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Richard Gaines, then a rising star at the Boston Phoenix, was putting the final touches on his story about the incoming Senate president when a colleague at the paper delivered a chilling message.

It came from a television reporter with mob ties, who said he was speaking for James “Whitey’’ Bulger: “Don’t mention [Whitey] in the story if you know what’s good for you.’’

“It is one of those moments that is seared in your memory,’’ said Gaines, who was known at the time for fearless reporting that often drove the news agenda on Beacon Hill.

The threat worked. Gaines and his editors dropped the reference to the Boston mobster from the 1978 profile of William M. Bulger.

“It was a cost-benefit analysis,’’ Gaines, now a reporter with Gloucester Daily Times, recalled late last month, on the same day Whitey Bulger returned to Boston after 16 years to be arraigned.

The potential significance of that decision more than three decades ago was not fully realized until days later, when the television reporter Jack Kelly and four notorious underworld characters were wiped out in the Blackfriars nightclub massacre – gunned down while playing backgammon in the club’s basement after hours.

Read the complete story from The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Up until the opening of Desert Fish late last year, Albuquerque seafood restaurants were designed to feel as if diners are actually next to the ocean — fake boardwalks, mooring lines and bollards, ponds, buoys, etc. Fun stuff, sure, but the fact is, we’re not anywhere near the ocean and most diners are very aware of that. Based off its name alone, one of Nob Hill’s newest culinary destinations is using its desert locale as its main selling point.

Fresh fish, oysters, clams, scallops, crab and mussels are certainly at their freshest when pulled from their underwater lair, cracked open and eaten on the spot. That obviously can’t happen in the high desert. But what diners should know is that five out of the six days a week that Desert Fish is seating, seafood is flown in and delivered to the kitchen. Sure, it’s not flopping around on your plate fresh, but it’s pretty fresh, and skillfully prepared at that.

The interior of the restaurant — a sort of ode to the Pacific Northwest — is all exposed blonde wood beams, sleek lines and huge windows letting in much more light than the building’s previous incarnation (the beloved dive, Sonny’s Bar & Grill). Since there is live music on weekend nights, a unique sliding door closes off the south dining room. A 15-foot tall totem pole is the central focus of the north dining room, which merges naturally with the full-service bar.

Read the complete article from Local IQ.

 

 

 

 

 

Painter Rez Williams of West Tisbury has been creating a distinctive and deeply personal chronicle of New Bedford’s iconic fishing boats for nearly fifteen years, and his enthusiasm for them shows no signs of diminishing.

“For me with the fishing fleet, it’s the ‘otherness’ that really attracted me initially….When you go to New Bedford you’re in a completely different world,” he says, noting the dark prevalence of crime and AIDS there. “But then you see the fishing boats…like hot rods. They’re colorful, and a little crazy….Their boats would sink for want of a light bulb in the engine room to find the cause of a leak coming in.”

Rez describes the boats as personal expressions for the fishermen, but as for getting personally closer to the men themselves: “They know I’m a WASP from the Vineyard, plus I probably look like a lawyer for their wife…so I keep it low key….I have had a ride on a boat once, but that’s about as far as I’d like to go.”

Read the complete article from Martha's Vineyard Magazine.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The indomitable spirit of Gloucester grabbed Hollywood's attention yet again when three local fishermen impressed a casting crew for a new ABC reality show "Expedition Impossible" that debuts tonight — on the eve of the annual St. Peter's Fiesta's official opening ceremony.

Brothers Gus and Nino Sanfilippo, along with their cousin Joe Sanfilippo, passed muster with producer Mark Burnett of "Survivor" and "Apprentice" fame. The three fishermen from Gloucester came to the attention of the casting crew through Jimmy Tarantino, a fellow Gloucester resident, who appeared in the latest "Survivor" series.

The way Tarantino tells the story, Burnett and the casting crew were particularly interested in finding Gloucester fishermen who never "cross the bridge" — or head off the island portion of the city. And all three Sanfilippos nodded in agreement with big smiles because they knew that description was fitting.

Read the complete story from The Gloucester Times.

 

 

 

 

 

Even avid fishing fans may have trouble placing the commercial fishing technique known as “trap fishing.” Though once widespread, trap fishing, in which a series of underwater nets — some as long as 2,000 feet — is used to funnel fish toward a boat, is fast disappearing as federal fishing quotas and dwindling commercial fish stocks take their toll.

Yet as photographer Markham Starr discovered a few years ago, trap fishing is still practiced by a handful of commercial fishermen, including some in Rhode Island.

