47 minute read
Snapshot
Snapshot Who we are
Paige Bower / Petersburg, Alaska / Salmon, halibut, blackcod, herring roe-on-kelp, Dungeness crab, and sea cucumber diving
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mong that which falls within the expertise of shermen are knives: There’s the ubiquitous Victorinox utility knife, bleeding knives, llet knives, and knives to gut and clean specialized in shape and size to the species at hand, among many others. Learning how to use and maintain these blades is often part of the trade typically learned through experience.
But for Paige Bower it was a love of knives, or more precisely knifemaking, that brought her to her burgeoning career as a sherman in Southeast Alaska. And after three short years of working as crew, she’s found enough satisfaction on the to start buying into sheries even as she looks to invest in her knifemaking operation.
“One of the reasons I started shing was to support my knifemaking,” says Bower, 25. “It is de nitely doable — sh in summer and work on my knifemaking, leatherworking in the winter.”
Bower moved to Petersburg, Alaska, in 2018 from her home in Zillah, Wash., for adventure and to work with a community of knifemakers to further her metalworking craft. Petersburg also happened to be a bustling shing port with plenty of work for those willing to work hard.
“Zillah is in the middle of a desert, and Petersburg is in the middle of a rainforest,” she says. “They’re very different, but both are small towns with a strong sense of community.”
Bower quickly made connections and hopped on a salmon tender in June 2018 to learn the ropes on the water. Tendering is slow compared to actual shing, so in September that year, she joined a seiner to sh for chum salmon outside of Sitka. Her timing couldn’t have been better. For most in the fishing
industry it seems the con uence of a stellar catch and market price happen just a few times a decade, but for Bower it happened on her rst opener.
“I don’t think I’m allowed to talk about speci cs of what we caught and how much we made, but I will say my captain looked at me and said, ‘This isn’t normal,’” Bower says with a chuckle. “I did realize how much opportunity there is in shing, if you work hard and get lucky, you can make a lot really fast.”
After a winter of knifemaking and learning a new craft of leatherworking, Bower continued to develop her shing career crewing on Dungeness crab and salmon seining boats in Southeast Alaska in 2019. The following year, she continued with those two sheries, but also picked up longlining for halibut and blackcod.
This year Bower has been shing Dungeness crab, salmon, halibut and blackcod, but added the purchase of a Southern Southeast Alaska herring roeon-kelp permit and leased a sea cucumber dive permit — with the expectation of buying into the latter next year.
Her precociousness, self-con dence and skill has allowed Bower’s career on the water to take off quickly, but there have been challenges and learning experiences along the way — seasickness and stinging jelly sh notwithstanding.
“I think the biggest challenge at rst was being teachable and open to criticism,” she says. “I had to change my attitude a lot to let things roll off and not take things personally.”
With so much time on the water and growing responsibility on boats, Bower hasn’t let go of the craft that rst brought her to Alaska. She’s looking to downtime this winter to build her own hydraulic press, which would allow her to make layered Damascus steel blades in her own shop. If you’re interested in checking out Bower’s knifework, you can nd her at shawleatherworks.com and on Instagram @shawleatherworks. — Nick Rahaim
this summer that will propose to restore Roadless Rule protections for the Tongass National Forest, “returning stability and certainty to the conservation of 9.3 million acres of the world’s largest temperate old growth rainforest,” according to the department’s announcement.
“We see today’s announcement as a big win for our fi sheries and maintaining a sustainable economy,” said Linda Behnken, executive director of the Alaska Longline Fishermen’s Association, based in Sitka.
The Tongass National Forest is the largest intact temperate rainforest in the world, representing nearly a third of the planet’s remaining oldgrowth temperate rainforests. It holds more biomass per acre than any other rainforest in the world and stores more carbon than any other national forest in the United States. — Jessica Hathaway
West Coast/Pacifi c
Critical habitat for killer whales extended south
NMFS says expanded waters designation will not bring big management changes
The critical habitat designation for the endangered Southern Resident orca population covers nearly 16,000 square miles.
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he Biden administration extended critical habitat designations for the endangered Southern Resident orca population, to cover nearly 16,000 square miles of Paci c waters from Washington south to Point Sur, Calif.
The whales currently have had critical habitat protected in the inland waters of Washington state, where the Southern orca population of just 75 animals is highly dependent on king salmon — stocks that themselves are in danger from habitat loss in the region.
A nal order from NMFS, published in the Aug. 2 Federal Register and taking e ect Sept. 1, maintains the Puget Sound protected region and extends the critical habitat designation out to the 200-meter (656-foot) sea oor contour.
“This revision is based on over a decade of research that improved our knowledge of Southern Resident killer whales’ geographic range, diet, and habitat needs, including their movements up and down the West Coast,” according to a NMFS announcement. The new area covers 15,910 square miles o Washington, Oregon, and California from the U.S. international border with Canada south to Point Sur.
