Bare handed. Covered with stinging wet salt and herring guts in the warm summer heat.
It’s a tough job but hey, Eddie’s a tough guy.
you know the drill- click the pics for larger versions
My View of Life on the Dock
click the picture for the slide show
You can also visit Kevin’s site here-
http://kevinjhenry.com/home.html
Kevin writes-
FISHERMEN – I see pride, determination and resignation in the photographs of these men. They are the "last of the independents" in Point Pleasant, NJ. As small commercial fishermen along the East Coast vanish, those that remain persevere and struggle to survive. A centuries old way of life that is rich with tradition and pride may soon be gone, victims of what may be the irreversible consolidation of the fleets. Their culture deserves respect and admiration. Those who work in this inherently dangerous trade are to be admired.
THE FUTURE? – A ghostly view of what may be the disappearing fishing fleets.
Not too many people other than my favorite blogger Doug Maxfield that have the balls to write articles like the one Dave Marciano wrote in today’s GDT-
Click the link above to read what Dave has to say. If what he says is true (and believe me I can’t even begin to understand how complex it all is) the way of life of the independent fishermen in Gloucester Ma will be lost forever within a generation.
i’m not sure how many people understand how sweeping the changes will be to our port but if it all is privatized the way it sounds like it’s going, go grab all the copies you can of John N Morris’ book Alone At Sea about the Schooners and Ron Gilson’s book about the waterfront An Island No More because the way of life as independent fishermen in Gloucester will be history and those two guys captured it in a real (non-romanticized way) better than anyone.
Unfortunately for the industry guys like Doug Maxfield don’t get book deals. His truths and clear cutting of the bullshit that gets reported about commercial fishing for one reason or another gets ignored by major media and instead bananheads with very little real commercial fishing experience get anointed experts in the field.
In the current day and age when it is so fashionable to hop on the green train the general public and even worse- food writers buy into whatever crap the environmentalists label green or not green or safe or not safe and more often than not once one of these people say it’s so the rest of the minions of loyal environmentalists fall right in behind them without ever doing real investigative work for themselves.
They ought to talk to guys like Doug or better yet read his blog- North Shore Waterman for the real deal.
Like the header for his blog?
It’s from a picture I took.
Here is your warning-Doug is RAW. If you are offended by sexual innuendo or harsh truths with extremely salty language about all things commercial fishing don’t bother going there.
But if you want to read about what is really going on in the fishing industry from a back man’s perspective check out Doug’s blog and make it part of your daily reading.
Here’s the first post that I’d suggest you read to further illustrate why I think Doug Maxfield should be the guy that gets the book deal-
So I’m on the crapper the other day, and with no other options within a step the width of my under-pants, I found myself flipping through the New Yorker. Wouldn’t you know it I found an article about the tragic state of the worlds fisheries (http://www.newyorker.com/arts/critics/books/2010/08/02/100802crbo_books_kolbert?currentPage=1). Always interested in people’s take, I read it. HOLY-SHIT. Do people outside of the industry and the towns of New Bedford and Gloucester actually believe any of the tripe?
click the link to read the rest of his post
From Stern To Stem We Look At An Abandoned Dragger
A Sad State Of Affairs For Sure
File Under: Beautiful Industry
The Jocka Offloads Old Wire Onto A Mobile Net Reel
Here is a dragger’s net spread out so that it can be worked on. The orange balls act as floats at the top of the net as it gets towed through the water the boyancy of the orange balls keep the opening of the net as wide as possible to catch the most fish efficiently. Along the bottom you see the rubber rollers which make up the bottom part of the net as it gets towed behind the boat.

I got some video when dropping off some empty fish totes at Cape Seafoods yesterday. Looks like the Plan B will be making its maiden voyage as a herring seiner soon. Yesterday they were loading the net aboard.
Video at 1PM
Plan B Herring Seiner, originally uploaded by captjoe06.