

10-year veteran of the research institute, said of his work with

Today, Gandy works from Fish and Wildlife Research

the crabbers. “I think we all understand the different sides of

Institute headquarters in St. Petersburg, overseeing a staff of

this and have had good conversations about how this fishery

32, stretching from the Keys to the Panhandle.

functions.”

Capt. Bill Kelly, executive director of the Florida Keys Commercial Fishermen’s Association, says that has made

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

“We have a great relationship with commercial fishermen,” said Gandy. “They can see the data every time a trap comes over the rail.”

—Sue Cocking

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 9

AROUND THE COASTS

Alaska / Pacific

“It feels like a bit of a hit in the stomach when you realize it’s come to your community.”

— Cordova Mayor Clay Koplin

Alaska’s salmon industry braces with covid-19 safeguards

Cordova, Alaska, got its first positive covid-19 case on the eve of its Copper River salmon season.

A

worker for Ocean Beauty Seafoods became the first positive case of covid-19 in Cordova, Alaska, home port of the famous Copper River salmon fishery, days before the May 14 season kick off.

Ocean Beauty President Mark Palmer told KLAM radio on May 6 that the machinist was asymptomatic and had been isolated in a bunk room after arriving among the first 15 employees Ocean Beauty sent up for the 2020 season.

Palmer said Ocean Beauty is funneling all non-resident workers through Seattle, where they are put up in a 100-room hotel and undergo an initial test for covid-19.

Upon arrival in Cordova, workers are then taken directly to the processing plant for quarantine and a second round of testing.

“When we first started thinking about sending employees to Alaska for the summer season, we were as active as we could be in looking for testing opportunities in the Seattle area. We identified a laboratory and were able to secure enough tests — these are PCR tests, currently the gold standard for testing — to test 100 percent of our employees who were headed north, and then have a second test once they arrived at 10 National Fisherman \ July 2020

the facilities,” Palmer told KLAM. “It feels like a bit of a hit in the stomach when you realize it’s come to your community. We recognized that this would probably happen in some manner or another, but I feel really good about the work of our own medical team here in the city of Cordova and the state, who have really put some great resources in place,” Cordova Mayor Clay Koplin told KLAM. He added that the cooperation between processors like Ocean Beauty and the fishing fleets has been strong.

The positive case sounded alarm bells for many locals who were concerned about non-resident workers coming into the rural area to work the salmon fishery, but Dr. Anne Zink, the chief medical officer for the state of Alaska, told KLAM the cooperation in Cordova should reassure residents.

“People have been very cooperative.

And if I lived in Cordova, I would feel very reassured. In Alaska in general people have been working together, and that is why we have low case numbers and why we haven’t had our hospitals overrun,” Zink said.

The Copper River fishery brings hundreds of non-resident employees into the

Cheryl Ess

Strict screenings, testing, quarantine requirements for 12,000 arriving workers

Cordova area, which has a population of around 2,200 people. It is seen as a test run for how other summer salmon fisheries might play out amidst the pandemic, in particular Alaska’s Bristol Bay, where some 12,000 non-resident workers flood rural southwestern Alaska for the world’s largest sockeye salmon fishery.

Strict rules are in place for Alaska fishermen and their vessels, with an April 24 order by Gov. Mike Dunleavy — an 11 page-mandate that specifically applies to those who have not “agreed to operate under a fleet-wide plan submitted by a company, association or entity” representing them.

Each independent skipper must sign a Health Mandate Acknowledgment Form prior to going fishing. They are required to maintain a written or time-stamped electronic log acknowledging that they will comply with the mandates, along with a clear description of which protective plan they are enforcing on their vessel. Skippers also must certify that crew members have been screened upon arrival and that they have completed self-quarantines.

Prior to accepting any fish or making any payment to a vessel, a tender or processor must receive a signed copy of the vessel’s Acknowledgment Form. It only needs to be done once during the season, but all parties must retain a signed copy until the end of the year.

Crew members and captains flying to Bristol Bay and other Alaska regions will undergo verbal and physical screenings upon arrival. They must wear masks while traveling on commercial or chartered aircraft, at air terminals, and go directly to where they will quarantine for two weeks and have their temperatures checked twice a day.

Crew members are allowed to quarantine onboard a vessel and participate in fishing as long as they restrict contact with other boats and people on shore as much as possible.

If a fisherman becomes sick, they will be required to isolate themselves on the boat. If they are unable to do so, the entire vessel will be under isolation.

— Brian Hagenbuch and Laine Welch www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE COASTS

California salmon kicks off with good price, slow returns Fingers crossed for restaurant openings

T

he California king salmon season kicked off May 1 in the face of pandemic-induced uncertainty that had pulled the bottom out of many seafood markets.

This concern was compounded by the possibility of strong salmon returns flooding the market, further driving the price down.

After the first two weeks of commercial fishing for king salmon, the price had stayed much higher than expected, and the run smaller.

“People were fearing that two bucks was going to be the opening price — that markets were going to be constrained under the pandemic lockdowns,” said Mike Conroy, executive director of the Pacific Coast Federation of Fishermen’s Associations. “But the price was north of $4.50, which was a really good thing. It speaks to

the resiliency and ingenuity of the fleet, developing nontraditional markets.”

The forecasted king salmon run to the Sacramento River for this season is 473,183 fish, topping the 379,600 prediction for 2019, according to California Department of Fish and Wildlife data. Last year’s banner season exceeded the predicted run, bringing in more than $16 million in landings and making it the second most lucrative season in two decades.

The average ex-vessel price in 2019 was $6.37 a pound for king salmon. After fishermen started the season selling their catch for $4.50 a pound, the price moved to $7.50, which likely resulted from a dearth of salmon after an early season pop in Monterey Bay. “We got a good amount of fish in the beginning with boats bringing in around 75 to 100 fish,” said Alan Lovewell of the 2020 opener. Lovewell owns Real Good Fish, a community supported fishery based in Moss

Landing on the Monterey Bay. The season opened south of Pigeon Point on May 1 and expanded to Point Arena north of San Francisco on May 6. Both areas closed May 12, before opening for three weeks May 18.

“It’s slow now, the biggest numbers here today were around 10 fish, a lot of guys just had two fish,” Lovewell said on May 19.

“There’s a lot of season left, but there’s still a lot of uncertainty.”

The early-season fish were spotty and not running in schools, said Larry Collins, president of the San Francisco Community Fishing Association. The salmon fishery in California is by and large a small boat fishery, so when the weather comes up, boats stay tied up or close to shore.

California restaurants also are expected to reopen as covid-19 lockdowns ease. And with it, demand will likely increase, Conroy said. Traditionally, restaurant sales absorb 65 to 80 percent of the state’s salmon harvest.

— Nick Rahaim

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AROUND THE COASTS

Atlantic

“At the start of the season, we are seeing off-the-boat prices that are one-half of what they were last year on females and about one-third less on males.”

— Jason Ruth, Harris Seafood

Jay Fleming

Chesapeake shuckers: ‘We could see the writing on the wall’ Blue crab uncertainty follows Maryland’s $1 million coronavirus oyster shutdown

L

ike many other areas of the country, restaurants account for nearly 70 percent of the demand for Chesapeake Bay seafood.

When Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia adopted strict social distancing measures to slow the spread of covid-19 in mid-March, restaurants were forced to shut down dinein services. When concerns about the virus began to mount in early March, Jason Ruth,

co-owner of oyster shucking house Harris Seafood in Grasonville, Md., noticed a downturn in sales for shucked and live oysters. Restaurants consume the overwhelming majority of Harris’ packaged oysters, while only a small percentage goes to retailers and grocery stores.

“When the governor made the official announcement on March 23rd that shut

Restaurant closings were especially hard on the oyster industry, eliminating an estimated 90 percent of the market.

down restaurants, many of our customers backed out of their orders that day,” Ruth explained. “We could see the writing on the wall and cut the oyster season short by two weeks.”

Boat of the Month I

Robert Serbagi

Patricia Ann Portland, Maine / Lobster, pogies, tuna t was hard catching up with Yarmouth, Maine-based fisherman Rusty Parmenter. Reached by text in midApril, he was hundreds of miles from his home port of

Portland, Maine, and unloading Northern Gulf of Maine scallops in Gloucester, Mass.

logistics to get the scallops there. We’re doing direct-to-consumer

In addition to scallops, Parmenter fishes lobster, pogies, tuna

sales, and it is a ton of work but it has been worthwhile for us and

and also has hosted “a wedding, a bachelorette party, a bachelor

for our crews.” Under the name Casco Bay Scallops, Parmenter

party, tons of birthday parties, and a few Bruins playoff games”

and Todd have partnered with Annie Tselikis to get their premium

aboard his boat Patricia Ann.

product into the hands of consumers as soon after harvest as

The boat, a 43' x 17' 1996 Bruce Atkinson with a 692 Detroit

possible.

Diesel engine, which Parmenter bought nine years ago, is named

Parmenter has made upgrades and improvements to his boat

after his mother. “I’m a mama’s boy,” he says. “It was previously

over the years, including redecking, putting in new lobster tanks,

owned by Tom Roth. At the time that I bought it, it was expensive

and reinsulating the fish hold. “At the same time, I rewired the boat

for me. But in hindsight, it was a smart investment.”

and put in a new 9-kw generator.” He says his Simrad and Furuno

Parmenter, like other commercial fishermen, has had to adjust to a new landscape since the covid-19 pandemic.

navigational gear is critical. But beyond the useful gear, Parmenter also uses his boat to insert joy and fun into the mix.

“We’re busy scalloping in Gloucester right now. We normally

“I hosted a Fourth of July party in January a few years ago.

sell to a wholesaler down here, but with the seafood market facing

Tied up. In my slip. It made the news.” Parmenter affectionately

big challenges due to covid-19, we’ve been peddling our scallops

calls his boat “short, fat and stout,” he says he intends to keep it

in Portland, Maine. Every day that we fish, we drive our scallops

forever. “I love this boat.”

up to Maine. I partner up with my friend Alex Todd, and we share

—Caroline Losneck

Boat Specifications HOME PORT: Portland, Maine OWNER: Rusty Parmenter BUILDER: Bruce Atkins YEAR BUILT: 1996 FISHERIES: Lobster, tuna, scallops, pogies HULL MATERIAL: Fiberglass LENGTH: 43 feet BEAM: 17 feet DRAFT: 5 feet TONNAGE: 24 tons CREW CAPACITY: 3 MAIN PROPULSION: Detroit Diesel 692, 300-hp GEARBOX: ZF 3:1 PROPELLER: Bronze SHAFT: 2.25-inch stainless steel CRUISE SPEED: 8 knots FUEL CAPACITY: 500 gallons HOLD CAPACITY: 20,000 pounds ELECTRONICS: Simrad, Furuno

12 National Fisherman \ July 2020

www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE COASTS

With shucking houses winding down early, watermen missed the chance to capitalize on the final stretch of a surprisingly robust oyster season that followed predictions for a lackluster yield. “Watermen were still doing well,” Ruth explained. “Certain gear types were catching limits until the end.” He estimates that watermen could have harvested an additional 20,000 bushels from Maryland waters, amounting to $1 million in dockside market value.