During a lengthy public comment period, the agency heard from groups and individuals with a wide range of positions — from contending the rule does not do enough to protect the whales, to worries that habitat designation would impose new burdens on maritime and shing industries.
But in its own Federal Register responses, NMFS says it does not expect the habitat designation to force management changes.
“Designation of critical habitat does not establish a refuge or sanctuary for the species or automatically close areas to speci c activities, but rather it guides federal agencies to consult with NMFS if their actions may a ect critical habitat,” agency o cials wrote. “In the case of commercial sheries… we consider it unlikely that the
MARKET REPORT: Pacifi c Urchins
Covid delayed removal, harvesters pin hopes on kelp recovery
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he pandemic put the kibosh on last year’s efforts to remove purple urchins and restore plots to natural kelp habitat on the recreational dive side of the program, but commercial divers were able to remove purple urchins from 10-acre tracts near Mendocino and Monterey.
“The recreational side during covid was pretty much halted,” says Josh Russo, president of the Watermen’s Alliance in Suisun City. Stiff protocols with travel and visitation to some of California’s coastal communities kept divers from participating in the eradication of the purps.
Since a combination of the warm-water blob and El Niño in 2016, California has seen an explosion in the population of purple urchins. The purple urchins have decimated kelp forests, which are prime habitat to the commercially marketable red urchins. The proliferation of the purple urchins and the resultant “urchin barrens” have spurred joint efforts by commercial and recreational divers to reclaim habitat by removing and grinding up the purps for use as compost.
As for commercial efforts to remove purple urchins last year, divers were able to gather up more than 30,000 pounds before stormy weather in November hampered their ability to work underwater. In surveys this year, divers noted that the purple urchins did not re-enter the cleaned tract near Mendocino, while some migrated back into the cleaned test area near Monterey.
But the greatest discovery the divers found was that kelp beds had recovered in the tracts.
“If we could do this in several locations, we could keep the kelp coming back,” says Russo. “To go from bare ground to a ourishing kelp forest in one year is amazing.”
Red urchins are still in decline, down to 1.9 million pounds in 2020. This year’s cumulative harvest stood at just over 1 million pounds as of Aug. 1. — Charlie Ess
designation of critical habitat would result in di erent shery management measures than would already be implemented for the protection of Southern Resident killer whales, endangered salmon, and other listed species.”
The rule grew out of a 2014 petition to NMFS from the Center for Biological Diversity seeking revisions to the critical habitat designation to include “inhabited marine waters along the West Coast of the United States that constitute essential foraging and wintering areas,” speci cally the region between Cape Flattery, Wash., and Point Reyes, Calif.
The Center for Biological Diversity sued the agency in federal court to expedite rulemaking and set a deadline, and an April 2019 settlement required NMFS to complete and submit a proposed rule later that year. — Kirk Moore
Nation/World
Continued from page 13
it’s a really good policy framework that’s stood the test of time. It’s not set up to deal with shifting stocks driven by climate change. So we have to tackle that.”
Better science and data have been the rallying cry of shermen around the country for more than a decade. Recognition of climatic shifts has opened the door to legislate improving scienti c standards across the board.
“Rigorous science and accountability across all sectors should be the rst response to the call for developing climate-ready sheries,” said Chris Brown, a Rhode Island commercial sherman serving as president of the Seafood Harvesters of America.
Brown also called out the now widely recognized value of domestic seafood and the importance of balancing sheries access with industrial scale development of the ocean.
“The concept of our Blue Economy didn’t exist during the last reauthorization; now, we must ensure that the impacts of the everquickening pace of development in our nation’s ocean and its impacts are accounted for in our management system,” said Brown.
Hu man notes that bringing shing communities and federal managers to the table is the rst step, speci cally regarding the development of o shore wind power.
“Right now, NOAA Fisheries doesn’t really have the authority to be at the table on o shore wind. But they should be. And so should local shing communities in these conversations,” Hu man said. — Jessica Hathaway
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BALANCE OF POWER
BOEM and states look at compensation for fi shermen displaced by offshore wind energy; endangered whales pose major challenge to developers
By Kirk Moore
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he federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management is working with coastal states to come up with plans for potentially compensating shermen for lost shing grounds and other negative e ects of developing o shore wind turbine arrays.
Fishing industry advocates are pushing anew to get shermen deeply involved now to minimize impacts from sweeping plans to rapidly develop a U.S. o shore wind industry — and hoping to limit damage to the U.S. food supply.
The government’s drive toward creating more o shore wind energy areas in the New York Bight is looking like a repeat of its mistakes in planning southern New England projects and needs to be braked, shermen said at an Aug. 6 meeting in New Bedford, Mass.
“It’s going to be responsible for the destruction of a centuries-old industry that’s only been feeding people,” Bonnie Brady, executive director of the Long Island Commercial Fishing Association, told o cials of the federal Bureau of Ocean Energy Management.
“If you really want to do that right thing, stop everything” until wind energy areas can be better assessed to accommodate power generation while maintaining sheries, said Brady.
