Splitting pairs
Innovative Virginia menhaden seiner is more than the sum of its parts
By Larry Chowning
Change is part of every fishery, and Jimmy Kellum is an agent of change when it comes to Chesapeake Bay menhaden. Kellum, who operates Kellum Maritime, a snapper-rig menhaden fishing company in Weems, Va., recently cut apart two 40' x 11' aluminum menhaden purse-net boats. From the pieces, he built the 40' x 18' In-seine, a first of its kind on Chesapeake Bay.
Legendary Larry
As we get this issue all set to go to press, we're also readying for what I like to call show season. That's the wintertime. When the nation's fishermen are more likely to be tied up, we travel around the country to regional fishing trade shows for the opportunity to see our readers face to face.
ATY Northeast
Lobsterman, 19, goes for thirds; islanders love their wood shed
Alec Peasley must be something of a driver. You have to be to have bought three lobster boats in the past seven years. The most recent is the Atlantica, a 34' x 12' Calvin Beal Jr. design. Prior to that was a used 30-foot Holland and before that an outboard-powered skiff. I know. You are going to say a skiff isn't much of a boat and doesn't cost a lot of money. But seven years ago, Peasley was in the seventh grade.
"He's had the fever ever since then," says Peasley's dad, Buster, adding that in the skiff days Alec's mother went as sternman.
Northeast Blue Crab
Survey says! Bay is a teenage dream; True Blue campaign targets restaurants
Chesapeake Bay conservation advocates credit recent protections of the breeding population for a huge 2012 crop of young blue crabs. But that won't translate into more dollars for watermen until the population matures.
Five feet high and rising
From U.S. Coast Guard reports
One cool late-May day about 130 nautical miles southeast of Nantucket, the skipper and two crew members of a steel dragger had just begun their first set of a four-day whiting trip. Once the trawl was set, the captain let the crew go below deck to rest.
NF January '79
One man survives tragedy of Marion A
By Nancy Freeman
"I kept saying over and over, 'I want to live. I choose life. I've got this far, I just want to make it.'"
And miraculously he did. Twenty nine-year-old fisherman Gerard Bourgeois survived a sinking boat, three hours in heavy seas and 12 days on a rocky shelf of beach.
Callifornia crabbing: Here's a fun video shot on the decks of the Majestik while catching Dungeness crab off the coast of northern California.
The United Fishermen of Alaska, a statewide commercial fishing industry trade association representing 36 member organizations, announces the election of Jerry McCune of Cordova District Fishermen United as president.
NMFS has announced two senior leadership changes that the agency says align with changes it is making to its West Coast operations.
National Fisherman has been the industry standard for over 50 years. Readers from coast to coast depend on it to stay up to date on news, regulations, fish stocks, to research purchasing decisions and to stay informed of the newest vessel and product technology.