If there is any silver lining to this situation, Ruth speculates, it is that “the oysters will be bigger next year, and they will spawn over the summer.”

Concerns over Maryland and Virginia’s 2020 blue crab season are now on the mind of seafood buyers, processors and harvesters.

“At the start of the season, we are seeing offthe-boat prices that are one-half of what they were last year on females and about one-third less on males,” Ruth said.

— Jay Fleming

Maine lobstermen start fund for courtroom battle Look ahead to next threat on horizon

T

he Maine Lobstermen’s Association is fighting a federal ruling that threatens the demise of the fleet, said Patrice McCarron, executive director of the association.

Before this fight is over, there’s another threat on the rise.

In early April, Judge James Boasberg of the federal District Court for Washington, D.C., ruled that NMFS violated the Endangered Species Act in permitting the lobster fishery. “Congress enacted the ESA in 1973 to halt and reverse the trend toward species extinction, whatever the cost,” the opinion says.

“The MLA has launched a campaign to raise $500,000 to save Maine’s lobster industry,” McCarron said.

Whale entanglement data collected by NMFS show that no right whale deaths

or serious injuries have ever been documented in Maine lobster gear.“This case could lead to closure of the world’s most sustainable fishery, and we cannot let that happen. Right whales are not dying in Maine lobster gear,” McCarron continued. “Lobstermen have done everything they have been asked to protect right whales and remain committed to doing their part to save the species.”

Another ruling at the end of the April requires Massachusetts officials to obtain a permit from NMFS to license vertical buoy lines, gear that is vital to the fishery.

Richard “Max” Strahan, a longtime whale advocate, filed the case against state regulators in Massachusetts.

The MLA is organizing donations through the Legal Defense Fund. Contributions may be made at mainelobstermen.org.

— Jessica Hathaway

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www.DuramaxMarine.com July 2020 \ National Fisherman 13

AROUND THE COASTS

Gulf / South Atlantic

“It would be a real food security problem for a state that has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the entire nation.”

—Ryan Bradley, Mississippi Commercial Fishermen United

Statehouse showdown for CCA, Mississippi haul seiners Advocates say threats to fishery raise issues of food security in a high-risk state

asked Young.

Seiners won’t learn whether returning legislators would be sobered by the CMR’s statement — or the recently heightened emphasis on food security — until after the legislature reconvened in May. Fishermen also took heart from President Trump’s May 7 executive order on fisheries, telling bill sponsors their proposal would be in direct conflict with the national policy. — Robert Fritchey

Covid-19 shuts down La., fills shrimp cold storage Hope that cautious opening will help

State legislation threatens to force Mississippi haul seiners out of their last barrier island fishing grounds.

T

he silver lining within covid-19’s dark cloud included cleaner air, unlittered roadsides and, for Mississippi’s handful of haul seiners, the suspension of a Legislature that was on the brink of wiping out their industry.

A pair of identical bills in both the state Senate and the House of the 2020 Legislature sought to push the seiners at least half a mile off Cat Island, the last remaining island they could still fish.

“If they take Cat Island, all that’s left is one other little inside place where there are so many recreational fishermen and all that it gets run over eight or 10 times a day — there’s nothin’ there. And that’s what they’re wantin’ to leave us with,” said haul seiner Martin Young.

The state’s other four barrier islands have been off-limits to commercial fishermen since the 1990s, when managers of the federal Gulf Islands National Seashore pushed them at least one mile away; Cat Island is shared between federal, state and private owners.

“The legislation would make it harder for the average Mississippi consumer to obtain fresh, local sustainable seafood,” said Ryan Bradley, executive director of the Mississippi

14 National Fisherman \ July 2020

Martin Young

A

Commercial Fishermen United. “It would be a real food security problem for a state that has one of the highest rates of food insecurity in the entire nation.”

The Coastal Conservation Association’s House Bill 561, sponsored by Rep. Timmy Ladner, passed 118-3 on March 11. The sportsmen’s Senate Bill 2720, sponsored by Sens. Mike Thompson, Scott DeLano and Phillip Moran, passed 50-2 on March 10.The bills had moved to the opposite chambers, but the Legislature shut down before they could be voted on.

Mississippi’s Commission on Marine Resources, the specialized panel charged with managing the state’s coastal resources, opposed the bills in an April 7 resolution to the Legislature: “The two legislative bills will unfairly and inequitably restrict the rights and equal access of the commercial fishing industry to the marine resources of the state of Mississippi,” wrote the five-member panel.

The CCA narrowly missed its target in 2018 when the commission was unable to break a tie vote.

“Why have a commission if (the legislators are) gonna overrule what they’re doing?”

fter a disastrous 10-week shutdown of the state’s food service industry, Louisiana fishermen saw some hope that the state’s “soft opening” plan could gradually restore some business.

“Two weeks into Lent all the restaurants shut down. So, a lot of that product is still in cold storage,” Judy Falgout of Louisiana Sea Grant said as the brown shrimp season opened May 18.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture targeted shrimp for its covid-19 Section 32 farm and food support program, so some of the cold storage backlog could be absorbed there.

“USDA hasn’t bought shrimp before.

So, things are kind of on hold while they figure out how that fits in the supply chain,” said Falgout.

The state plan called for gradual restaurant reopenings with 25 percent seating capacity. But with the cold storage overhang “now that they’re partially opening, no one knows what’s going to happen,” said Louisiana Shrimp Association president Acy Cooper.

“There’s a lot of questions” over how the USDA could accept shrimp, within the agency’s standards and packaging requirements, said Cooper.

As for the first day of brown shrimp, “we ain’t got enough shrimp, and we sure don’t have the price,” Cooper added.

More than 90 percent of oyster sales dried up with restaurant closures, according to estimates, and “on the east side they are pretty much wiped out,” she said. Some www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE COASTS

in-shell consumer sales brought in money, and it’s likely the same will happen as blue crabs pick up.

The industry escaped the kind of sustained high water down the Mississippi River that devastated oysters and depressed crab and shrimp landings during spring 2019, when the Corps of Engineers opened the Bonnet Carré Spillway upriver of New Orleans — twice — for 118 days, the longest period in the structure’s 88-year history. Spring 2020 brought a 28-day opening in early April.

“Thank God it wasn’t open as long. Last year brown shrimp was a total bust,” said Falgout.

At Gov. John Bel Edward’s request, the Department of Commerce declared 2019 to be a fishery disaster for the state. With an estimated $165 million in losses, that aid has yet to be delivered.

“They’re still working on how they’re going to distribute this money,” said Falgout.

With the first stages of reopening in May, “we’re starting to see people move around” and restaurants slowly restarting, she said.

With mass tourism to Louisiana and New Orleans still far off, state officials and seafood marketers are looking at how to at least promote regional travel with covid-19 safeguards. Lt. Gov. Billy Nungesser is

Phippsburg, Maine Alex Wallace pulled in this monster wrapped in pot warp on the F/V Badpenny.

This is your life. Submit your Crew Shot nationalfisherman.com/submit-crew-shots talking up ways to safely revive the state’s tourism economy, which pulled in 53.2 million visitors and $18.9 billion.

“It’s going to take a little while, but there’s a lot of opportunity,” said Falgout.

With more direct marketing and sales of seafood meal packages, ‘I think there’s going to be a lot of changes and people doing things differently.”

— Kirk Moore

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July 2020 \ National Fisherman 15

MARKET REPORTS

AT L A N T I C

G U L F / S O . AT L A N T I C

Scallops

Mullet

Pandemic prices down 30 percent, freezers and direct sales take more

After two years of red tide, covid-19 quashes exports, restaurant sales

ack in late December, before the covid-19 pandemic struck, the New England Fishery Management Council presented regulations for the 2020 fishing year. At the time, around 50 million pounds of U.S. landings and an estimated ex-vessel value of around $487 million was projected for 2020.

So far, anecdotal reports indicate scallop prices had been down 30 percent or more around New Bedford, Mass. In April, the council asked federal regulators to make changes because of the impact the coronavirus has had on the fishery, which saw average prices of $9.20 per pound.

“Preliminary landings data suggest the fleet landed 58.15 million pounds of scallops in 2019,” said Travis Ford of NMFS. “The biggest surprise was the conditions in the Nantucket Lightship-West Access Area. Based on 2019 surveys there was around a 50 million-pound decline in total biomass estimate from 2018-19. This made it difficult for vessels to finish their trips in the area later in the fishing year.”

Regulators are investigating what is behind the decline.

Rusty Parmenter, a Maine scallop fisherman who works in both federal and Maine state waters, says things have changed as restaurant markets shuttered in response to covid-19. Now, many scallops are being frozen instead and sold to supermarkets.

In mid-March, Parmenter said scallops were $10 per pound at auction in Massachusetts. Parmenter moved to Gloucester, Mass., for the short Northern Gulf of Maine scallop season, which allows him 200 pounds of scallops per day, until the total allowable catch of 210,000 pounds allocated for the season is reached. However, increasingly, Parmenter’s model has shifted to direct sales.

So far, prices direct to consumers have been $15-17 per pound for U-10s. If there is an upside to anything, adds Parmenter, it is fuel costs, which have been about $1.40/gallon.

“From what I’ve heard, this season did not see the volume of past seasons, but that’s to be expected with a rotational management system,” says Togue Brawn, owner of Downeast Dayboat, which sells Maine dayboat scallops and other premium seafood products.

Brawn’s model of shipping within hours of harvesting is keeping her going. “I am keeping my fingers crossed that it continues. We ship to home cooks all across the country... I knew with the restaurants closed, there would be nowhere for the guys to sell their super premium catch.”

— Caroline Losneck

ishermen in the Gulf of Mexico mullet hub of southwest Florida just cannot seem to catch a break.

Following two years of toxic red tide and blue-green algae and, lately, the covid-19 health and economic crisis, mullet catches and prices stayed down from average November-to-January runs.

Casey Streeter, owner of Island Seafood Market in Matlacha on Pine Island, said before the run petered out in mid-January, boat prices for roe mullet reached $1.40 per pound — well off previous peak seasons of $1.75. But at least the run lasted weeks longer than the dismal 2018 season, which ended abruptly after just a few days.

Statewide, a little more than 1,200 pounds of roe mullet was harvested in 2019, compared to just over 800 pounds the previous year.