Speaking with shermen via a Zoom online link, BOEM Director Amanda Lefton opened the meeting by saying the agency has learned from experience and is working to engage better with the shing industry and head o con icts.
“We have to improve our engagement with the shing industry,” said Lefton. “We are doing our best to make changes.”
Some changes are coming in how BOEM will review plans for the New York Bight — the arm of the Atlantic between Long Island and New Jersey, adjacent to the voracious New York regional energy market and already targeted for major o shore wind projects.
Future new leasing will include requirements for wind developers to report more frequently and be more accountable for how they will deal with issues of environmental impact and e ects on shermen and other maritime users, BOEM o cials said.
Fishermen said they are skeptical after seeing past performance by the agency and wind developers.
“When we give feedback… we want to see it taken seriously and put into the project,” said Katie Almeida, senior representative for government relations at The Town Dock, Point Judith, R.I. “We just need to see some of what we’re saying brought forward… and incorporated into wind farm planning.” “We’ve only been asking for this for six years,” Almeida added.
“This can’t be just going forward” with future leases, but should be applied to approved projects like Vineyard Wind and South Fork o southern New England, she said.
Fishing advocates urged BOEM to approach planning on a wide regional basis, saying the experience in southern New England has been project by project.
“It’s a divide-and-conquer approach, and it’s not a reasonable approach for a federal agency,” said Peter Hughes, general manager of Atlantic Capes Fisheries in Cape May, N.J.
BOEM is trying to do better with the New York Bight wind energy areas, including proposed vessel tra c lanes, said Luke Feinberg, a project coordinator with the agency.
The need to think regionally should have been evident from the start, said Brady.
“I was the one who had to tell them there were like six other states ( eets) that shed there” from Virginia to New England, she said. “That’s where these guys live.”
Compensation may take shape
One week earlier, the Responsible O shore Development Alliance, a coalition of shing groups and coastal communities, heard about compensation possibilities in an informal conference call with Lefton and her sta , said RODA Executive Director Annie Hawkins.
Lefton mentioned that her agency would be working with state government o cials to explore “compensatory mitigation” for shermen forced out of work by wind farm development, and would begin scheduling meetings for that e ort. It also came up during a BOEM presentation to the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council in June, said Hawkins.
But Hawkins says that process is backward in not including shermen at the onset of discussions. The funding method needs to be publicly discussed, too, she said.
“It’s an impact fee; it’s not mitigation,” said Hawkins. The funding should be calculated early and could be incorporated into wind developers’ power purchase agreements with states, “not doing this at the 11th hour,” she said.
It must be a regional approach, not project by project, and compensation should come after regulators and developers have done everything possible to minimize negative impacts, Hawkins added.
“We want that at the end, after we’ve done everything possible to eliminate the need,” she said.
That must include goals for minimizing disruption to the U.S. food supply, Hawkins and other industry advocates say. They foresee potential losses across sheries, from high-value products like scallops to routine commodities like surf clams that go into canned chowders.
In online BOEM scoping meetings, longtime clam industry spokesman David Wallace emphasized the eet is at risk of losing large parts of its traditional grounds.
“If there are no marginal areas to sh, we go out of business,” said Wallace. The government and developers could step in with dedicated funding to compensate for losses, assessed on a per-megawatt basis to pay reimbursement for gear damage and loss of shing grounds, he said.
Surf clam and scallop shermen said the deeper ecological and hydrological impacts of building potentially hundreds of turbines need intense study.
“Nothing has been done,” said Guy Simmons, senior vice president for marketing, product development, sheries science and government at Sea Watch International, a major East Coast surf clam operator, during the Aug. 6 meeting.
Adding those new structures could alter the Mid-Atlantic cold pool, the seasonal strati cation in ocean water temperatures that is a key factor in marine species’ life cycles, said Simmons.
“The currents around the turbines are exactly what breaks down the cold pool,” said Simmons, adding “they need to stop everything right now… until the proper environmental considerations” have been studied.
“We are taking a hard look at the hydrodynamic implications,” replied Brian Hooker, a marine biologist with BOEM, who added that scientists at the University of Massachusetts and Rutgers University are likewise investigating how new structures might change ocean conditions.
“We know that when you put a structure in the water, you change
BOEM is considering changes for New York Bight wind energy areas, including vessel transit lanes (blue corridors) and a buffer zone for the Hudson Canyon scallop access area (blue area).
currents,” said New Bedford scallop sherman Eric Hansen. Other e ects from building towers and their rockarmored foundations will be increases in blue mussels — competitors to scallops for food in the water column — and scallop predators, including moon snails and sea stars, said Hansen.
Scallop fl eet recommends buffer areas
The industry group Fisheries Survival Fund and the Port of New Bedford say the New York Bight plans will threaten the entire East Coast scallop shing industry that brings in more than $425 million dockside annually and much more to the larger U.S. economy.