In 2008, Starr, who’s based in North Stonington, Conn., spent several weeks photographing the last of this proud seafaring breed. Now, his photographs have been turned into an exhibit, “In History’s Wake: The Last Trap Fishermen of Rhode Island,” at the South County Museum in Narragansett.

The show, which runs through the end of August, is part of “100 Years, 100 Communities,” a local history initiative sponsored by the regional preservation group Historic New England.

Read the complete article from The Providence Journal.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Commercial Marine Expo (CME) opened Wednesday, June 22, with a sold-out exhibit floor, plus ships and boats on the facility's pier and docks.  Exhibitors representing 255 companies display the latest products and technology for commercial marine, commercial fishing, military and government maritime operators. CME is being held at the Half Moone Cruise Cruise Ship Terminal, adjacent to the Nauticus Maritime Museum in downtown Norfolk.

"We've been overwhelmed with the response to CME Norfolk on all fronts," reports Ted Hugger, show director. "Key associations and organizations, including the Virginia and Maryland Watermen's Associations, the Virginia Port Authority, Virginia Maritime Association, Virginia Ship Repair Association, and the International Propeller Club, have generated incredible awareness and enthusiasm for CME throughout the mid-Atlantic maritime industries.

Exhibitors run the gamut, from all major engine manufacturers to suppliers of propulsion gear, electronics, coatings, and safety gear. The show will encompass all 80,000 square-feet of both levels of the waterfront terminal building.

Commercial Marine Expo runs Wednesday and Thursday, with registration opening at 8 a.m. each day. The exhibit halls are open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Wednesday and 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Thursday. Registration is required and is open to anyone involved in the commercial marine and port operation industries.

Read the complete article from BYM Marine & Maritime News.

 

 

 

 

 

Perhaps you've heard of that prohibition "Never eat anything larger than your head." I find that it fits my style of eating quite well, though perhaps it would have to change if I lived in Texas. The Gulf of Maine monkfish, however, does not live by that saying and, to judge from the 2010 National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) stock assessment, is doing pretty well to boot.

Monkfish, as any fisherman will tell you, are not pretty. A member of the angler fish family, they grow to around three feet in length. Of that length, three-quarters is the animal's head. Nearly all of the head is composed of the mouth. Monkfish have very, very impressive mouths lined with fierce-looking teeth on a set of gaping jaws. The monkfish's method of getting food is to use a long filament growing at the front of its head tipped with a lump of flesh called an esca as a lure to draw in prey.

Monkfish live throughout the Gulf of Maine and along the Eastern Seaboard on sandy, coarse bottom. A monkfish will spend most of its waking time nestled into the seafloor partially covered with sediment in order to more successfully ambush its prey. Scientists have discovered that as soon as something, anything, brushes against the animal's esca, the enormous mouth snaps shut, swallowing whole whatever was nearby. The animals are opportunistic eaters, chomping on other fish, crustaceans, mollusks, seabirds and diving ducks.

Read the complete story from The Free Press Online.

 

 

 

 

 

Tuna fishing in our region is kicking back into gear as school and giant bluefins return to the waters off Plymouth. Right now is a phenomenal time to be a Plymouth fishermen.

The jaunt from Plymouth to Stellwagen Bank’s legendary southwest corner had been rather uneventful. Fortunately the seas had been smooth and the sun was shining, yet as we pulled the Miss Loretta onto the Bank, the apparent lack of life proved rather disappointing.

The eight tiny bluefish that we had caught the day prior were still trucking along in the bait tank. We soon had one of the toothy critters dancing quite nicely under the kite. An easterly breeze swept across the bank as I began to doubt the accuracy of the weather forecast.

Read the complete story from Plymouth Patch.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FANNING SPRINGS, Fla.—A sturgeon jumped into an airboat on a Florida river and broke a 25-year-old woman's leg.

According to wildlife officials, this is the fifth report this year of a person injured by a jumping sturgeon.

Read the complete story by The AP at The Boston Globe.

 

 

 

 

 

New York newspapers and blogs have been consumed with the news that a "sea monster" has washed up at the foot of the famed Brooklyn Bridge in New York City. The seven-foot long beast, dubbed the East River Monster, was found on the Manhattan side of the bridge on May 21.

Theories ran the gamut from horse to alligator to Loch Ness beast — or even a relative of the Montauk Monster.

Marine biologists cut through the rumors, however, calling it nothing more than a common Atlantic fish.

Read the complete story and see a picture of the "sea monster" at FOX News.