Non-roe mullet landings for 2019 were more than 1 million pounds lower than the 2018 harvest of about 6.9 million pounds. Average boat prices hovered around 70 cents.

“This year we had a decent run from Marco Island to the Panhandle,” Streeter said. “Everyone was really glad to have a season after two years of red tide. We’ve got a lot of mullet around right now. I hope we have a weak-to-nonexistent red tide season.”

But the coronavirus is impacting mullet sales by interrupting the supply chain between the U.S. and Asian markets and quashing restaurant demand, which drives the market for Gulf of Mexico seafood products.

“It’s going to change the landscape,” Streeter said.

Karen Bell, who operates Star Fish Seafood in Cortez, Fla., said she bought most of her mullet from the Pine Island area and was still trying to sell a container-load of product after Asian buyers demurred.

Bell said Asian countries have bought most of their mullet from Brazil after that South American country was shut out of European markets in 2017.

Mike Dooley — a veteran Pine Island mullet fisherman — said he didn’t see much of an improvement in this season’s run over the previous one.

“Very few catches this December,” he said. “Front after front. We probably got two weeks of fair fishing.This area got hit real hard with red tide, and they didn’t come back. The highest price we got was 85 to 90 cents for the roe.”

— Sue Cocking

B

16 National Fisherman \ July 2020

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www.nationalfisherman.com

MARKET REPORTS

PA C I F I C

ALASKA

Albacore

Halibut / Blackcod

Fleet hopes for bigger fish and reopening of fresh markets

U.S. restaurant closings, depressed Japanese market push prices down

mall fish, lower harvest levels and flooding canned markets could put a crimp on the 2020 albacore tuna season as it gets underway in July. In 2019, the industry remained hopeful that the disproportionate number of 2-and-3-year old, 7-pound fish that inundated the population (and the harvest) in the 2018 would come back as 12- to 15-pounders.

The larger fish bring more demand in restaurants and in outlets selling fresh, iced — and blast and bled albacore.

That didn’t happen, according to Wayne Heikkila, executive director of Western Fishboat Owners Association in Redding, Calif.

“There was still a large volume of those small fish,” he says.

“And they’re skinny, too.”

Whether small albacore will stymie West Coast albacore trollers again during this year’s season remains to be seen; however, the covid-19 virus threw a wrench in ex-vessel prices with the widespread closure of restaurants in April and May. Though the local fleet doesn’t start working a band of water 30 to 80 miles off the Oregon and Washington coastline until July, boats catching and selling blast frozen bled fish in the South Pacific took a hit during their last deliveries in March.

“So far it’s pretty much put the damper on blast bled markets,” says Heikkila. “They had to settle for a canned price.” Heikkila adds that blast bled usually gets funneled to high-end restaurants and other outlets, which drives dockside deliveries into the realm of $4,000 per short ton, but the canned market demand is cheaper, with a high end of around $3,200 per short ton.

Last year, the average ex-vessel price came in at around $3,400 per ton. The harvest volume tallied up to 348.3 short tons, for fleet revenues of $1.18 million according to data from PacFin. For the third year in a row, landings were down by around 30 percent from the 20-year average, Heikkila says.

During the onset of the covid-19 regime, the canned market demand remained strong, but Heikkila ventured that it might soften as the months wear on.

“Canned is king right now,” he says. “You can keep canned on the shelf, but at some point, it’s going to catch up, when everyone realizes their garages are piled full of canned albacore and toilet paper.”

— Charlie Ess

rippled ferry service, covid-19 and flailing Japanese markets beset Alaska halibut and blackcod longliners this season.

Alaska’s halibut fleet fished on allocations of 16.08 million pounds, but deliveries as of early May stood at just 1.46 million pounds, with the brunt of them coming out of harvest area 3A. The season opened on March 14 and will run until Nov. 15, with supply volumes to market lagging in the early season thanks to crippled state ferry service and the covid-19 virus.

“What could be an interesting development,” says Bob Alverson, manager of the Fishing Vessel Owners’ Association in Seattle, “would be if the fleet waits until way later in the season to fish their quotas. That could put a lot of fish into the market in a very short time.”

The Alaska Marine Highway System, which operates a fleet of ferries, had been the traditional conduit for getting the flatfish from processors to markets in Seattle. Cuts in state budgets reduced sailings from many ports and severed service to some Southeast communities altogether.

Then came covid-19. Widespread closure of restaurants killed demand for fresh fish, which fetch higher ex-vessel prices than those headed for freezers to supply markets during the months that fishing is closed.

In 2019, the longline fleet had landed 3.82 million pounds in the period ending May 14, and fishermen saw ex-vessel prices of $3.25 for the 10-to-20 pounders, $3.50 for the 20-40s, and topped out at $4 for 40-ups. That’s $2 per pound less in each of the weight splits from what they received last year.

Blackcod longliners, meanwhile, saw a substantial quota increase with this year’s IFQ allocations set at 31.71 million pounds. Fishing started slow, with landings adding up to 3.96 million pounds as of May 2. While this year’s quotas outshine the 25.97 million pounds for the 2019 season, demand for the fish in Japanese markets remains soft, and with restaurants closed worldwide, demand for the 5-pound fish fell flat.

Ex-vessel price splits for blackcod landed in Alaska began at 30 cents per pound for fish under 2 pounds, $1.30 for 2-to-3-pounders, $2.10 for 3-to-4s, around $2.50 for 4-to-5s, $3.75 for 5-to-7s and $6 for 7-ups. That’s down by more than a dollar per pound in each weight category from last year.

— Charlie Ess

S

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C

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 17

Fulfill

FEATURE: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Coronavirus aid headed to states — but not enough, industry says

By Kirk Moore and Jessica Hathaway

early six weeks after the CARES Act was signed

by President Trump on March 27, funds for disaster loans, first-ever unemployment compensation for fishermen and a block of $300 million in federal direct aid began to trickle down into the industry. Fishing advocates responded with appreciation of the federal allocations as well as a warning that these funds must only be the first step to maintaining the essential services provided by the U.S. commercial fishing industry.

By mid-April the few fishermen who were able to obtain loans from the Small Business Administration Paycheck Protection Program reported meager returns, in the neighborhood of $1,000.

Some reported being shut out of the program because they did not have the proper business relationships with approved federal lenders — a problem reported across a wide spectrum of industries and businesses that only exploded with reports of large corporations receiving millions in program grants.

A New York Times investigation found that public companies received nearly $1.5 billion in grant-eligible loans. However, almost a third had been returned ahead of a federal audit deadline that promised to analyze loans over $2 million to ensure that they followed strict guidelines and qualifications.

The program was originally funded at $349 billion. Another $310 billion was designated in late April specifically for small businesses.

Access to unemployment benefits was uneven and in many cases long delayed by technical stumbling blocks. Each state was required to upgrade its claims processing software and procedures to enable

N

18 National Fisherman \ July 2020

The U.S. Department of Agriculture for the first time is directing $20 million in spending to purchase East Coast seafood, like the fish the crew of the Arianna Maria is packing out for a food bank.

the new federal unemployment benefits that now included not just a new swath of independent employees (including fishermen) but also an unprecedented flood of new claims overall.

Direct aid from the Department of Commerce was disturbingly slow, according to congressional delegations from coastal states.

“It has been nearly a month since the CARES Act was signed into law by President Trump… and yet the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration has not released guidance for the distribution of the emergency aid nor has it publicly stated when that guidance will be released,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., in an April 23 letter cosigned by members from both parties.

Finally, on May 7, Commerce and NMFS officials announced state-by-state allocations had been determined. Those tranches go to NMFS partners and interstate fisheries commissions to make awards to its partners, the interstate marine fisheries commissions to disburse funds for direct or indirect fishery-related losses as well as subsistence, cultural or ceremonial impacts related to covid-19.

Alaska and Washington each received nearly double the funds of the third highest beneficiary, Massachusetts.

On the same day the allocations were announced, President Trump upstaged that news with an executive order calling for seafood industry reform, directing agencies to work together to reduce excessive regulation, streamline permitting processes for aquaculture in federal waters, and a new regime in seafood foreign trade www.nationalfisherman.com

to level the playing field for U.S. producers.

The executive order’s mention of regulation reform follows a 2018 NMFS request that the regional fishery management councils “evaluate existing regulations and make recommendations to the agency head regarding regulations to repeal, replace or modify, consistent with applicable law.”

Chris Oliver, NOAA’s assistant administrator for fisheries, said in a statement that a new Seafood Trade Task Force will “develop a comprehensive interagency seafood trade strategy. The strategy will identify opportunities to improve access to foreign markets through trade policy and negotiations; resolve technical barriers to U.S. seafood exports; and otherwise support fair market access for U.S. seafood products.”

“The creation of a Seafood Trade Task Force is an important step. The Alaska seafood industry has been trying to regain access to markets that have been very limited or unavailable to us, so we look forward to

NMFS

FEATURE: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Chris Oliver, Assistant Administrator of NMFS

a new seafood trade strategy,” said Nicole Kimball, vice president Alaska for Pacific Seafood Processors Association.

The federal Coronavirus Food Assistance program of the U.S. Department of Agriculture expanded its Section 32 farm and food support program to buy more seafood — including historically overlooked Gulf of Mexico shrimp and Atlantic haddock, pollock and redfish for the first time, along with Alaska pollock and cod.

Fishing advocates and their supporters

in Congress said the executive order and $300 million are only a down payment on needed repairs to the industry. In a bipartisan letter led by Rep. Jared Huffman (DCalif.), lawmakers noted more than 68 percent of the $102 billion spent by consumers on U.S. seafood in 2017 came from restaurants, where covid-19 closures crippled seafood sales.

The representatives called for an additional $1.5 billion for direct relief, plus $2 billion for the USDA to purchase additional seafood. (Read the letter on page 6.)

Meanwhile, domestic seafood processors are taking an additional hit with the Department of Homeland Security’s decision not to increase the 66,000 cap on H-2B visas during the 2020 fiscal year.

The news compounded dread among Chesapeake Bay crabbers and processors, whose onshore picking house infrastructure has been dependent on migrant labor for decades.

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July 2020 \ National Fisherman 19

FEATURE: LEGISLATIVE UPDATE

Seafood processors face shortage of H-2B workers

CBSIA

The U.S. Department of Homeland

Bill Sieling

Crab processors typically employ 400 to 500 workers on H-2B visas, said Bill Sieling, executive vice president of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association.

This year, they are getting just 150.

“Even the plants that have workers are operating at reduced capacity,” with the need for 6-foot spacing between workers and other covid-19 safeguards, said Sieling.

Meanwhile, continuing restaurant closures have slashed demand.

Biologists and watermen say it looks like the bay’s crab population is robust this year.

Whether watermen can make any money in a still depressed market is another matter.