They say one immediate step should be creating a 5-nautical-mile bu er zone between the southeastern edge of the Hudson South Lease Area that’s been proposed by BOEM, and the Hudson Canyon Access Area, highly productive scallop grounds that have supported the industry’s immense success over the last 20 years.
In the late 1990s, shing pressure, declining scallop numbers and shermen catching smaller scallops brought the shery to crisis. But shermen, scientists and regulators regrouped, creating a system of rotational scallop area management that federal scientists say has added more than $1 billion in revenue to coastal communities.
The proposed bu er zone would create a 5-nautical-mile strip inside BOEM’s mapped Hudson South wind energy area, standing o any future turbine construction from the southeastern edge that borders the Hudson Canyon scallop access area, said David Frulla, a lawyer with the Washington, D.C., rm Kelley Drye & Warren, who has represented the fund and other shing groups.
“The bu er zone’s purpose is to make sure there is not a wind farm hard up against an access area,” said Frulla.
Scallops were worth well over $500 million to coastal economies in 2019 and nearly $750 million “when taking into account their processed value. And
Researchers mapped out hot spots of right whales sighted in seven wind energy areas off southern New England, and how those have shifted in recent years.
this does not include the additional economic value added by the remainder of the supply chain until the product ultimately reaches consumers in markets and restaurants,” according to the Fisheries Survival Fund.
Scallops are a colossal part of New Bedford’s economy, bringing in $265 million in 2019, or 80 percent of the city’s dockside value that year, according to the New England Fishery Management Council.
With their high per-pound values, scallops have an outsized value for ports large and small. Right behind New Bedford in 2019 was Cape May, N.J., with almost $54 million, or 81 percent of its dockside value. Sixty miles north on Long Beach Island, scallops brought in $19.4 million that year, 77 percent of the sales.
While o shore wind development may bring new jobs and economic development to coastal communities, “the bene ts should not come at the expense of those who have historically relied on the scallop shery to provide for their families,” the group says.
Right whales, wrong areas
North Atlantic right whales, one of the most endangered species in the world, are spending more time in southern New England waters where immense o shore wind energy installations are to be built.
An analysis published in the July 29 edition of the journal Endangered Species Research shows how measures to protect the whale population — estimated at only around 366 animals — will be crucial if the Biden administration’s drive to develop o shore wind is to succeed.
“We found that right whale use of the region increased during the last decade. And since 2017, whales have been sighted there nearly every month, with large aggregations occurring during the winter and spring,” said Tim Cole, lead of the whale aerial survey team at the Northeast Fisheries Science Center and a co-author of the study, in a summary of the ndings issued by the National Marine Fisheries Service.
Marine mammal researchers at the New England Aquarium and colleagues at the science center and the Center for Coastal Studies examined aerial survey data collected between 2011-15 and 2017-19 to quantify right whale distribution, residency, demographics and movements in the region.
The New England Aquarium used systematic aerial surveys, and the science center and the Center for Coastal Studies directed surveys conducted in areas where right whales were present,
to document aggregations of right whales. Aerial photographs of individual right whales help estimate the whales’ abundance and residency times, and the photos identify individual whales by distinctive patches of raised tissue on their head, lips, and chin, and by scars on their body.
Photographs were matched to catalogued individuals in the North Atlantic Right Whale Consortium Sighting Database. A total of 327 unique right whales were photographed in the area over the study period.
The study used the photographic data in a mark-recapture model to estimate the right whales’ abundance in the area. It showed that between December and May, almost a quarter of the right whale population may be present in the region.
The study also found that the residence time for individuals in the area during the winter and spring has increased three-fold to an average of 13 days over the last decade. Up to 23 percent of the right whale population was estimated to be using the wind areas, o Nantucket, Martha’s Vineyard and Rhode Island from December to May.
That included 30 percent of the population’s females — critical to its survival.
Their movements up and down the East Coast expose the whales to danger from ship strikes, a leading cause of death and injury, along with shing gear entanglement.
NMFS and lobster shermen are already working under federal court orders to reduce whale encounters, and environmental groups insist more be done in other maritime sectors.
NMFS regularly issues advisories for mariners to reduce large ship speeds to 10 knots when whales are sighted during aerial surveys. But studies by NOAA and the environmental group Oceana found that AIS data shows shipping routinely violates those speed limits.
“The regular presence of right whales in southern New England deserves more attention,” the authors wrote. “The e ects of o shore wind development on right whales are unknown, but this enormous development could have a local impact on right whales at a critical time when they are becoming more reliant on the region.”
The changing behavior of right whales shows o shore energy planning cannot rely on historic migratory patterns, the authors wrote.
Wind developers’ mitigation plans will be critical to whale protection. Vineyard Wind has already agreed to “enhanced mitigation procedures to detect and protect right whales from early winter to mid-May, to avoid pile driving from January to April, and to maintain a comprehensive monitoring e ort during the other months of the year that construction might take place,” the paper notes.
Amid the o shore wind debate, wind power skeptics saw a shutdown of four turbines at the Block Island Wind Farm — the rst U.S. commercial project o Rhode Island — as a warning sign.
