Richard Degener of The Press of Atlantic City writes a week-long series on the fishing industry.
Bunker is a high-volume, low-price fishery. In 2008, Cape May port landed more than 30 million pounds of bunker, also known as menhaden, worth just $1.9 million. By comparison, the port landed 8.2 million pounds of scallops worth $56 million.
Still, catching enough bunker can mean a daily paycheck of several hundred dollars to each crewman during the 20-week season.
“I think we’re getting 8 cents a pound and the dock takes one cent of that. You also have to pay the boat and plane expenses and the taxes,” Genovese says of the bunker catch.
In an age when some captains rely on high-tech electronic equipment to find fish and push-button gear to catch it, bunkering is a throwback to another era.
It’s a tricky operation. Each man knows his job and the crew uses a series of whistles, grunts, head nods and one-word commands to communicate. The rings on the bottom of the net have to be pulled tight quickly or the fish can be lost. The men have to control the net while using a scoop, called a dip net, to transfer the fish from the net to the Shakari.
Lumbruno brought the technique here from Gloucester, Mass., years ago when bunker grew scarce in New England. Now other local fishermen use it, too. Lumbruno’s crew includes his father and brother, along with several cousins from the Genovese family and Tarr, who also came down from Gloucester.