Sieling says one veteran crab buyer told him: “Once the water warms up, and everything starts to move, it’s going to get really ugly for the crabbers.”

The H-2B visa cap remaining at

not increase the cap on H-2B visas for

66,000 is a critical blow for seafood pro-

the 2020 fiscal year, but the agency is

cessors and the representatives in Con-

implementing a new rule it said will give

gress who were pressing DHS officials to

food processors more flexibility to help

expand the cap again this year. In March,

them during the covid-19 pandemic.

officials initially signed off on a plan to

The rule published Thursday, May

add 35,000 visas through the end of the

14, allows companies to hire current visa

fiscal year in September, but that was put

holders already in the country for work,

on hold after the coronavirus emergency.

according to a statement posted on the

Critics of the H-2B and other simi-

U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Ser-

lar programs that bring in foreign labor

vices site.

for temporary work claim they take jobs

“These necessary flexibilities will

away from Americans. In April, the unem-

safeguard a critical U.S. infrastructure

ployment rate ballooned to 14.7 percent.

sector; reinforce security of the nation’s

However, Bill Sieling, executive vice

food supply chain; and encourage key

president of the Chesapeake Bay Sea-

American businesses to maintain essen-

food Industries Association, said Mary-

tial operations currently threatened by

land’s crab processors are located in

the covid-19 public health emergency,”

remote parts of the state not easily ac-

said Joseph Edlow, deputy director for

cessible from places like Baltimore and

Policy at Citizenship and Immigration

the Washington, D.C., suburbs.

Services. “Importantly, these measures

“This is one of the reasons historically

protect U.S. workers by not adding sup-

that we’ve had to rely on these visa work-

plemental H-2B visas during the national

ers so much, is because these are such

emergency.”

remote areas, there’s no entertainment,

To get approval, companies must get the U.S. Secretary of Labor to agree there

Kirk Moore is the associate editor and Jessica Hathaway is the editor in chief of National Fisherman.

the work is needed.

Security has announced that it will

is not enough qualified American workers “available at the time and place” where

there’s no, amenities, none, and it’s like 50 miles from nowhere,” he said.

— Steve Bittenbender

for SeafoodSource.com

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COVER STORY: BOATBUILDING

COVER STORY: BOATBUILDING

In service to

Patti Marine has just given the family’s flagship, the Captain Joe, a complete overhaul. Owner Frank Patti Sr. calls it the most photographed boat in the country.

“

Patti Marine photos

SHRIMP

Once at the head of her class, a venerable Gulf Coast shrimper gets a facelift and a new mission

By Paul Molyneaux

atti Marine in Pensacola, Fla., has been building boats for fishermen all over the USA for 40 years. But the yard’s most recent project is one of its own, a 101-foot shrimp boat, the Captain Joe. “We started building boats for ourselves,” says Frank Patti Jr., who runs the Patti family’s yard. “We were building boats with longitudinal and transverse framing, which made for a really strong vessel with nice lines. We knew what it took to build a good vessel.”

According to Patti, the transverse frames on the boat are

P

22 National Fisherman \ July 2020

all 5-inch by 3-inch, quarter-inch steel angle, and the stringers are all 2-inch, 3/8ths flat bar.

“We were building our own fleet, you see. The first boat we were building, this guy came down from Kodiak and saw what we were doing, and he crawled all over that boat. He said he’d been stopping at a lot of yards but hadn’t seen anything like what we were doing. He had to have it.”

While the Patti family initially refused to sell, the Alaskan fisherman persisted until he made an offer the family could not refuse. “We ended up building a bunch of those king crab boats that went up there,” says Patti. The yard also fulfilled

www.nationalfisherman.com

COVER STORY: BOATBUILDING

At the wharf near Joe Patti Seafood in Pensacola, Fla., the Captain Joe educates consumers about what goes into harvesting shrimp.

Captain Joe Home port: Pensacola, Fla. Owner: Frank Patti Sr. Builder: Patti Shipyard, Pensacola Hull material: Steel Year built: 1995 Fishery: Shrimp Length: 101 feet Beam: 26 feet Draft: 12.5 feet Propulsion: Diesel Engine: (2) 425-hp, 6 cylinder, KT-19-M Cummins Power Train Starboard engine: Twin Disc, model MG514 reduction gear with 6.0:1 reduction Port engine: ZF Model ZF6350 reduction gear with 5.955:1 reduction Turning two 5-inch Aquamet-19 stainless shafts with tail shafts and 46 x 64-inch fourblade bronze propellers Fuel capacity: 18,000 gallons Water capacity: 10,000 gallons Top speed: 11 knots Cruising: 9 knots Hold capacity: 9,000 pounds Electronics: Furuno radar and sounder, Furuno loran C Deck gear: Double-drum McElroy 505-6BD winch powered by hydraulic motor with 10-inch catheads; single trynet winch powered by 5-hp electric motor with stainless steel cable and level winds; two hydraulic boom winches

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 23

COVER STORY: BOATBUILDING

Two 6-cylinder KT-19-M Cummins engines still power the Captain Joe, but with slightly different gears.

The vessel reveals itself as coming from a different era in the wheelhouse, equipped with loran C for navigation.

According to Frank Patti Jr. the Captain Joe could accommodate a crew of six, but the boat usually put to sea with three.

its primary role: to build the family’s fleet.

The fleet operated through the 1980s and ’90s. But according to Patti, when fuel prices went up and shrimp prices went down in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the family sold off most of the fleet.

“Then Hurricane Ivan in 2002. That shut us down,” says Patti. “After that, we only kept one boat, the Captain Joe.” As the coronavirus pandemic wreaks havoc on daily life around the country, the yard continues to operate. “We’re wearing masks and gloves, and we’re taking

temperatures,” says Patti. “We have some folks working from home. But we’re still here.”

Patti Marine has had one big project delayed as a result of the virus, but the yard just relaunched the Captain Joe after a massive rebuild.

“We put a five-year bottom on her — blasting, chipping, painting — flushed the coolers, new zincs,” says Patti. “I saved the old outriggers. We put in two new Cummins BT6 95-kW gensets, new winches for the booms.”

The 25-year-old vessel is not the first Captain Joe the family has built. “I think it’s the fifth or sixth,” says Patti. But he notes that this one is probably the last. “This boat is not going to fish again,” he says. “My father wants to keep her docked next to Joe Patti’s Seafood.”

The Captain Joe gets its name from Guiseppe “Joe” Patti, who arrived in the United States in 1918 from Riposto, Italy, a little fishing village on the island of Sicily.

Oddly enough he met a young woman, Anna Patane, who had grown up 10 miles away from him in Italy. He married her, and they started a family.

“There was a big Italian community in Pensacola at the time,” says Patti. “They got my grandfather a job on a snapper smack. It was a sailboat. They would sail to Campeche [Mexico] and fish for snapper, and they had a well in the boat to keep the fish alive and bring them back here. They made two-week trips to sail down there, load up and come back. My grandmother didn’t want him to be away all that time. So in 1920 they bought a little boat, the Babe, and they started selling his catch off the front porch.”

Patti notes that the business is still thriving and about to celebrate its 90th anniversary. “Joe Patti’s Seafood was voted the third best seafood market in the country,” he says.

The Captain Joe will be a part of that anniversary celebration, helping people understand the Gulf Coast shrimp industry.

The renovation has taken two months.

The 101-foot vessel has a 26-foot beam and

“We used to run 9 knots on the way out. She would do 11 knots. And on the way home that’s what I do. I’d run her wide open all the way.”

— Frank Patti Jr., PATTI MARINE

Besides getting new gensets and a five-year bottom, Patti Marine had all the winches rebuilt, including the small try-net winch.

24 National Fisherman \ July 2020

www.nationalfisherman.com

COVER STORY: BOATBUILDING

Frank Patti Sr. named the Captain Joe after his father, Giuseppe Patti, who immigrated to the United States from Italy in 1918.

draws 12.5 feet. She is all steel with nine watertight compartments. As far as gulf shrimp trawlers go, she’s a big boat, and she doesn’t lack for power. Two 425-hp, 6-cylinder Cummins KT-19-M engines propel the sleek vessel through the clear waters of the Gulf of Mexico.

“We used to run 9 knots on the way out,” says 90-year-old Frank Patti Sr., who ran the boat for several years. “She would do 11 knots. And on the way home that’s what I do. I’d run her wide open all the way.”

The starboard engine has a Twin Disc model MG514 reduction gear with 6.0:1 reduction. The port engine has a ZF Model ZF6350 reduction gear on port engine with 5.955:1 reduction. Both turn 32-foot long, 5-inch Aquamet 19 stainless steel intermediate shafts with stainless steel tail shafts, with 64 x 46-inch, four-blade bronze propellers.

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The boat’s twin gensets power systems that include an 9,000-ton freezer hold, split into two compartments. Patti calls the Captain Joe a “Cadillac shrimp trawler.” The wheelhouse electronics mark the era the vessel fished in. The boat’s Furuno LC90MK11 and LP1000 loran C units are purely decorative now. On Jan. 7, 2010, the Department of Homeland Security officially turned off the loran system that guided seafarers for more than four decades.

Other electronics include a Furuno FR8050D radar and a Furuno FCV color video depth sounder, as well as two VHFs, an Icom and a Yaesu. Other communications equipment includes a Sea222, single sideband radio, and Standard Horizon LH10 loudhailer. GPS and satcoms were just starting to come online when the Captain Joe stopped fishing.

On deck, the vessel has a double drum McElroy 505-6BD winch powered by a hydraulic motor with 10-inch catheads, and a single trynet winch powered by a 5-hp electric motor with stainless steel cable and level winds, and two new hydraulic boom winches. With her full complement of trawl doors and 51-foot shrimp nets, the boat is almost ready to fish. She just needs some updated navigation equipment, and a captain and crew. While the vessel has a captain’s stateroom and crews quarters with double bunks for four, the usual crew is a captain plus two.

When the boat was fishing commercially, she would make trips of up to six weeks.

“They had a brine freezer on deck,” says Patti. “They would IQF the shrimp and put them in sacks that held about 30 pounds.”

According to Patti the boat usually took a crew of six on those trips.

“After we sold all our boats, this one became a skimmer trainer for other boats during the BP oil spill.” Even if the price of shrimp went up, Patti is pretty sure his father would not fish. “He wants her right there,” he says. “More than a few people have wanted to buy her. They’ve offered him good money. But he doesn’t want to sell.”

The vessel means a lot to owner Frank Patti Sr., who keeps the boat nestled at the wharf near his fish market. “She’s named after my daddy,” Patti Sr. says. “We get upwards of 2,000 customers a day on a slow day, and people take a lot of interest in her.

I think it’s the most photographed boat in the country.”

