Squid - but no relief money

The Squid are running. Dave has been fishing steady, catching his share. We had fried squid rings for an appetizer the other night, light on the batter, cook them quick and enjoy. The freezer has a few waiting for winter and a hearty squid stew, long slow cook in tomato sauce. Yum.  The smaller boats had Nantucket Sound to themselves for the first two weeks, but then the offshore gang got a whiff of what the boys have been landing - 1 to 3 thousand a day - the big boys came in, landing I have heard - 100,000 pounds each vessel, flooding the market and driving the price down. It is the name of the game, the bigger the boat the more they need.  And it's never enough. The big guys disappear as the squid drop in number, not enough to pay their fuel on three bushel tows, whereas the little guys plug along and at the end of the day they have enough to try again tomorrow.

We had some nasty wind and rain yesterday, but the Richard & Arnold was tucked up inside Oak Bluffs on Martha's Vineyard, cozy and warm.

This morning's news from 'Saving Seafood' states that the $33 million in relief promised to fishermen will be given in such a manner that it looks like not a penny will come to us. The criteria gives the money back to the big boys - of coarse - who were able to keep fishing because they had enough 'Catch Share' or they had enough money to buy 'Catch Shares' . Today you need to have money to start with - so you can purchase shares - to make a profit. Thus qualifying fishing aid money will go to a few hundred fishermen who have all the catch shares to begin with. And not a penny to the crews, the men who make it possible. How come? And who set the qualifying years? Most likely the same people who set up catch shares, people from EDF, PEW, and other corporate entities who think they know what's best for us. I'll bet not one fishermen sat on the committee that decided who'd get what.
The small boats have had to cut back - on areas to fish, days allocated to fish, numbers of fish allowed to keep and so much more.
Most inshore fishermen don't have enough allocation left to make it profitable because they had to stay tied to the dock for most of the year. If you didn't play the game that the catch share proponents invented then you can't stay in the fishery.  Small boat fishermen have been left to fend for themselves, many not fitting into the criteria that the NMFS has set for the financial aid to fishermen. We won't qualify and my husband is 100% fishermen for over 40 years. We fish for Fluke and Squid now because the restrictions during the years 2010 -2013 kept us tied to the dock, not going out to hunt for illusive Cod or Flounder. And with  not enough allocation of 'Catch Share' to make it profitable, paying out $4 a gal for fuel to go looking for ground-fish,  just didn't make sense. Actually none of it makes any sense to me anymore. The relief money is going to the guys who are doing the best, not to the underdogs who need it. I  keep thinking about what Marie Antoinette said just before the French Revolution, "What do you mean they are screaming for bread? The people have no bread? Well let them eat cake."  

Squid update

Spring and Squid. This year begins like most - a scramble to get everything ready. When the boat is tied up for over six months due to regulation and non-existent catch shares, that's my term for not enough shares to make going out fishing profitable, the crumbs doled out to the smaller inshore fleet while PEW rants about not enough fish. With fuel prices so high we're trying to fit the Richard & Arnold with sails  and its not good for equipment to just sit around, rust never sleeps.   After the haul- out at Taves, a re- mounting of another propeller and after the computer is fixed and rebooted, the Coast Guard Inspection, a repair of a leak in a hydraulic hose, a change of net reel motor and packing up for a season of fishing, after running around like a chicken without its head - the boat is fishing in Nantucket Sound. While I hold my breath hoping for a good season. The first couple of trips were not complete brokers, just enough to pay the fuel. As the squid make their way north, pushed by currents, warmed by the sun and encouraged by Mother Nature, I do my squid dance, say goodbye to my sweetheart and whisper prayers. Now we wait. It has only been a week. Its slow, but we are hopeful.
In the mean time I am finishing my next book. "The Fishermen's Ball".  The story takes place in Provincetown in 1938, a murder mystery using the pre WWII years as back ground. Of coarse there is a fisherman, a young woman and lots of stories about the time and place. I even listen to Glenn Miller to put me in the mood. You just can't help tapping your toes along with the beat of 'He's the Last Word'.

Also to let everyone know - 'Nautical Twilight' is now a Kindle e-book. I'd add a hash tag, but I thought that hash was illegal.

