Rick Wright’s FV Family Tradition urchin dragging with Lubec, Maine in the background. The urchin harvest has seen better days. Scalloping in inshore waters has improved over the last several years. The state’s harvest monitoring program and closures have revived scallops in many areas. This season has seen declines in some locations. Fishermen’s opinions vary on why, scientists and regulators will be assessing the collected data. Chessie Crowe Gartmayer photo.
Beals Lobsterman Plucked from Icy Water
by Nancy Beal
Anthony Beal celebrated his 72nd birthday November 4. Two days later, the Beals lobsterman celebrated those years in a different way after getting dumped into the water in Barney’s Cove off the northwest corner of Beals Island. A life jacket that very few fishermen wear and quick action on the part of friends and fellow fishermen combined to save his life.
On that morning, Beal donned the inflatable personal flotation device (PFD) that he’d bought and worn for the past year after a young Jonesport fishermen drowned while boarding his boat. He drove to his parking spot on Barney’s Cove, shoved his 10-foot skiff off the float, and rowed out to his boat, moored on the north (Moosabec Reach) side of the cove. Beal elects to haul alone, so no one was with him.
Codfather Case Studied by Law Enforcement
by Laurie Schreiber
Rafael had a
couple of
ways of
cheating,
Audyatis
said.
NEWPORT, R.I.—Law enforcement divisions of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. Coast Guard are reviewing potential improvements to their fishery-related processes in order to avoid future cases like that of Carlos Rafael.
Rafael, commonly called “The Codfather,” owned Carlos Seafood Inc., in New Bedford, Mass.; it was