But a spokesman for operator Ørsted called the summer outage a break for normal scheduled maintenance. Responding to news media inquiries, the company said that included structural inspection of the turbines, in operation since fall 2016.
“Part of the work being conducted is the repair of stress lines identi ed by GE in the turbines,” according to an Aug. 11 statement from the company. “We put four turbines on pause as a precautionary measure and carried out a full risk assessment, which showed the turbines are structurally sound. We expect to complete those repairs and all maintenance in the next few weeks as scheduled.”
GE
The Block Island Wind Farm, the rst commercial project in U.S. waters, had four turbines of ine for maintenance this summer.
Kirk Moore is the associate editor for National Fisherman.
WE GOT YOU In rough seas, a vessel’s integrity depends on sound hatches, doors and windows COVERED
By Paul Molyneaux
nyone who has ever seen A their deck under waves of green water and lived to tell knows the value of reliable hatches. A casual perusal of Coast Guard and National Transportation Safety Board accident reports will reveal numerous cases of downflooding from hatches that fail or have been poorly secured.
Faulty hatches in watertight bulkheads, or over shaft alleys, can also lead to water loss and free-surface effect in live tanks or RSW holds, or flooded engine rooms. Everyone who works on the water has heard horror stories of these sorts of things at one time or another.
In this writer’s first blow, September 1978, 200 miles off the northern California coast, a few dozen albacore boats and at least as many lives were lost.
“I remember it well, even though I was only in grade school,” says Debbie Spencer, of Brookings, Ore. “I was out with my dad, Howard Rigel, on his 36-foot wooden boat the F/V Dorothy V, 250 miles out. Waves washed all our hatch covers off. We had to turn around, pick them up, and nailed them all on. Listening to all the radio traffic, maydays and the Coast Guard, all night. I looked at my dad and said, ‘We’re going to die, aren’t we?’ My dad responded, ‘Hell no, we’re not going to die. Now you go lay
you get up, we’ll be safe.’”
Aware that seaworthy hatches, doors and windows are vital for any boat, manufacturers are doing their best to give fishermen what they need. At the Snow & Co. yard in Seattle, the Wizard, of “Deadliest Catch” fame, is getting new doors from a Norwegian manufacturer, Libra.
“She took a wave that went through the wheelhouse,” says Eric MacDonald, Pacific Northwest sales manager for Imtra, a New Bedford, Mass.-based company that sells the Libra doors. “That wiped out everything. So when they were redoing the wheelhouse, they decided to replace the doors, too.”
According to MacDonald, the Wizard owners chose aluminum doors in steel
have to be exact, but with the L it has a little play.” MacDonald measured the area, and they sent the specs to Norway, where the doors are manufactured and then shipped by sea or air freight. “Because of the quick turnaround time on this one, we The original doors of the king crabber Wizard required each used air freight.” dog to be turned. Imtra sells three kinds of Libra doors — alumiframes with the largest possible ports. num, steel and GRP, which is a type of
“I went down to the Snow yard here fiberglass. in Seattle and measured for the new “We also sell UV shades,” says Macdoors. We have two types of frames, flat Donald, noting that he supplied some and L. With the flat, the measurements for the Progress, which also had its
The king crabber Wizard took a sea through the wheelhouse. The rebuild includes new Libra doors, sold by Imtra Corp. of New Bedford, Mass.
wheelhouse windows smashed, and the wheelhouse flooded, while fishing in the Bering Sea. “We try to get people to use the UV shades when they’re building. It’s easier than when it’s an afterthought.”
Windows are important, too. And Bomar, the well-known maker of hatches, has brought out a new line of windows that includes steel frames.
“We’ve been making hatches forever,” says Bomar Sales Manager Bob Touton. “But coming out of the recreational boatbuilding recession of 2008, it became apparent that we had to diversify across different product lines. It took a few years to get the right people in, but we’re fortunate to have Tom Norton,
Skippers Fisheries in Nova Scotia makes a variety of hatches for fishing vessels of all sizes.
Skippers Fisheries
— Tristen Goodwin, Skippers Fisheries/Comeau Sea Food
from Maine, and he’s been working with our engineers in New Hampshire. And we now have an entirely revamped line of commercial products.”
Touton notes that Bomar products are aimed at smaller fishing vessels, so they can cross over into other markets.
“We still make our cast aluminum hatches, which we’ve been making for decades. And over the last several years, we’ve made deck access plates, where if you don’t need a Lloyds certificate, it can get the job done and save you some money.”
Different agencies certify the integrity of hatches and doors on commercial vessels. In the United States, hatches, doors and windows exposed to the elements generally need to be watertight or weathertight.
According to Coast Guard rules, watertight means “designed and constructed to withstand a static head of water without any leakage.” Weathertight means that “water will not penetrate into the unit in any sea condition.”