Now that spring has arrived the Richard and Arnold is getting ready for squid season and is hauled out of the water for a much needed bottom check-up. I took my grandchildren to watch as the boat was towed up the rail- way, an exciting event  especially for a four year old and an eight yr old. It turns out the bottom looks good, especially after the wonderful job that Dickey Crowel did for us three winters ago. So far we see that the propeller is in bad shape. It looks like the tips of the blades have been bitten by sharks, ragged with pieces missing. Could be the electrolysis, zincs are needed. This is a priority - for it needs to be replaced and the one that replaces it has to be the right fit like buying a new pair of shoes, if they don't fit right they'll just hurt. Phone calls to friends, boat yards and marine dealers has been encouraging. Since we can't afford to walk into a shop and order a new one, we have to go searching, hunting for a used one, the right size, shape and weight. We have had to sit out the winter, no fishing. The cuts have hurt us again and this time it's got us thinking about trying to find a way out, we hate the word retire, because its who we are, but as is said, when one door closes another is opened. Our boat has fished for 80+ yrs, the old captain for 40 and this is the second winter he's not been able to go out for ground fish, our allocation being so low that it would't pay the fuel bill. So we'll use up the rest of our savings for the haul-out and a propeller and start again from the beginning. Spring and squid, let's hope they show and that the seals don't eat them all.
I'll make fried squid rings and dip them in something spicy or cool.
About the Richard & Arnold, I hope for the best. There much to be done and this will keep Dave busy in the next few days.
Also my book 'Nautical Twilight' is now a Kindle e-reader. I keep reading bits of it and remembering the glory days of fishing. How things do change.

A fisherman's holiday

WOW, just returned from the New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival. It was a treat for us. Thank you Charley York, Laura Orleans, Kristen and Reirdar, and all the volunteers and helpers. Another great festival. A highlight for me was meeting a lovely woman with the same name as mine. First time for everything. Turns out she had the name before me since I married into it and she inherited it.  "Would a rose by any other name still smell as sweet?" I am Judith Jahnig Dutra and she is Judith Dutra Iskisen.  She came to the boat to meet me, knowing I would be there to answer questions and sell books. And yes she bought one - in other words: Judy Dutra sold a book to Judy Dutra. I wonder how the IRS would look at that? It was terrific to meet her, we laughed and held hands. And I have to say, she reminded me of me. We both couldn't stop smiling. She has worked with children in the schools and so have I. And if she's reading this I'd like to say, "Nice to have met you Judy Dutra." can you hear me chuckling.``````````````````````````````  

The trip across the bay, through the Cape Cod Canal then Buzzards Bay was uneventful - the way we like them. New Bedford Harbor looks busy, but it is nothing like when Dave unloaded fish there in the 1990's. Durning that decade the harbor was filled with many different kinds of fishing boats - all working. Now most boats are tied up, having used up their quotas for the year. The old draggers are gone and just  few scallopers and clammers are working. Looks can be deceiving, the harbor is filled with boats that can't work. ~~~~~~~

From the minute Charley and John came on board to guide us into our berth - to backing out of the same slip three days later Dave and I talked and listened.  Thousands of people came out to the festival, we couldn't have asked for nicer people or better days.   

I met a man that builds canoes with his hands and by the way he described the process we could tell he formed each boat with care. He said that for many years he's built canoes with all kinds of materials, from the old birch bark to the most watertight compounds on the face of the earth and he found the best to be the old birch bark - because when you no longer needed it - you can drag it into the woods and leave it there to rot.

We met fishermen, tug-boat builders, firemen, musicians, poets, writers and lovers of the sea. And best of all we had a visit from Mr. Arnold Parson who's father brought the F/V Richard & Arnold to Provincetown in 1927. The boat was named for him and his brother Richard. Arnold is now 82 years old and still loves to go out on the water, he was there with his son and his grandson. The Richard & Arnold has had many owners over the years, she the oldest working fishing boat in New England, at least that's what we've been told. If there is another - older and still working, we'd like to meet them.  

This was a great vacation for us. 

We left New Bedford on Sunday afternoon, caught the tide to Martha's Vineyard and Menemsha, spending a night in one of the sweetest harbors. There's a pace to the place, just a little removed from our restless society. Best of all I got to sit on Squid Row and talk to Jonathan, Wayne, and a few of the locals who gather at Marshall's. Thanks for the stories guys.  It was another season of fish and boats, tourists and sun. Thanks for your hospitality. We hope to see you in the spring. 

The next morning it was off to Oak Bluffs. Another unique harbor. Busy but not hectic, ferries and yachts, sailors and fishermen - everywhere we go and we are greeted by people with smiles, questions and stories. 

It's been a great bus-man's holiday, a great festival and for sure it's been a great ride. Thank you to all who make that possible. 