Frank Patti Jr. has one idea that involves the Captain Joe dipping a net again. “I’d like to take people out on evening cruises, food and drinks, and we could tow a little trynet for a little while and bring it up, so people could see what’s down there.” Not that they would catch their dinner, he notes.

The new role of the recently restored Captain Joe is not to bring home shrimp, but to educate consumers, letting them know what goes into the seafood they enjoy — and what it’s really worth.

“It’s not fish ye’re buying — it’s men’s lives,” as Sir Walter Scott wrote in 1816.

Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman and the author of “The Doryman’s Reflection.”

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 25

BOATS & GEAR: FISHFINDING

WHAT YOU SEE IS WHAT YOU GET

Furuno combines increased processing capacity and new software with its FSV25 to give fishermen a user-friendly visual.

Advances in transducers and computer processing speed are helping fishermen see below the waves in 3-D

By Paul Molyneaux

att Wood, national sales manager at Furuno USA, learned about sonar on the job, facilitating joint ventures with the Russians in the 1990s. It probably helped that he speaks Russian.

He’s seen a lot of changes in the industry and still gets excited about innovations with sounders and sonars. “The transducers are changing,” he says, speaking from his home office. “And the equipment is changing. But what’s changing radically in the last two or three years is the way we visualize the information. What people like now are our PC sounders and sonars, and these are scalable.” Furuno has systems for almost any application, from small recreational fishing vessels to freezer trawlers.

At the top of the scale is Furuno’s F3DS software combined with the latest FSV25 color scanning sonar. “It offers a 3-D view 360 degrees around the vessel, from the surface to the bottom,” says Wood.

“We’re selling mostly to the big trawlers in Europe. They can look directly ahead and to the side. If they see fish ahead but they slip to the side before the boats gets there, the captain can steer onto them.”

He notes that more economical systems like the DFF3D can benefit bluefin tuna fishermen like those off the coast of Maine.

The new Furuno sonar combination has evolved from advances in transducer and PC processing capacities. “We’re leveraging the speed of processors and more sophisticated graphics cards,” says Wood. “That’s what enables us to do this.” He notes that conventional multifunction displays don’t have enough memory to handle all the information the new transducers can collect. “Young captains have grown up with a PC mouse in their hand,” says Wood. “For them it’s easier to manipulate data with a PC.” The data comes from the transducer. And with multibeam 26 National Fisherman \ July 2020

Furuno

M

transducers, the data harvest varies. Furuno’s DFF3D for example can be purchased for under $3,000 and has eight elements, each one sending pulses at various frequencies and directions. The WASSP transducer often used with the Furuno TimeZero bottom builder program, has 112 elements. “Each one has two detection points,” says Wood. “That gives you 224 detection points and more detail.”

The information coming from these new systems is helping fishermen understand fish behavior, Wood believes, enabling greater operational efficiency. “Fishermen know where the fish are, but they don’t always know why,” he says. “For example a herring fisherman, Alan Ottness, started creating pictures of the area he had fished for years. His bottom sounder showed him variations in depth, but now he can see the entire area. He calls it craters of the moon because there are all these craters there where the fish concentrate.”

Wood notes that Furuno is not alone. “To give them their due, everyone is depicting 3-D imaging now, Simrad, Olex, iXblue — the French company.”

Simrad Introduced its SN90 sonar last year.The SN90’s forwardlooking fixed transducer eliminates the risks associated with large through-hull fittings associated with movable transducers.With recent upgrades, the system remains a milestone in sonar development.

Mike Hillers, general manager for Simrad Fisheries, points out that with transducers there are two main issues for maximizing performance: the first is matching to the transceiver, and the second is efficiency.“For matching, the key is frequency of course,” says Hillers. www.nationalfisherman.com

Furuno

BOATS & GEAR: FISHFINDING

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

Furuno’s 3-D systems improve fishing performance and reduce bycatch by enabling fishermen to see more of what’s around them, including species differentiation.

mass — bronze — then the ceramic and then a lighter mass — aluminum. This configuration directs the sound out the face of the transducer, whereas a ceramic on its own will send out sound in all directions.

“The third and newest style of transducer is a composite ceramic transducer,” says Hillers. “A block of ceramic is cut into staves and reassembled. These composite transducers have the best performance in a broadband (CHIRP) system.”

Transducer size, Hillers points out, is related to the frequency, the beam angle, and the power handling capability. “A small ceramic cannot physically take a huge amount of power. A bigger transducer is generally a lower frequency,” he says.

The French company iXblue has its own

version of a 360 degree 3-D sonar, called Seapix. According to the company, Seapix is a complete, standalone system combining an acoustic sensor with its own data processing system for analysis of the marine environment. The company claims that Seapix can assess 20 times more fish and seabed area than classic multibeam sonars.

“For the first time in the fishery market, a volumetric 3-D sonar provides realistic fish evaluation and full ecosystem description. Skippers can now select fish species and improve both profitability and sustainability,” says the company’s literature.

Features of the Seapix system include: volumetric biomass assessment with 120° x 120° water volume coverage, fish species discrimination, and bathymetry mapping and

Simrad

“A 38kHz transducer, for example, must go with a 38kHz transceiver, but with the advent of broadband (CHIRP) systems, it is even more important. A mismatch can cause the destruction of components, usually the transmitter.”

In terms of efficiency, Hillers points out that it’s a matter of power — 1,000W, 2,000W, etc. “This is a measurement of the amount of power coming out of the transmitter and is not an indication of system performance,” says Hillers. “One of the keys to system performance requires an efficient transducer because the energy (electrical power) coming from the transmitter is being converted to sound energy by the transducer. An inefficient transducer or one not matched to the transmitter will not send out enough sound to justify the high power of the transmitter.”

Hillers notes that construction of transducers affects their performance. “There are three basic transducer construction techniques,” says Hillers. “Wire-wound either ferrite or nickel — only in use today with low-frequency, high-power systems.” According to Hillers, most transducers today are ceramic, consisting of single or multiple ceramic disks that receive the power and resonate physically to generate sound energy. While this style of transducer has traditionally been used for a single frequency, it is now being used in CHIRP systems (although transducers designed to CHIRP give better performance over a wider frequency range).

“This style of transducer at lower frequencies is usually made with multiple ceramics,” says Hillers, pointing out that these ceramic modules consist of a heavy

The best fishfinding sonars and bottom sounders begin with transducers. For the last decade, multifrequency CHIRP transducers have been changing the way fishermen see fish.

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 27

BOATS & GEAR: FISHFINDING

Simrad photos

A trawl hydrophone pod forward and a down sounder transducer to the rear.

Simrad’s SN90, here on a bulbous bow, has a fixed forward and downward-looking transducer.

seabed analysis. The iXblue system offers fishermen real-time descriptions of whole ecosystem and fishing action, all merged into one navigation and charting system.

According to iXblue, Seapix offers the advantages of advanced sounders and sonar, creating a volumetric visualization of the underwater environment, much like Furuno’s system.

To overcome the challenges involved in delivering such a carefully targeted product for the fishing industry, iXblue’s engineering teams homed in on groundbreaking technological solutions. Seapix generates one or more scan swaths along or across the vessel axis, thus providing total three-dimensional coverage of the water column, a bathymetric profile of the seabed, and identification of sediment type. Its transducer generates several simultaneous multibeam transmissions and acoustic processes to yield high quality measurements of the marine environment. iXblue vaunts Seapix as one of the

easiest sonar systems to install. The “all in one” sonar housing concept dramatically eases vessel arrangement and cabling constraints.

The sonar antenna unit (SAU) includes both acoustic arrays, electronic boards and processing unit, and a 3-D motion sensor for stabilization.The SAU can be installed in conventional downward-looking configurations, or as forward-looking or side-looking, depending on the fishing applications. The

28 National Fisherman \ July 2020

Craig Cushman

Transducer reception is the goal, sending out a strong signal and a data-rich return signal.

Power and efficiency are the keys to transducer performance, say experts like Airmar’s, Craig Cushman.

Seapix SAU is very compact and can be installed in the same way as a conventional sounder (no moving parts).

Most fishfinder manufacturers are building on advances in transducers, particularly CHIRP, the technology that allows transducers to transmit and receive across a range of frequencies.

Technology is revealing in greater detail the once invisible world below the waves.

As transducers and processing capacities improve, fishermen are getting a whole new view of where the fish are.

“CHIRP actually came from the military in World War II,” says Craig Cushman, director of marketing at Airmar Technology, a major developer and manufacturer of transducers. “Since 2011 we’ve been using it to build bandwidth into transducers. Instead of one ping coming in, you have a hundred.

And the companies like Simrad and Furuno are building the receivers that can compress this into imagery.”

According to Cushman, nothing has changed the industry as much as CHIRP, but the company’s primary goal is to improve transducer efficiency. As noted by Hillers, efficiency is the key to getting information to the receivers. “Efficiency amounts to transmitting power into the water and reducing ringing,” says Cushman. “The ringing is the Q-value, the lower the better. Our mission is to get as much power as we can into the water and get it back.”

Airmar builds transducers for Simrad’s side-scan sonars and Furuno’s DFF3D systems, as well as for Notus, and its offshoot company, Marport. “We have something coming up with Marport,” says Cushman, “But we can’t talk about it yet.”

While the basis of the new technology is not so new, companies are bringing costs down to put advanced machines on all sizes of boats, and fishermen are using them to reduce bycatch and improve performance.

“They’re seeing a whole new world of electronic information out there that can help them,” says Cushman. “And more are starting to use it.”

Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman and author of “The Doryman’s Reflection.” www.nationalfisherman.com

WE’VE LAUNCHED

Our team is excited to announce the launch of a fully redesigned nationalfisherman.com.

The site has been rebuilt from the ground up with the needs of our commercial fishing audience in mind at every step of the way, and we cannot wait for you to check it out.

If you have signed up for Fish e-News, follow us on social, or subscribe to the digital edition of National Fisherman magazine, you already know we are committed to making our digital dispatches lively, current and customized.

The new site allows you to search for content by species, by region or navigate directly to the breaking news that is important to you. The redesign emphasizes the visual, improves readability and is designed with your mobility in mind. Commercial fishermen are on the go, and now NF fits right in your pocket.

The NF crew has been facilitating industry conversations for more than 70 years. The new nationalfisherman.com takes it to the next level with the NF Forum. Moderated by our editors as well as some industry leaders, you can use this space to ask questions, get feedback on gear, or just be social.

We hope you take a moment to visit the new site and let us know what you think. We built it just for you.

Experience the new nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE YARDS

SOUTH

Garvey builder keeps launching popular design; pandemic closures require industry to get more nimble

Jennings Boatyard

By Larry Chowning

This is the fourth garvey Jennings Boatyard in Reedville, Va., has completed for commercial fishermen. Garveys are growing in popularity among Chesapeake Bay oystermen.