“A hinged window or a sliding window is at best going to be weathertight,” says Touton. “With a fixed window, there are different ratings, depending on the size and the thickness of glass you’re going to float into it, and then the frame has its own integrity.” Bomar’s new line of windows includes the option of steel frames for welding into steel vessels, and aluminum frames for aluminum and fiberglass vessels. The glass can be tempered, laminate, and even fire rated.
Skippers Fisheries, in Lower Woods Harbor, Nova Scotia, has been making flush-mount deck hatches for Canadian lobster boats for years, and the company’s products are common on U.S. lobster boats.
“A lot of lobster boats are open stern now, and they like the flush mount so they can stack the traps on deck and set them without anything to catch on,” says Tristen Goodwin, assistant welding manager at Comeau Sea Foods, which owns Skippers.
“Our hatches have a stainless-steel frame that is screwed into the deck of the boat, and that holds a 3/4-inch rubber gasket. And the covers are made from ¼-inch aluminum,” says Goodwin. “We have a special recipe for aluminum that’s made for us to use for hatches, and those dog down into the rubber, which makes a really nice watertight seal. A lot
of shermen really like that, especially when they’re covering up their sh hold. Because they don’t want contaminants in the sh.”
The U.S. Coast Guard also has strict regulations regarding coamings on some hatches. “We make hatches for coamings on sword sh boats and draggers,” says Goodwin. “Where they have ice and want to keep the hold cold. We also make insulated hatches.”
Skippers makes reinforced hatch covers for engine rooms, and hatches that are dogged using a special wrench.
On the West Coast, Baier Marine is putting hatches on many commercial vessels including the Alaska king crab vessel Keta, which underwent a major conversion at Fred Wahl’s yard in Reedsport, Ore. (See the full story on page 26.) “Our aluminum hatch sales are continuing strong,” says Alexander R. “Sandy” Smith, director of Business Development at Baier Marine. We saw a little dip because of covid, but not much.”
Baier makes a range of hatches, including ush-deck (hinged and pull-up) and internal hinge watertight hatches. According to Smith, Baier has designed a high-quality hatch that works, and the company appears to be following the old saying: If it’s not broken, don’t x it.
Avantec Global
Freeman produces rugged, long-lasting products, like these aluminum deck hatches.
Freeman Marine Equipment began in 1976, making hatches in a garage in Gold Beach, Ore. Since then it has grown to become a recognized and highly respected international name in commercial boat products. Today,
Freeman sells to more than 50 countries, from the Bahamas and China to
Turkey and Uruguay.
According to Harmony Poisson, the marketing specialist at Avantec, which now owns Freeman, the company has several new products in the pipeline. “Unfortunately, we are not ready to talk about them yet,” she says.
At present, the company makes everything from cast aluminum oval deck hatches to watertight and weathertight doors. Freeman’s xed and opening portlights and heavy-duty windows have also found homes on many commercial shing vessels.
In addition to its hatches, doors and windows, Freeman also provides several online services, including instructional videos, documents, product support, and the company’s own naval architects.
When it gets breezy o shore and rigging starts to sing, a vessel’s integrity — and the lives of her crew — depends on sound hatches, doors and windows, and the companies that make them.
Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman and author of “The Doryman’s Re ection.”
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IN THE LONG RUN
Equipped with a Fred Wahl designed and built crane, the lengthened Keta will be able to handle more crab pots and quota.
The 45-year-old F/V Keta gets a stretch to increase her capacity in Alaska’s king crab fi shery
By Paul Molyneaux
Fred Wahl Marine Construction photos
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he Hansen Boat Co. of Everett, Wash., built the F/V Keta in 1976. Since then, the vessel has made a name for herself, landing king crab from the Bering Sea and Gulf of Alaska. At 83 feet, the Keta was considered a small boat for working in the Bering Sea crab fi shery, especially in winter. She is currently at Fred Wahl Marine Construction in Reedsport, Ore., undergoing her second conversion and growing into a 123-foot vessel.
According to Gary Isaksen, a Bristol Bay salmon fi sherman and model-boat builder, his father, Bert Isaksen and two partners had the boat built.
“The name Keta comes from the names of the owner’s wives,” says Isaksen. “The K was for Kay Leland, and the E for Elsie Langeseter. The T is for Togetherness, and the A is for Arlene, my mother. It’s unfortunate my father is no longer alive to talk about the boat. He hung on for 93 years. He immigrated from Norway and fi shed Bristol Bay back when it was still sail.”
Isaksen recalls that his father sold the boat to Buddy Bernstein of Sand Point, Alaska, brother of current owner David Wilson, who has taken on a new partner, Leif Manus, formerly of Trident Seafoods. Both have graciously condoned this story but declined to be interviewed.
Sometime in the 1980s the Keta was reportedly sponsoned and lengthened at Marco Shipyard in Seattle out to 100 feet. A photo posted by Ralph Pelkey on Facebook purports to show her at Akutan, Alaska, in
After cutting 60 feet off the Keta, the crew at Fred Wahl Marine Construction added 83 feet of new steel, making the new Keta 123 feet overall.
