Season Wrap Up

by Brenda Tredwell

Alley perched atop the cab of a truck at the Winter Harbor Lobster Boat Races during the “Master Baiter” showdown, a timed competition, with his video camera taloned to his shoulder like a trained hawk, gets footage of the 3 fastest sternmen baiting 10 bags, measuring and banding lobster.

Blake Alley’s “In the Sticks with Uncle Nick” is a You-Tube production of the finest kind, featuring Dylan Johnson and other fine young cannibals, going about their business of lobstering and hunting.

Alley, a 5th generation lobsterman from Steuben, fishes “HARD CORE”, works at a lobster pound, and his videos - cut through the daily @!%$X - while documenting working lives, the dysfunctional amusements that keep sternmen showing up at the dock at 5 am, and the weirdness that keeps people motivated. It’s everyday craziness that makes life worth showing up for, after burnt coffee, and runny eggs.

Hunting, farming, fishing…all the things the Fed’ral Gummin’t is intimidated by fly naked in the face of critics giving Blake Alley an instant 5-Star Rating for authenticity. In a culture of lame scripted ‘reality television’, it’s a relief seeing guys hitting ducks while hanging upside down from trees while clad in their undergarments. (Sears, not Calvin Klein). The internet age commentary is unfiltered, unvarnished.

CONTENTS

Council Moves
on Fleet Diversity

Maine’s Deer Herd – Past, Present And Future

Editorial

Maine Wins Leeway on Federal Scallop Permits in State Water

Fishermen Question Accuracy of Shrimp Science

How to Buy a Boat

Community

Calls Growing for NOAA Chief’s Ouster

Howdy Houghton

DMR Report Card: “Many Serious Impediments And Deficiencies

Commentary:Bluefin Season Strong in Spite of Hurdles

Opinion

Back Then

Fishermen’s Co-ops

Green Canoe (And How It Came Into My Life)

Launching

Classified Advertisements

Good Crowds and Weather for New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival

Season Wrap Up

Capt. Mark East's Advice Column

Obituaries - Arvid Young

Network Update

Workshops