Jes Hathaway is the editor in chief of National Fisherman magazine and NationalFisherman.com.
Thursday, 24 January 2013
The 12th annual Mid-Atlantic Waterman of the Year Contest kicked off with a double heat of net mending on Saturday, Jan. 19, 2013, at the Maryland Watermen's Show in Ocean City.
Emcee John Martin, a partner in the family-owned fish wholesaler and retailer Martin Fish Co. of Ocean City, announced that each heat would award $100 to the winner, $50 to the runner up and a Maryland Watermen's Association T-shirt for third place.
Brandon Malek, a rockfish, catfish and white perch fisherman out of Baltimore, was the winner of the first heat and overall net-mending title-holder.
In the second heat, father and son Rob and Sam Joiner, pound net fishermen out of Rock Hall, Md., went head to head. Sam won the heat and took second place.
The baiting round went to Rob Joiner, and second place to Sam Joiner, both in the middle of the table.
Knot tying went to Charles Martin, also a member of the Martin Fish Co. family as well as a fisherman who says he goes on any kind of boat, from longlining to dragging to working the bay. He took the second heat and first place, tying a figure 8, a bowline and a square knot in 10.85 seconds.
Brandon Malek took the $50 prize and won the first heat in 11.22 seconds.
Splicing went to Rob Joiner, with Brandon Malek in second.
This heat of the competition was not without some controversy as the judges hovered over a splicing technique and wound up disqualifying what would have been second place.
Malek also won the rope throwing (tossing a line around a piling) and survival suit heats. He got his face flap closed at the 31-second mark.
In the end Brandon Malek won the title of Waterman of the Year, knocking Rob Joiner to second place for the first time in many years. And Sam Joiner took third.
The event was sponsored by Vane Brothers and Martin Fish Co.
Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
Over 500 lots of seafood processing equipment formerly owned by Adak Seafood will be sold at auction on Tuesday, June 18, starting at 10 a.m. Hawaiian-Aleutian Daylight Time at the Hilton Garden Inn in Anchorage Alaska.
The equipment is located in a recently updated 250,000 square foot state-of-the-art processing facility in Adak, Alaska. Farmington Hills, Mich.-based Hilco Industrial, which conducts 75 machinery and equipment auctions in a wide range of industries annually, will conduct the auction.
Adak Seafood opened originally as Ada Fisheries in Anchorage in 1986. The facility, updated in 2005, is located on the island of Adak, the southernmost city in Alaska near the western end of the Aleutian Islands. The facility processed cod primarily, as well as halibut, blackcod, crab and pollock, Hilco says.
Alaska fisherman and commercial fisheries activist Kevin Adams was elected chairman at the Alaska Seafood Marketing Institute board of directors meeting on May 9 in Anchorage.
The governor-appointed board consists of seven members: five seafood processors and two industry representatives actively engaged in commercial fishing. Adams was appointed to fill a harvester seat by Gov. Frank Murkowski in 2004.
With 38 years of fishing experience in Bristol Bay, Adams has long been an active member in the Alaska fishing industry, ASMI says. He has worked for both the Alaska Fisheries Development Foundation and the Bering Sea Fisherman's Association, and represents Alaska fishermen on numerous boards.
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