1984, before she was widened.
Another sherman familiar with the Keta, Dylan Hat eld, understands that the owners are putting crab quota from other vessels onto the Keta, hence the need to further extend and slightly widen the boat.
“She was laid up somewhere,” Hat eld says. “And as far as I know, they weren’t going to sh her, just as a tender.”
The Keta will still be a tender, and will likely be active again in 2022. The plan was to have the boat ready in April of this year, but covid-19 delays slowed the project.
Nonetheless, the team at Fred Wahl has hammered away at what has been the vessel’s biggest transformation so far.
“We cut o 60 feet and added 83,” says Mike Wahl. “She’ll be 123 feet overall.” According to Wahl, all the design and engineering work was done in-house by the yard’s people.
Wahl’s engineers scanned the Keta’s hull in April 2020, and the vessel arrived at in Reedsport in September that year. By December, the yard had cut o more than half the vessel and moved the forward section into the one of its large steel buildings for the serious work. With the original engine and generators — a 3508 Cat and a couple of 3306 Cat packages — removed, the yard installed a new main engine and three gensets.
The stretch gave the Keta increased fish-hold capacity. Upgrades included two new 50-ton IMS refrigerated seawater systems for handling salmon when she’s tendering.
“David [Wilson] has been a good customer of ours,” says Curtis Clausen of Hatton Marine, the company that supplied the engines. “We put an S6R2 into Wilson’s other boat, the Lady Joann. But the Keta is a bigger boat. We put an S12R in her with a Twin Disc MG540 gear with 5.1:1 reduction. They also put in three Bollard MER gensets, two 250-kW 6060 John Deeres, and a 65-kw 4045 John Deere.” According to Clausen, Hatton provides some support to Wahl’s. “We wired up the engine room panel and the helm panel,” he says.
Having the stern off made the repowering much easier. “It’s the time to do it,” says Mike Wahl. “We’ve done it that way once or twice before, or with the deck off. We had to build up the bed for the main, but the gensets were on skids, so we could slide them in.” The 1,100-hp S12R Mitsubishi is a Tier III engine. “Because it was a repower of a Tier 0, they didn’t need to go to Tier 4,” says Wahl.
We cut off 60 feet and added 83. She’ll be 123 feet overall.”
—Mike Wahl, FRED WAHL MARINE
CONSTRUCTION
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With most of the Keta cut off, the crew at Wahl’s yard took the opportunity to install three MER gensets and the new Mitsubishi main—a 1,200-hp S12R.
Inside the F/V Keta
Home Port: Sand Point, Alaska
Owners: Dave Wilson and Leif Manus
Builder: Hansen Boats, Everett, Wash.
Hull Material: Steel
Year built: 1976
Fishery: Crab Length: 123 feet Beam: 32 feet
Draft: 12 feet
Propulsion: Diesel Engine: Mitsubishi S12R Power Train: Twin Disc MG540 @ 5.1:1, 6-inch Aquamet 22 shaft, turning an 82 x 60 three-blade stainless steel propeller Gensets: 2 250-kW Bollard MERs on John Deere 6090 engines; a 65-kW Bollard MER on a John Deere 4045 Hydraulics: Electric pump-driven system Fuel capacity: 40,000 gallons Hold capacity: 10,000 cubic feet Freshwater capacity: 35,000 gallons Electronics: Furuno package Deck Gear: Fred Wahl marine crane 45-foot reach, 1,500-pound capacity, existing pot launcher Crew capacity: 6 crew, plus captain’s stateroom Crew accommodations: 4 in fo’c’sle, 1 in pilothouse Electronics: 2 Garmin plotters: a 10-inch and a 12-inch; Garmin radar, 2 Icom VHFs, Icom 2-meter VHF,
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The new extension marks the latest in a long series of transformations owners have made to the Keta, which was launched in 1976 as an 83-footer.
With the engines in, Wahl put in an all new Aquamet 22 6-inch-diameter tail shaft and two or three middle shafts and tubing. “We start with a preliminary laser, and then use optical alignment as we start putting on the new stern. It’s pretty intense. We put guides on to keep everything in line as we build.”
Having scanned the vessel, Wahl built up the new stern and hold with pre-engineered steel plate. “It’s all precut from DNC files with our plasma cutter,” says Wahl. “We used all new steel, 3/8" and 5/16".”
The new hold will keep king crab in live tanks and is also equipped with two 50-ton RSW systems for tendering salmon.
“If a vessel needs a 100-ton system or more, we prefer to do two or more smaller systems,” says Kurt Ness of Integrated Marine Systems, which
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supplied the RSW packages for the Keta. “That way, if one goes down, you don’t lose your season.” According to Ness, IMS works frequently with Wahl, and usually just supplies the components.
“We hang it all and install the compressors and everything,” says Mike Wahl. “Then IMS comes down and does the initial charging of the system.”
Carrying so much water and slush in the hold of a vessel that size might raise some stability concerns. But according to Wahl, tonnage frames and bin boards reduce the movement of the water and the free surface effect that can cause problems.