T

30 National Fisherman \ July 2020

Incentives Program for gear cycling, rotating and cleaning 116 oyster cages. It later received funding and technical assistance through partnerships between the Natural Resources Conservation Service, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science and the Virginia Marine Resources Commission.

These partnerships with oystermen helped jump-start Virginia’s successful aquaculture fishery. The byproduct of that success is that some Virginia boatbuilders are getting orders for new boats.

Jennings builds his garveys out of Coosa composite board, which is a core material with fiberglass embedded in it.The hull, interior lining and top deck are glued together with 5200

Continued on page 33

Larry Chowning

he type of water being worked in and gear used by commercial fishermen determines specific features built into workboats. This is evident in Virginia, where Jennings Boatyard in Reedville launched its fourth garvey for the Chesapeake Bay’s oyster cage aquaculture fishery in April.

The garvey style has become a popular working platform for oystermen growing oysters in cages. Oystermen need a fast boat to get to and from oyster grounds, with plenty of flat deck surface to carry loaded and empty cages and a shallow enough draft to work in 6 to 16 inches of water. The vessel also has to have the deck space for a hydraulic mast/gaff used to haul cages from the water.

Larry Jennings’ 27' x 10' garvey provides all those features. The firm’s latest vessel is for Purcell’s Seafood of Burgess,Va.The garvey will be used in the firm’s oyster aquaculture business. Purcell’s Seafood ships oysters all over the United States and to Canada.

The firm is an example of how Virginia’s investment in oyster aquaculture is paying off.

Purcell’s Seafood first started experimenting with aquaculture in 2004 using rack-and-bag culture. The firm moved to growing oysters in cages. The company received financial assistance through the Environmental Quality

3M adhesive. The new garvey will be powered by a DF250-hp Suzuki V6 outboard engine.

The engine is mounted on a stainless-steel bracket with a hydraulic Atlas Jack Plate. As the boat moves along into shoal waters, the hydraulic driven jack plate raises the motor up to provide more draft.

Jennings has orders for three more garveys. One is for an oysterman on the Northern Neck of Virginia, and the other two are for Montauk, N.Y., recreational fishermen who plan to use the boats for hook-and-line striped bass fishing.

Cape Charles Yacht Center in Cape Charles, Va., had the 62.5' x 19.1' x 6.2' deck boat Myrtle Virginia up on the hard in April.

Owner Floyd “Bunky” Chance of Talbot County, Md., had planned to haul his boat closer to home. The coronavirus pandemic, however, resulted in a shutdown of the yard in Maryland he had made arrangements with to haul the boat.

“I wanted to haul her a little closer to home, but I needed her ready for the opening day of shell season on May 11,” he says. Cape Charles was the closest haul for a boat the size of Myrtle Virginia.

Chance uses the boat to haul and plant oyster shells in Maryland’s Department of Natural Resources Habitat Oyster Restoration Program. This year, the program is scheduled to plant a total of 200,000 bushels of shell on Maryland’s public oyster grounds, says Chance.

The Myrtle Virginia will haul and plant about 20,000 bushels of that total.

Chance and his 13-year-old grandson, Christian, scraped and painted the bottom and

The Myrtle Virginia had to be hauled at Cape Charles Yacht Center in Cape Charles, Va., after a yard in Maryland closed down because of the coronavirus pandemic.

www.nationalfisherman.com

AROUND THE YARDS

NORTHEAST

Fire-damaged lobster boat in for repairs; lobstering clan sticks with what it knows best

Jon Johansen

By Michael Crowley

The Pull N’ Pray is undergoing restoration work at Wayne Beal Boats after an engine fire caused extensive damages.

A

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the boat’s owner, Mitchell White, is running trawls offshore.This winter, “he’s in to extend out the wheelhouse with an overhang,” says Beal, and have lobster tanks installed under the platform. After a season of fishing with the lengthened hull, Beal says White “likes the addition. She don’t sink her ass in as much, and he gained an average 10 gallons

Continued on page 33

Jon Johansen

t Wayne Beal Boats in Jonesport, Maine, a Wayne Beal 32 lobster boat is being built. “It’s a hard chine 32 for my father,” says Jeremy Beal. “This will probably be his last new one.” It so happens that Jeremy’s father is Wayne Beal who, when not building boats, had been lobstering from a Bruno & Stillman until he sold it this winter.

Beal describes his father’s new boat as “pretty traditional.” That includes an open wheelhouse with a post and probably V-berths forward. Though the construction will be mostly composite, which isn’t so traditional for a Jonesport-built lobster boat.

Power for the 32-footer will come from a 500-hp Cummins. Beal says the hoped-for completion date was in time for the Boothbay Lobster Boat Races on June 20. The race has since been canceled.

Last winter, Wayne Beal Boats lengthened a 44 Calvin to 48 feet with a stern extension to carry more lobster traps when

fuel on his normal day hauling. Gained a knot on cruise and stayed the same on wideopen throttle.”

Also in the shop is the Pull N’ Pray, a Wayne Beal 40 lobster boat built in 1998 that caught fire on Long Island. “The injectors cracked or the line cracked and he had a dry exhaust, and it caught off his exhaust,” Beal says.

The fire took everything on the topside of the deck. Below the floor flange the damage wasn’t so bad, except for a couple of spots. One of those was an 8' x 2' 6" long section near the waterline, and there “were a couple of places the size of basketballs.” The bad sections were cut out and filled in with new laminates.

Sitting outside was a Holland 38 lobster and scallop boat from Gouldsboro that is due for a new wheelhouse. “We’ll take the old kit-built house off it and put one of my father’s 36 houses on,” says Beal, adding that the “kit-built house rotted.”

Down in Friendship, Maine, Friendship Boats was closing in on finishing two lobster boats. In both cases the owners are moving up in hull size; it’s an appreciable jump in length for the Vinalhaven fisherman who is replacing his 20-footer with a Wayne Beal 36.

Below decks the 36' x 13' lobster boat has a lobster tank and two fuel tanks that will hold 400 gallons. There’s a split wheelhouse and up forward are V-berths, a cabinet and some shelves. “It’s a couple of weeks away from completion,” said Friendship Boats’ Randy Young during the first week in April.

This Friendship Boats-built Wayne Beal 36 is replacing a Vinalhaven lobsterman’s 20-footer.

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 31

AROUND THE YARDS

Dragger gets some crew-comfort renovations; 54-year-old crabber sponsoned and lengthened

Hansen Boat Co.

By Michael Crowley

The Hansen Boat Co. built a new gantry for the Mark I and rebuilt the crew’s quarters.

he Mark I, a 100-foot dragger out of Seattle, left Hansen Boat Co. in Everett, Wash., in February, after extensive repairs and the installation of a new pipe gantry. The Mark I was launched in 1967 as one of the “really early crab boats,” says Hansen Boat Co.’s Rick Hansen.

Since then she has been sponsoned, and in 2006 Hansen Boat Co. built her a new pilothouse.

This time around, consideration was given to crew comfort as the Mark I was in to have the main deck’s interior rebuilt.

The options, however, were somewhat limited, as when the interior was torn apart it was revealed that the walls were all steel bulkheads. “So we ended up not moving anything,” says Hansen. But once the work was completed, the Mark I’s crew had a new galley, three new staterooms and a head. One of the staterooms was fashioned from a large stateroom with four bunks. However, four bunks weren’t needed. Thus, “we split (the stateroom) and gave them a mudroom, so they can get in and out of deck gear and store it without having to go into staterooms,”

T

32 National Fisherman \ July 2020

says Hansen. Rusty, leaking doors were replaced with watertight doors.

New flooring went down in the galley and staterooms — some of which are above the engine room — consisting of an epoxy underlayment over which was glued 3/8-inch-thick rubber tiles that Hansen describes as “real dense rubber.”

He assumes that would deaden some of the sounds coming from the engine room.

After everything was finished, he remembers, “the crew was pretty excited about their new accommodations.”

In early April, the 112-foot tender Sea Ern and the 110-foot dragger Nordic Fury were in for repairs, and the crabber Kari Marie was due to arrive. The Sea Ern will be at Hansen Boat Co. for a couple of months to have her refrigeration system gone over and will be hauled for shaft and bottom work and painting.

The Nordic Fury, which shows up every couple of years, was hauled for hull painting and shaft maintenance. The Kari Marie is having her bulwarks and crab pot launcher repaired, and “the deck crane needs some new pins,” says Hansen.

“Things are getting sloppy.”

Down in Crescent City, Calif., Fashion Blacksmith hauled the Jaka B on March 18 to be lengthened and sponsoned.

The 57' x 15' Dungeness crabber, shrimper and tuna boat out of Newport, Ore., was built in 1966 in Toledo, Ore., and given a midbody section in the late 1990s at Fred Wahl Marine Construction in Reedsport, Ore. When the Jaka B leaves Fashion Blacksmith in July or August, she will have been stretched out to 61' x 24'.

The Jaka B is being sponsoned and lengthened “primarily just for safety,” says Fashion Blacksmith’s Ted Long, and by “safety,” he means stability. That and Continued on page 33

Fashion Blacksmith is lengthening and sponsoning the crabber Jaka B to 61' x 24'.

www.nationalfisherman.com

Fashion Blacksmith

WEST

AROUND THE YARDS

Around the Yards: South

Around the Yards: Northeast

Around the Yards: West

Continued from page 30

Continued from page 31

Continued from page 32

hull, and caulked seams. “I guess I was lucky we didn’t need any bottom or side boards replaced, but we did plenty of chinking (caulking) to get her ready,” he says.

Walt and Seth Chandler of Onancock, Va., were first featured in this column in the July 2014 issue for building a 29' x 11.6' x 6', semi V-bottom pram-bowed barge for an oysterman. The father and son boatbuilding team currently have a 30' x 12.6' recreational houseboat nearly complete made of glass-over-wood.

Interestingly, the Chandlers have gotten into a niche market building onshore “net houses” for clammers and crabbers who work the seaside of Virginia’s Eastern Shore.

The wooden A-frame roof sheds with garage doors are used by watermen for storage of trailered work skiffs; for making crab pots; and mending and storage of nets used in the seaside clam fishery. When clams are growing on the bottom, nets are used to blanket clams to protect them from skates, its number one predator. The Chandlers are currently building a fourth net house. The houses are located at Willis Wharf and Quinby,Va. Diversification and survival in the South’s boatbuilding trade go hand-in-hand. “All we really want to do is build boats, but we have to do what we have to do to keep going,” says Walt Chandler.

The second lobster boat is a Young Brothers 42 that will leave Friendship partially completed, going to its owner, a Portland lobsterman who will finish the work. He has been fishing a Young Brothers 40. In early April, the boatyard was about three-quarters done with its part of the project on the 42' x 15' 8" hull, which includes building a composite split wheelhouse and part of the platform. Down below will be a full berth, bulkheads, rope lockers and a closet.

