August 19, 2020 — Today, the Head Chef of Superyacht, Rising Sun, visited Bergies Seafood in New Bedford to shop and discuss fresh fish to serve during the coming season.
MASSACHUSETTES: Cape fishermen celebrate new trawling restrictions
November 26, 2019 — In 2002, when Peter Baker first voiced his opposition to the large herring trawlers towing even larger nets off the beaches of Cape Cod, he didn’t think it would take 17 years to get a ban on what he and others saw as a return to the industrialized fishing that had wiped out New England herring, mackerel and menhaden in the 1970s before the U.S. pushed the foreign fleet 200 miles offshore in 1976.
Last week, the efforts of local fishermen, boards of selectmen, voters, environmental groups and state legislators who spoke out against the midwater trawl herring fishery finally paid off with a federal restriction on large herring vessels fishing within 12 miles of the coast from the Canadian border to Connecticut, and within 20 miles of shore along the Outer Cape coastline south to the waters off Martha’s Vineyard.
“This is the culmination of a decade and a half of hard work,” said Baker, who is the director of marine conservation work in New England and Atlantic Canada for the Pew Charitable Trusts.
MASSACHUSETTES: Port of New Bedford gets $50,000 from Vineyard Wind
November 26, 2019 — The New Bedford Port Authority has received $50,000 from Vineyard Wind to help ready the port for offshore wind.
Port officials have heard that an additional 50 vessels could be coming in and out of the harbor each day during construction of the wind farm, according to Edward Anthes-Washburn, Port Authority executive director. He said the port will use the money to help identify ways to accommodate more boats, determine what new infrastructure might be needed, and figure out how the port can leverage its existing infrastructure to take advantage of the opportunity.
“We appreciate the partnership with Vineyard Wind,” he said in an interview.
New Bedford Mayor Jon Mitchell: City would be great home for fisheries center
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — December 29, 2015 — If NOAA Fisheries should decide to move the Northeast Fisheries Science Center out of Woods Hole, Mayor Jon Mitchell said New Bedford would be just right for a new home.
Mitchell calls the city “the best place in the Northeast by far.”
For about a year, the Commerce Department, which contains NOAA, has been assessing the adequacy and the condition of the various buildings that constitute the laboratory. NOAA spokeswoman Teri Frady said repairs, renovations or replacement are all possible options and any definitive direction is still a long way off.
“This kind of facilities study is done of any project like this,” Frady said. “There’s no decision at this point. We’re mainly focusing on the study so that the Department of Commerce and NOAA have everything they need.”
For his part, Mitchell said told The Standard-Times he “raised this issue with NOAA at least a year ago, along with the federal delegation.”
Festival Contests Showcase Fishing Industry Skills
NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — October 1, 2015 — The following was released by the Working Waterfront Festival:
The 2015 Working Waterfront Festival (September 26 & 27) featured a variety of competitions throughout the weekend. Participants competed in whaleboat races; a tug boat muster; net mending, splicing, link squeezing, and scallop shucking contests; a Nautical Tattoo Contest, and a Seafood Throwdown. Each event showcased a variety of industry skills, engaging the public in learning about different aspects of the fishing industry.
The Buzzard’s Bay Rowing Club hosted Whaleboat Races on Saturday morning. Winners were as follows: Women’s Grey Whale: Crabalots with a time of 13:19.3; Women’s Blue Whale: Margaret’s Oars with a time of 11:47.7; Women’s Right Whale: Mystic Seaport with a time of 13:25.6; Coed Blue Whale: Whalers with a time of 12:03.9; Coed Right Whale:Sea Me After Class with a time of 13:21.3; Coed Grey Whale: Bee’s Knees with a time of 14:18.1; and Men’s Right Whale: Mystic Seaport with a time of 11:48.6. Lorelei won “Best Dressed,” Mystic Seaport won “Most Theatrical” and Oar-e-o’s were deemed “Most Enthusiastic”.
Area tugs converged on the harbor Saturday afternoon for the annual Tugboat Musterorganized by Charlie Mitchell captain of the Tug Jaguar and emceed by his brother Bob Mitchell of R. A. Mitchell Company. While not a formal contest, tugs of all sizes showed their skill and strength with demonstrations of hawser tossing, turning, and pushing.
Rodney Avila and Ted Williams of Hercules SLR US presented Safety Demos including a life raft deployment and an “Abandon Ship” demonstration to give visitors a sense of the dangers of commercial fishing and the safety protocol that fishermen practice to remain safe at sea.
On Saturday, groundfishing skills were highlighted with a Net Mending Competitionemceed by net designer Tor Bendiksen of Reidar’s Manufacturing and a Rope Splicing Contest emceed by Barbara Merry of Marlinspike Artist. Winners of the net mending competition were 1st place: Steve Wright of the F/V Hunter with a time of 2:22, 2nd place: Sarah Fortin an employee at Reidar’s Manufacturing with a time of 2:35, 3rd place: Ray Lees of the F/V Paula Jean with a time of 2:59. Kevin Curole of Grand Isle, Louisiana won the splicing contest.
On Sunday, scallopers took center stage with back to back contests: Link Squeezing(emceed by Mathieu Lemieux of Blue Fleet Welding) and Shucking (emceed by Richie Canastra of BASE/Whaling City Seafood Display Auction). Brothers Levi Brockman (F/V Starbrite) and Steve Brockman (F/V Instigator) won the link squeezing contest with a time of 1:59. Results of the shucking contest were as follows: Jonathan Hynd of the F/V Horizon took first place with a time of 4:02; Sergey Chadchushkin of the F/V Atlantic took 2nd place with a time of 4:13; and Jeff Swain of the F/V Polaris took 3rd place with a time of 4:19.
Contest prizes were provided by Latti and Anderson LLP, Slave of the Sea, Marlinspike Artist, Buzzard’s Bay Rowing Club, Sinners and Saints Tattoo, Dark Star Tattoo and Body Piercing, Flying Aces Tattoo, the New Bedford Tattoo Company, and the Working Waterfront Festival.
Fourteen individuals competed in the Nautical Tattoo Contest debuting at this year’s festival. Contestants were judged on artistry, concept/creativity, stage presence and the story behind their tattoo. The judging panel included tattoo artists, Neil England and Val G., local sculptor Jessica Bregoli, and Raymond Canastra, co-owner of BASE. Terry Bungay of Newfoundland took home first place. Tanner Tillotson came in second; Bob Vieira came in third; and Sarah Jane Mulvey took fourth.
Sunday culminated with a Seafood Throwdown pitting Chef Chris Cronin of Little Moss (Dartmouth, MA) against Chef Rob Pirnie of Trafford (Warren, RI). With Dogfish as the surprise seafood ingredient, Chef Cronin, who was lucky enough to get an egg bearing dogfish, and clever enough to incorporate the fish roe into his dish (grilled dogfish, sugar pumpkin & lamb chorizo with scrambled roe and peach jam) scored enough extra points for his use of the whole animal to win the day. The Seafood Throwdown is a collaboration between the Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance and the Working Waterfront Festival.
The Working Waterfront Festival is a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern MA, a non-profit organization. The FREE festival, a family friendly, educational celebration of New England’s commercial fishing industry, features live music, fishermen’s contests, fresh seafood, vessel tours, maritime authors, cooking demonstrations, kid’s activities and more. It all takes place on working piers and waterfront parks in New Bedford, MA, America’s #1 fishing port, on the last full weekend in September. Navigate to us at www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org.