National Fisherman

March Spotlight:

Gear and Apparel

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Boats & Gear

The Tide-N-Knots rests on its mooring in Bailey’s Mistake, a semi-protected anchorage in Lubec, Maine. Built somewhere in Nova Scotia in 1979, the boat is typical of the rough old Novi workhorses found in Downeast Maine. Greg McConnell photo.

Boat of the month: Tide-N-Knots

Paul Molyneaux

Making a profit with a small boat means cutting costs where possible. Burning biofuel enabled Nick Wilbur to get to his fishing grounds and back for free. He found that his engine ran faster, smoother, and quieter on biofuel. Nick Wilbur photo.

One captain’s experiment with vegetable oil fuel

Paul Molyneaux

On-demand fishing gear systems were tested in Jonesport, Maine, using the Maine Department of Marine Resources gear library. Photo courtesy of NOAA Fisheries

Consumers would pay more for lobster caught with ropeless gear, study finds

NF Staff

Mirage, a 50-foot longliner and troller, is now equipped with a hybrid diesel-electric propulsion system. ALFA photo.

Alaska's first hybrid-electric fishing boat lowers costs, boosts ocean environment

Margaret Bauman

Josh Sanford, who bull rakes for clams in Raritan Bay on the New Jersey/New York border powers his 21-foot, 1981 T-Craft with a used 150-hp Yamaha four-stroke from Skipjack Marine. Skipjack Marine photo.

Getting everything Yamaha has to give

Paul Molyneaux

Over 100 groundfish industry volunteers worked in 80 degree heat at Terminal 91 at the Port of Seattle on May 28 to clean four huge midwater trawl nets to recycle plastics in the into new products. Photo by John Dunlap, Trident Seafoods

Groundfish industry cleans 55,935 pounds of nets for recycling

Margaret Bauman

Homer, Alaska, boatbuilder Ivan Bargasin had a Nanni shipped north to repower his propeller driven 32-foot Bristol Bay gillnetter. Built on a Scania Block, the Nanni N13 is paired with a ZF360 gear at 1.5:1. Ivan Basargin photo.

Kraft Power delivers Nanni engines to US fishermen

Paul Molyneaux

Rowan Miller has been working on her father’s salmon seiner since she was 14. At 24, she has utilized the Alaska Commercial Fishing Loan Program to finance the purchase of her first boat, the Journeyman. Credit: Rowan Miller

Boat of the Month: Journeyman

Paul Molyneaux

The hull of the Miss Violet II is being fiberglassed and repowered with a new Cummins QSC 600 diesel engine to work in the Virginia blue crab pot fishery. Larry Chowning photo.

Larry_Chowning

The enduring pull of the wooden deadrise boat

Larry Chowning

To protect whales, Maine lobstermen have increased their trawl size, added weak links in buoy lines, switched to sinking groundlines, switched to purple rope for buoy lines to identify Maine gear, and honored seasonal closures. Paul Molyneaux photo.

More than one way to save a whale

Paul Molyneaux

Pollock trawlers operate under strict bycatch limits designed to protect Pacific salmon stocks. Shuttertsock photo.

Research continues toward automated bycatch monitoring

Margaret Bauman