When the boat arrives in Portland, its owner will install an 800-hp Cat, the drive train, hydraulics and then finish off the platform. With that Cat, Young predicts the 42-footer “should scoot along in the high 30s.”

The Young Brothers line of boats is woven into the Portland lobsterman’s fishing history. Young finished off his father’s Young Brothers 45 in 1993; his brother fishes from a Young Brothers 45 and when the new 42-footer is nearly completed, he’ll be selling his current boat, a 40' x13' 6" Young Brothers.

A Mussel Ridge 28 — previously known as the Wayne Beal 28 — is due to come in the shop.Young will finish that off as a lobster boat for his two grandsons. It should be in the water in June with a 500-hp Duramax diesel bolted to the engine stringers.

“keeping up with other vessels around him that had done that. It’s a competitive thing.”

The boat’s owner, Mike Pettis, initially wasn’t sure the 54-year-old Jaka B would be a candidate for lengthening and sponsoning because of her age. However, Long says the Jaka B checked out to have good, heavy original frames and most of the shell plating was in good shape. “Turned out to be a real good candidate.”

The Jaka B is also getting a new rudder tube and steering components. They will be built in Newport, Ore., at Kevin Hill Marine Service and installed by Fashion Blacksmith. Though the Jaka B will leave as a wider and longer boat, Long doesn’t think she will need to be repowered since she got an 855-hp Cummins a few years ago. “It will have plenty of power for its size,” he says, but it may be necessary to go with a bigger propeller, depending how the Jaka B performs once it’s back in the water.

After the Jaka B leaves Crescent City, the next boat in for sponsoning is another fishing boat out of Newport, Ore. It’s the Kraken, owned by Clint Funderburg whose tuna boat, the Widgeon, Fashion Blacksmith sponsoned and lengthened in 2019. (See ATY West, Oct. 2019, p. 37.)

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BOATS & GEAR: PRODUCTS

Product Roundup

Electric revolution Evoy’s electric outboards aim to cut boat emissions

By Brian Hagenbuch orway’s Evoy is putting the finishing touches on an engine that will be among the most powerful electric outboard motors on the market. The emission-free Evoy Pro is rated at 150 horsepower, calculated as an average between the motor’s peak and continuous running power.

With a mission to eliminate boat emissions, Evoy started in 2018 with an electric inboard, which has a continuous rating of 400 horsepower and a peak rating of 800 horsepower, putting it at the top of the electric inboard class.

Evoy CEO Leif Stavøstrand said the engine has been popular with fish farmers on the coast of Norway, but battery longevity is still an issue for wild fisheries. But that is

N

changing.

“If you look at the private market today, there is no other place where they’ve spent more money in R&D than batteries,” he said. Evoy is banking on batteries that are improving in power and run-time by 5 to 10 percent annually.

Right now, the Evoy Pro provides about one to two hours of full-speed run-time, depending on the size and weight of the boat and the battery configuration.

“That’s at 20 to 25 knots, but if you go down to 5 knots, we can typically do around 12 hours. And if you go all the way down to 3 knots you can do 24 hours,” Stavøstrand said.

“There could be some trap fisheries

This outboard is clean, quiet and efficient.

and other applications for people who are closer to the shore,” Stavøstrand said, adding that more applications should open up as batteries improve.

“And of course, the maintenance part of it is a different world. You just get so much more reliability. As an example, on our inboard, your first service check is after 15,000 hours’ run time,” Stavøstrand said.

Pre-orders for the Evoy Pro are expected to start this summer, with the engines rolling out in the first quarter of 2021.

EVOY

www.evoy.no

A breathable boot Bekina’s new StepliteX Stormgrip comes with cush and grip

By Brian Hagenbuch hile the fishing deck boot market has been dominated by Xtratuf for years, the recent addition of Grundéns DeckBoss boots provided a welcome option for fishermen. And now Bekina Boots has added a third, very viable option to the mix.

A Belgian bookmaker, Bekina has been making industrial footwear for agriculture, construction, and food production since 1962. Over the past couple years, it has been using its accumulated knowledge and working with fishermen to develop its first boot designed specifically for commercial fishing, the StepliteX Stormgrip.

“The Stormgrip is a development of almost two years whereby the specific needs of fisherman were taken into consideration.

T W

34 National Fisherman \ July 2020

The first one is the need of high anti-slip properties, whereby a specific rubber sole was developed with a proprietary rubber compound and a sole design inspired from the profile of a winter tire,” said Manuel Rodriguez, a business development manager at Bekina.

The grip on the sole is SRC-certified, and the thick yellow pads on the soles also provide soft cushioning and more resistance to wear. A cushy footbed helps during long days and nights on your feet, and the outsole has a sleek, closed profile to avoid getting caught up in nets.

Made from Bekina’s patented Neotane, a unique blend of polyurethane materials, the boots are lightweight and flexible, with a shape that has proven comfort.

Lightweight, grippy and comfortable.

The boot is made of single mold, which should help avoid any issues with delaminating, and the Neotane should shed oils and slippery chemicals that may be underfoot.

Neotane has also been proven to have good thermal properties, with a layer of tiny air bubble structuring that insulates and provides some breathability. A metal-free toe cap and thicker midsole provide some protection to the toes and top of the foot.

The StepliteX Stormgrip feels light, springy and agile on the feet, and is a wider fitting boot that tends to run a bit big, so think about ordering a size down.

BEKINA BOOTS

www.bekina-boots.com

www.nationalfisherman.com

AT A GLANCE

The new ACR ELECTRONICS AISLINK CB2 PACKAGE combines existing ACR technology to provide quicker, more precise man-overboard response. This AIS kit communicates with the CB2 transponder as well as boats within five miles to pinpoint the subject. In conjunction, the MOB1 also activates an alarm on VHF radio, alerting fellow crew members. Easily integrated into a life jacket, it measures just 134 x 38 X 27 mm and weighs 90 grams and includes a builtin strobe handle. A second handle can be added for more security.

ACR ELECTRONICS

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FURUNO has introduced the third generation of its MFD touch-screen series with the NAVNET TZTOUCH3, with more features on larger displays that come in 12-, 16- or 19-inch models.

These all-glass, multitouch IPS displays have powerful quad-core processors that make NavNet’s TimeZero technology even more immediate, offering quick response time on four-way split screen. All models include the dual-channel TruEcho CHIRP Fish Finder with high signal clarity. Built to be user-friendly and intuitive, it retains NavNet’s hallmark for scalability.

Cleanliness is always important on the boat, but sanitizing is even more of a priority now. LIFE INDUSTRIES CORP., a manufacturer of care and maintenance products for boats, has responded to the call by turning out the disinfecting solution SANITIZER. It is made with benzalkonium chloride, which is common in many antibacterial soaps and wipes, and is an alternative to alcohol sanitizers that is approved by both the FDA and CDC. It comes in 4-ounce or 12-ounce spray bottles.

Seafood container leader SÆPLAST has added the new DWS352 to its line.

This 48- by 48-inch, double-walled polyurethane flow-through container is purpose-built for storing, transporting, and purging oysters, clams and mussels. The design optimizes oxygenation, with even waterflow at 12,000 to 15,000 liters. Integrated into the tub are water channels and a waste separator, and properly placed drains allow for complete drainage. Lid and RFID and bar codes are optional.

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INTELLIAN’S recently launched 2.4M V240MT GEN-II satcom antenna system delivers enhanced C, Ku and Ka band for better network efficiency and higher throughput. This latest generation also offers more flexibility and features, with the ability to manage up to eight antennas at the same time for easy, smooth connectivity and maximum performance. The systems can also be managed remotely, which can help save costs and make service and maintenance easier and more efficient.

The new GRUNDIES THERMAL BOTTOM and THERMAL 1/4 ZIP TOP from GRUNDÉNS are a well-designed midlayer to replace cotton hoodies and sweatpants. The heaviest weight of the new and improved Grundies line is built to wear under raingear, but can be worn for lounging in the galley without offending.

Flatlock seams, zippered pockets and anti-odor treatment in the fabric make these nylon, polyester and spandex blend garments perfect for the boat. The activefit tops tend to run small, so order a size up, but bottoms should be true to size.

FURUNO

INTELLIAN TECHNOLOGIES

GRUNDÉNS

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To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 35

CLASSIFIEDS

CLASSIFIEDS

BOATS FOR SALE BOATS FOR SALE

1997 Island Hopper 58’ x 24’ Steel Limit Seiner 2018 Equipped with a Cummings C 350 Hpsets.

Engine Twin 8.9 Cummins, 80/40/12KW Gen Removable aft Total hours: approx 3,000 cabin with additional living quarters for charter or family, Large Fishing Wellis 150,000lbs, shallow draft-48”, two fish hold capacity Tacklechillers, Center 7 ton flash freeze system. Sleeps 12 in 6 25ton Stern rooms, Thruster state 4 steering stations, 4 heads/showers, sauna, Much more... hydronic heating. Galvanized cranes, mast, and crows nest, 1000 lb Navy Anchor, vessel weight is 200,000 lbs., 16” Price: $70,000 bow thruster, trans vac pump. Apitong decking on stainless Contact: 631-587-8670 or Email dan@simssteel.com support members. Fully outfitted to seine, tender, or charter, current contracts on vessel.

46’ 42 Newton ft Fiberglass Freezer Troller Totally inside out. 700 HP luggers, “0” hours.

AKKOnew CHAN, 42 ftand Fiberglass Freezer Troller Very clean, 8 KW new phasor generator. steering All new well-maintained.

Brand new 3John Deerestations.

240 hp engine inhydraulics by 2 steering stations.

All brand new electronstalled 2017, new gear, twin disc, new exhaust and tail shaft; ics and down.

All new entire lotsupstairs of fishing gear included.

Thiswiring vesselthrough is readythe to fish. boat. Too much extras to list.

Price: $180,000 (CDN). Serious inquiries only.

Contact: 250-559-4637 or 250-637-1997 Price: $425,000 OBO Contact: Call - Gary 305-393-1415

Price: $4,100,000 Contact: 907-717-4427

How to place a Classified ad?