Crabber Dylan Hatfield confirms that the water is not a problem for most vessels. “We keep the tanks pressed all the time,” he says. “The water flows up over the coaming and down under the false deck, as long as you have scuppers enough to get rid of that water, it’s
The Keta’s new main engine is equipped with a 5.1:1 Twin Disc MG540 gear, turning an 82 x 60 three-blade stainless steel propeller.
not an issue.” Hatfield adds that live tanks keep crab remarkably well, even when packing thousands of pounds. “We don’t see more than 2 percent mortality,” he says. “We usually get less than 1 percent.”
The team at Fred Wahl Marine Construction finished off the aft section with a new propeller and rudder, and then moved forward. “We put in a
Ready for launch, the Keta has been repainted her original blue. Keta’s owners hope to have her back in Alaska making money soon.
couple of transducer tubes,” says Mike Wahl. “Then we put on a bulbous bow and made the ice belt thicker. We did some repair work on the crew quarters. She has room for about six crew members.”
Wahl’s team did not do anything new with the electronics. According to Steve Wallace at Lunde Marine Electronics, the last time the Keta got a big electronics package was when the wheelhouse was replaced in 1994.
“She got a couple of Furuno radars, a sounder, a gyro, an autopilot and a couple of sidebands,” says Wallace. “All we did this year was sell them a new computer. It’s a navigation computer they use with ECC-Globe. That’s a chart system all the boats use up in the Bering Sea.”
With the Keta painted her traditional blue, Wahl launched the boat in July 2021 with sea trials scheduled for August. “We did the preliminary stability work,” he says. “But the fi nal stability report will be done after sea trials.”
Because of pandemic-related delays, Keta missed tendering this year’s sockeye season in Bristol Bay. But for a vessel that has already put 45 years of fi shing under her keel, a new hull and repower should bring many more to come.
Paul Molyneaux is the Boats & Gear editor for National Fisherman and author of “The Doryman’s Re ection.”
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Continued from page 5 concerns expressed by fi shermen on the call was the need for a buff er zone between the southeastern edge of the Hudson South Lease Area and the Hudson Canyon Access Area. Stakeholders argued in favor of a fi ve-mile buff er zone, which would help protect the HCAA from the negative environmental eff ects of off shore wind development. According to estimates in a published scientifi c paper leadauthored by the lead federal scallop scientist, the HCAA has added well over a billion dollars in revenues to coastal communities in the last two decades.
Off shore wind presents many potential environmental threats to marine ecosystems. The assembly of turbines displaces large amounts of sediment on the seafl oor, creating scour and sediment plumes that can interfere with scallop growth and fi lter-feeding processes. The turbine arrays themselves can disrupt ocean currents and thus scallop larval fl ow and settlement. Wind farms create habitats for other fi lter feeding species like mussels, which compete for available phytoplankton, change the biological makeup of the surrounding area, and interfere with the sustainability of the resource. Young scallops also face increased predation from marine life known to proliferate in wind energy installations such as starfi sh and moon snails. Seismic activity involved in wind farm site assessment activities has also been shown to damage scallops.
During the meeting, representatives from both the scallop industry and the Port of New Bedford argued that BOEM has been more responsive to concerns of wind developers and other ocean user groups like the military and commercial shipping interests than to those of fi shermen. They called for in-person meetings with fi shermen to discuss impacts from the proposed wind lease areas. By conducting meetings strictly online, BOEM is excluding many fi shermen who are not accustomed to and well-equipped for Zoom and other online platforms. Meaningful personal engagement is necessary to ensure equity and reduce negative impacts of off shore development in the New York Bight area.
While the Fisheries Survival Fund appreciates that new jobs in coastal communities and economic growth could accompany off shore wind development, the benefi ts should not come at the expense of those who have historically relied on the scallop fi shery to provide for their families. The Fisheries Survival Fund hopes to engage in meaningful, honest discussion with both developers and BOEM to mitigate impacts, preserve access, and protect the livelihoods of fi shermen throughout the East Coast.
Fisheries Survival Fund Washington, D.C.
Northern Lights
Continued from page 7 messages of sustainability, we’re able to off er a wide range of sustainably sourced seafood and broaden the species we feature — and we’ve set a target to have fi sh and seafood comprise 10 percent of the dishes on our menus.
What’s next for Sodexo with sustainable seafood?
This fall, we’re launching global Love of Seafood campaigns to celebrate sustainable fi sh and seafood. Our messaging will help our restaurant guests learn more about sustainable seafood, its benefi ts for the environment, and the overall health and nutrition benefi ts it off ers.
As part of this months-long eff ort, our chefs are creating new ways to feature fi sh and seafood as a delicious choice in our cafés. These campaigns feature stunning food photography and visuals to entice our guests to try new fi sh and seafood dishes, and we’re highlighting regional and local species in our restaurants whenever possible as part of our educational eff orts.
BRI DWYER PHOTO
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