Moving forward while on land

Progress is measured many ways. A phone call from 'Big Game Fishing Journal' and a talk with the editor, Capt Len was a surprise that lent itself to progress, for who would have thought a few years ago that both recreational fishermen and commercial fishermen would have so much in common. The common factor being  EDF, the Environmental Defense Fund and their take over of both recreational and commercial fishing in a land where freedom was once the watch-word. The fisheries and the ever changing rules, regulations and now scientific data is again making headlines because of the supposed low Cod count (spawning cod) in the Northeast. Questions are being raised about both the 2008 and 2011 evaluations, method and out come. If one is wrong perhaps both were, or factors that haven't been yet discovered were not applied. Dave tells me, "Figures don't lie but liars figure." It is a well known truth that when looking at an object two people will see two different things. Take fish, some see a wonderful meal, some see money and EDF sees a way to control both. I enjoyed my talk with Capt. Len and the progress we have made in understanding our mutual enemy.
The Richard & Arnold is making progress, never fast enough for Dave, but things are moving ahead. The hull will be down to bear wood in the next few days, then the boat will get a shaft-log and a new transducer. A transducer measures water depth and the shaft-log will help keep the boat dry, replacing the stuffing box where the rotating shaft comes through the boat hull. We are making progress.

White on White

Cocooned in snow over a covering of white plastic, framed by wood in a shape resembling a Quonset hut, the boat is being prepared. The job of getting a sixty foot long building water tight, pitched so that the rain and snow slide from the top, around masts, over the top of the wheelhouse enclosing the entire boat was the work of a crew who knew what they were doing. Thanks to Dickey we found a company of three men who rolled and tucked, pulled and attached, around the bones of wood strapping, enclosing the Richard & Arnold in her own cocoon hopefully to be a butterfly in spring. Dave can sleep good tonight, while the hull dries and winter washes the world with snow. The week has been very rigorous for our captain, days with his beard covered in ice. He stripped metal and wood sheathing, then built the frame while the temperature went from o to 35 and back again. Many people have stopped by, one man asked him how old he was? "You'd think I'd be old enough to know better," came the reply. "But step one is done."

F/V Richard & Arnold's Renewal

The cold slows everything down, but work is progressing and even with the freezing cold we are moving forward. While holding up the fort at home I've had time to read up on what's going on in the fisheries. Very interesting  reports from www.savingseafood.org   Two former directors of Sciences at the Bedford Institute of Oceanography, Canada, did a report on the seal population and the effects on codfish off the coast of Nova Scotia. The area studied has been closed to commercial fishing for decades due to the decimation brought about by large factory trawlers in the 1980's. At the time the fish were being caught by men, seal numbers were 3,000 along the coast. Now after trying to rebuild the stocks by limiting fishing, seals have grown to 300,000, doubling every 7 years. The cod stocks are worse now than when the Canadian Gov. banned fishing in that area. What this says to me is that men and seals are both at fault, but that one should not be given exclusivity over the other. In our small fishing town, back in the 1960's a man was rewarded for bringing in a seal. My grandmother wore a seal coat- I'll never forget how warm it was, especially now, while Dave is working outdoors in 0 degree weather in order to  keep our fishing boat and business afloat. Doesn't it make you wonder?

F/V Richard & Arnold's Renewal

She's out of the water- on stantions and blocks in a very good place. The people at the boatyard couldn't be nicer. She sure is a beauty, if I do say so myself. Not many left like her. 60 feet long, schooner hull, classic. Next step will be to build a temporary, plastic and wood shelter around the boat, not an easy task because it needs to have some room inside to work on hull and there are masts, outriggers, wheelhouse, doghouse and wenches to take into consideration. Dave will strip all metal and unnecessary wood from the hull so that she's down to original shape. We have a nice fellow who's local up there in Gloucester and will help with the work.  The weather isn't going to get warmer for awhile and will affect how fast the men will be able to work, but once the building is around the boat things will go smoother. We've found a motel for Dave and they'll allow a microwave in the room, looks like TV dinners for awhile, just like squid fishing in the spring. Not the best diet, but we'll get by. Our excitement will keep us moving forward. I'm looking forward to taking trips, up and down the East coast and who knows where else.  

1:00 pm arrives inner harbor, Gloucester. Boat's not leaking a drop. The harbor is very quiet, so few boats. No one moving except him, he didn't see any draggers or fishing boats, only a couple of lobstermen. It's eerie not to see marine traffic. Once inside he tied to a nice little aluminum boat, perhaps a research vessel doing inventory of the Stillwagen Marine Sanctuary. I always think of Quasimoto when I hear 'Sanctuary' that said - having just crossed Cape Cod Bay and entered the North Shore you'd expect to see someone fishing. When we fished on the Middle Bank we always had company: the Nauset, the Shirley & Roland, the 'Siver Mink',  always others there looking and hoping for fish. On one of the calmest days we've seen in months, Dave and the Richard & Arnold found themselves on Stillwagon -  this time no one had a net in the water. 

Boat steaming to Gloucester

F/V Richard & Arnold left Provincetown's MacMillan Wharf this morning as the dawn broke over the harbor. Her lines are classic against the lightening sky, with a small wheel house in the stern, masts and rigging swaying -she's on her way for a refit, a much needed haul-out and a rebirth. Last October a nice old man stepped up to Dave and said, "The boat should be condemned. She's no longer safe, too old to be fishing." I wanted to hit him when he put his arm around me and said we'd get over her in a couple of weeks. He did not understand the attachment we had, thirty years, 24/7 fishing, taking vacations, rebuilding, children growing up on her decks, making money, working, living. First we cried, then we got mad and then began talking to others who had delt with old boats before. The Richard & Arnold was built in Fairhaven MA in 1934 began fishing in 1937  How could we just let it go!!! She's not only a  big part of our lives- a part of Provincetwon- she's also part of our maritime history, there are so few like her left and she's a damn good fishing boat.