You can place a classified advertisement National SPORTFISH Fisherman by using one of 46 ftinWESMAC 2005 thewith following Cat C18 803 hp 1400 hrs.methods: Extended warranty to 3500 hrs Or March 2021, 18-20 knot cruise @80% load,750 gal. fuel. 9k generator, 3 stations, 4 plotters, 2 1 heat pumps,water maker, 600 lb. ice maker, 3 fighting chairs, Rupp outriggers. ONLINE You can place your ad 24 hours a day, 7 days a week online at www.nationalfisherman.com 2

By Phone or Email You may place your ad, correct or cancel by calling 800-842-5603 or email our classifieds sales rep wjalbert@divcom.com Price: $575,000 Contact: Call Bill @ 252-241-2651 or email at: a1a.bvs@gmail.com 36 National Fisherman \ July 2020 To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

31’ JC East Coast 1979 Lobster Boat Split hull design, Wheelhouse raised about 16”, New B Series, Turbo Road 250h Cummins with 1500 hrs. Two bunks. 12” crab block and davit. Furuno radar model, a 1622 Furuno GPS navigator ICOM, ICOM 45 VHF, Garman GPS map 2006, ComNav auto pilot w/ exterior joystick, AM/FM CD player w/ interior & exterior speakers, Deck lights, new large electrical panel, 3 access points to engine room, two 8D batteries, Dripless shaft packing, Three blade bronze prop. VOLVO ENGINE- CTAMB 63L, 236 HP @2500 RPM, 1450 Bobtail, merries up to a #3 bell house, 7000 plus hours - $12,500. POSSIBLE TRANSMISSION AVAIL- Twin Disc 506- $4300.00 Price: $68,000 Engine: $12,500 Contact: Doug 805-218-0626 www.nationalfisherman.com January 2020 \ National Fisherman 41

CLASSIFIEDS

BOATS FOR SALE

Jarvis Newman 36ft Fly Bridge Cruiser

42 ft Fiberglass Freezer Troller

1980 Semi Displacement Trawler/Long Rang/, New England Pilot House Fishing/Workboat. 370 Yanmar - 14 knot Cruise.

2380 hrs. on engine. Boat located, Florida West Coast.

Reduced Price!! – AKKO CHAN, 42 ft Fiberglass Freezer Troller, Very clean, well-maintained. Brand new John Deere 240 hp engine installed 2017, new gear, twin disc, new exhaust and tail shaft; lots of fishing gear included. This vessel is ready to fish.

Price: Asking $68,000

Price: $175,000 (CDN).

Contact: Call Rick at (713) 249-0351

Contact: Call 250 559 4637 or 250 637 1997

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES LOBSTER TANK ROOM & BUYING STATION Available in Portland, Maine. Lobster tank room & buying station. Concrete tank will float 125 crates. Can be double stacked in tank. Contact Ian Mayo at #(207)210-8335 or call General Marine Construction at (207) 772-5354.

To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 37

CLASSIFIEDS

BUSINESS OPPORTUNITIES

BUSINESS FOR SALE BOAT BUILDING & FIBERGLASS FABRICATION Southeast coastal North Carolina.

Complete operation. 15 thru 22ft.

In active production owner retiring.

Call Pete at: 910-675-1877

HELP WANTED

MATES/CHIEF ENGINEERS WANTED Tradition Mariner LLC is looking for qualified Mates and Chief Engineers to serve aboard their fleet of 1000 ton to 1400 ton capacity High Seas Tuna Vessels for extended voyages at sea.

For more information, please visit our website:

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South Pacific Tuna Corporation is currently seeking qualified and experienced individuals for the following positions aboard a Class Six purse seine fishing vessel: MASTER CHIEF ENGINEER CHIEF MATE For details, please refer to our webiste www.sopactuna.com or contact: Robert Virissimo bobbyv@sopactuna.com

**LOOKING FOR A USCG LICENSED CHIEF ENGINEER** For an uninspected fishing vessel, a Tuna Purse Seine operation with 4000HP and 1500 MT Cargo Capacity. Must hold a current USCG Engineer’s License, have a minimum 3 years experience with this type of operation. This Full Time position operating out of American Samoa and several other Western Pacific Ports and Requires experience and working knowledge of EMD and CAT engines, R717 Refrigeration / Freezing system, Hydraulic Systems, etc.Please submit Resume and license info to PPFisheries@gmail.com

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Seeking potential US Licensed Chief Engineers and Mates That have experience operating and maintaining large scale tuna purse seiners operating in the South Pacific. Carrying capacity of the vessel is 1600MT of Tuna and trip lengths vary from 30 to 60 days. Contract is on a trip by trip basis.

Please contact: schikami@westpacfish.com 38 National Fisherman \ July 2020

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CLASSIFIEDS

LAW

MARINE GEAR

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NORTHERN LIGHTS 38KW GENERATOR FOR SALE Model M944T3.3. Excellent Condition, low hours, professionally maintained. 60 Hz, 1800 rpm, 120/240V, 158.3 AMPS, Single Phase. Upgraded sound enclosure, Includes NL Control Panel. Two units available: Will sell as pair or individually $12,500 each or $23,000 pair.Located in Pompano Beach, FL. Call Jim (954) 654-1119

LIFESAVING MAN OVERBOARD EQUIPMENT START UP SEEKING PARTNERS. Ohio startup company with innovative patented technology seeking business partners, joint ventures, or other collaborative terms to commercialize lifesaving equipment for onboard marine and public safety agency water and ice rescue. Willing to relocate.

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Wanted Ad! Call Wendy (207) 842-5616 TAMD 60C VOLVO PENTA ENGINE FOR SALE Rebuilt 2012, 2700 hrs on rebuild, Ready to put in boat and run – all goes with it. Call for more details $12,500 John: 419-656-6328

wjalbert@divcomcom

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Keel Coolers Trouble free marine engine cooling since 1927!

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(New) SpinClearView S-300 Commercial grade marine clear view 12V window. Used on yachts, fishing, police, military, commercial vessels. The SpinClearView S-300 keeps a glass disk free of rain, snow and sea water by a nearly silent and fast rotation of 1500 rpm. $1,795.00 view more on tinyurl.com/ycob7ruh Cell/Tx: 707-322-9720 or Contact: david@satinbiz.com

CATCH A DOORMAT THIS SEASON.These lifelike, beautifully detailed coarse bristled mats will catch anyone’s eye on home/business doorstep, dock or cockpit.

Ideal fisherman, boaters gift. Fluke (brown, black) small (30”) $19.95, Large (43”) $36.95, Stripers (38” grey, black) $27.95, Red snappers (43” red, black) $28.95, Largemouth bass (43” green, black) $29.95, scallop (24” brown, black) $27.95. Send check or MO to A. McDonald, 629 Main St. Greenport, NY. 11944. MC or Visa accepted. Add $5.95 S&H to all orders. $10.95 Gulf/ West Coast, AK, HI. Retailers welcome. (631) 377-3040 July 2020 \ National Fisherman 41

CLASSIFIEDS

NOTICE

SERVICES

PUBLIC NOTICE California's Shark Fin Ban (fish & Game Code section 2021) prohibits the sale, offer for sale, trade, or distribution of the detached elasmobranch fins. The ban applies to the fins and tails of sharks, skates, and rays.

North Coast Fisheries, LLC. Recommends that fish buyers avoid cut skate wings, or risk possible enforcement action.

PERMITS Fresh Spot Prawns

Ocean run spot prawns caught in southeast Alaska.

PLACE YOUR ORDER TODAY FOR THIS FRESH DELICACY!!!

100 lb. minimum

907-401-0158

ADVERTISER INDEX

Big Blue Ocean Marine............................................................................20 www.bigblueoceanmarine.com

PERMIT FOR SALE Longline permit, Tuna, incidental sword & shark 91' 166 ton. Call George 804691-7021 $9,000.

Place an Ad! Call Wendy (207) 842-5616 wjalbert@divcom.com

SERVICES

Duramax Marine LLC...............................................................................13 www.DuramaxMarine.com Furuno USA........................................................................................... CV4 www.furunousa.com Furuno USA............................................................................................3, 5 www.furunousa.com George Law Firm LLC..............................................................................15 WWW.GEORGE-LAW.COM Imtra Corp.................................................................................................33 www.imtra.com Kinematics Marine Equipment Inc...........................................................19 www.kinematicsmarine.com Simrad Fisheries.......................................................................................11 www.simrad.com Marine Medical Systems..........................................................................20 www.marinemedical.com Marport Americas Inc............................................................................ CV2 www.marport.com Naust Marine............................................................................................19 www.naustmarine.com

WANTED Complete vessel documentation service to USCG regulations NMFS â—¼ Permit Transfers

(207) 596-6575

342 Gurnet Road, Brunswick, ME 04011

coastaldocumentationii@gmail.com

Wanted To Buy. Offshore Live Lobsters.

Top Dollar $$ Paid.

Call Pier 7 (located on Gloucester waterfront)

John (617)268-7797

42 National Fisherman \ July 2020

Pacific Marine Expo.............................................................................. CV3 www.pacificmarineexpo.com Patti Marine Enterprises, Inc....................................................................21 www.pattimarine.com R W Fernstrum & Company.....................................................................11 www.fernstrum.com SW Boatworks..........................................................................................15 www.swboatworks.com

www.nationalfisherman.com

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To subscribe, call 1-800-959-5073

July 2020 \ National Fisherman 43

Last

set

SOLOMONS ISLAND, MD. Waterman Tucker Brown, 81, starts this day clamming on the Frisky, a traditional 46-foot Chesapeake Bay deadrise, built in 1974 and rigged with a hydraulic clam dredge designed to harvest buried soft clams from the bottom without crushing their delicate shells.

Photo by Dan Duffy

44 National Fisherman \ July 2020

www.nationalfisherman.com

THE DATES ARE IN! The 2020 edition of Pacific Marine Expo will take place Tuesday, Dec. 1 through Thursday, Dec. 3!

Check out www.pacificmarineexpo.com for the latest updates on this year’s Expo.

Be a part of the largest and longest running commercial fishing and commercial marine tradeshow on the West Coast. Source new products, catch up with old friends and stay up-to-date on the latest industry news.

DECEMBER 1-3, 2020 CenturyLink Field Event Center

Seattle, WA Presented by:

Produced by:

We want to take this opportunity to assure our customers that our crew at Pacific Marine Expo will continue to prioritize the health and safety of our visitors, exhibitors, partners and staff, as we always have. As details are confirmed, we will be sharing an outline of the measures we will be taking to make sure your experience at this year’s show is safe, positive and productive.

MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME AT SEA TARGET YOUR CATCH WITH FURUNO

When your living depends on your catch, every trip counts, so you need to make the most of your time at sea.

Furuno's acoustic sensing technology finds fish faster by seeing farther and wider, as well as measuring fish size and school density in multiple locations simultaneously. Even in deep water, Furuno sensors maximize your time and effort. We make it simple, so you’ll always know the situation at a glance, and be ready to hit that quota by targeting your catch.

SearchLight SONAR

FCV1900/2100 TrueEcho CHIRP

CH500/CH600

Searchlight Sonar

WASSP Gen 3

3D Bottom Profiler

www.furunousa.com