Fluke season closed for another year

The Fluke are now protected from all - except the other fluke eating creatures in the sea, the predators of the sea and there are many. We put a sign on the net that says, "No Fluke allowed." We've picked up our nets and have moved back to Provincetown. Traveling with Dave to bring the Richard & Arnold back to her homeport from the Vineyard took 6 & 1/2 hours, across the Sound, through Woods Hole cut, up Buzzards Bay to the Cape Cod Canal, under three bridges to slip into Cape Cod Bay. The Pilgrim Monument was visible, the tide flowed east and there on the horizon was home. It's good to have Dave and the boat back. The schedule for summer fluke is hard on us because we can't afford to miss time fishing, its just about the only fishing we can do that makes us a bit of a profit.

I was talking to a young fisherman in Provincetown yesterday and he told me that the Feds just cut 27% of his allocated sea scallops. You have to first understand that he borrowed money from the bank to purchase the allocation of scallops from a broker / agent - so that he could keep going out for scallops and hopefully make some money. Now the government has cut him back another 20%. So even though he is paying for 100% of his purchased scallop allocation, a loan from the bank, he can't catch them - he's out 47% right off the top. There is something wrong with this picture, because if you ask any of the full time scallopers who control 97% of the allocation, they'll tell you things have never been so good. So how now brown cow - can't we simple let a handful of men do their thing. Go to work and share the scallop pie. I remember when there were no regulations, no us against you,  we'd fish right next to 100 footers, we made money and so did they. What's the big deal?

I saw no draggers on the way home, no sea scallopers transiting, just a few run-about skiffs and a couple of sail boats and two luxury yachts.  Where have all the boats gone?

With Fluke season fast approaching its end, I was happy to have spent time with Dave on board the Richard & Arnold. Even better my son and his son spent two days with the old man. Three generations fishing and living aboard in Menemsha Harbor, on Martha's Vineyard. The Captain was proud! With the catch coming quickly on the day the three generations went fishing together.  Must have been good juju - because they caught their 300 pound limit in one tow. I am including here a video of the catch of the best tow of the season. This is what a good catch looks like for the 85 year old Richard & Arnold, just like the old days, but instead of making another tow like the captain would have 20 years ago,  they headed in. Second generation took third generation to the beach after the fish were unloaded and they played in the surf like a couple of fishes.

Fluke season opened on June 10. Today is 7/15/2013 and the total allowable catch is over 56% caught up. That means more than half way through the season. For us it means sixty days of work and then we hang it up - pretty much for the rest of the year.  Can't drag anywhere around here, most areas that could be productive fishing are blanketed with lobster pots and seals.  Limited amounts of fish allowed to  land wouldn't be enough to pay the fuel and we - after forty years in the business - weren't given enough allocation to make a profit at it,  like being starved slowly at a banquet. We were told (God's truth, by a secretary at NMFS) that we should get out of the business. Well we would but the business doesn't seem to be worth much. Catch share advocates say we could buy allocation, well, maybe- if we had the cash and know someone who sells it at an affordable price, but that won't happen at our house. We don't see much sense in buying fish before you go out and catch it - what if you don't - or have a break down or get the flu? All I can hope is that change comes. I would welcome a bureaucracy that knows when to help the people, how to give freedom and support to the fishermen who have obeyed every law and regulation since the introduction of the Magnuson Stephens Act in 1976.  Since that time thousands of fishermen have gone out of business.  And now, people who want to go fishing, who know how and can make it work - are few and far between. Why can't we just give fishermen a chance, give them the right to continue, give them help and turn this thing around.  I think it is time for everyone to stop saying the sky is falling and get back to work. We are doing ourselves a disservice by not allowing, focusing on the negative, and limiting our incentive as hard working citizens of this great country, our great oceans. In thirty-five days the old man comes home with his old boat and we try to figure out how to make enough money to keep paying the bills.  Don't get me wrong, it's not all doom and gloom, I get to eat fresh fish and vegetables from our gardens on land and sea. In order to be a fishermen's wife one has to have faith in God, in man and in our country, we are controlled by all three.

For a view into the world of the small-boat, inshore fishery and how it has evolved, read my book - Nautical Twilight, the Story of a Cape Cod Fishing Family  by J.J. Dutra   It's an eye-opener, or so I'm told. It is available at Create Space  or at Amazon and let's hope it's in your local book-store or ask me:  
nauticaltwilightdutra@gmail.com   I'd be happy to send you a copy  $15. plus postage.