Alex Brown stepped out of his house in Provincetown’s West End, passed by homemade long rakes, tongs and shellfish culling boards to settle into a chair kitty corner to a rocker made of lobster pots, which he also makes.
He held the book “Men’s Lives: The Surfmen and Baymen of the South Fork,” which details the disappearing way of life of Long Island fishermen.
“This is my life,” he said, flipping through the book he also filled with newspaper clippings of fishing stories, obituaries of fishermen, the old days.
Brown, 67, is from Long Island, met some of the men written about by Peter Matthiessen. He even participated, as a member of the crew, in one of those bygone fisheries, haul seining. He still remembers and admires those men who took him lobstering and bullraking years ago.
“They taught me the ropes,” Brown said.
Brown identifies with the loss of fisheries and tradition where he grew up. He has even talked about leaving Provincetown as it seems to step away from its commercial fishing roots. But he bridles at the thought that Provincetown would go the way of the Hamptons.
In Sweden, fishermen, regulators, and environmental organizations work with government funding dedicated to developing fishing gear that is safe for seals.
In the United States, that doesn’t happen. There is a section of the Marine Mammal Protection Act that provides fishermen with opportunity to deter seals, but to avoid penalties they are supposed to abide by a list of recommendations produced by National Marine Fisheries Service.
That list does not yet exist.
“So fishermen are in sort of a quandary,” said George Maynard, formerly working at the Fishermen’s Alliance, adding that fishermen can be legally responsible if a seal is hurt.
Hookers Ball 20th brings laughter, renewed support
John Pappalardo looked out at a sea of smiling people who had just finished a traditional Cape Cod clambake, put together by Backside Bakes, under a white tent beside the historic Captain Harding House in Chatham, home of the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance.
Quite a difference from when the nonprofit’s biggest fundraiser got started 20 years ago in a 10-by-10 tent pitched in a private yard, with lobster rolls and a couple of cases of beer.
“I spent three days shucking about 200 pounds of lobster,” he said to laughter.
History says don’t call it ‘mayonnaise,’ use ‘custard’
“Black mayonnaise” is an evocative phrase used around harbors to describe a muck that builds in shallow waters, a thick carpet of ooze that smothers life and creates dead bottom where we’d all rather see sand, eel grass, and creatures with shells and little fins.
But a good look at the history and meaning of the term suggests we’re not using it as we should.
Real “black mayonnaise” is not what we have on the Cape, and the difference is profound enough that Agnes Mittermayr, who has studied this phenomenon from her research perch at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, believes we need to use new language for what we see. She has a suggestion:
Hookers Ball has always been about celebrating the fishing industry and the community that supports it.
Although the event has looked a little different the past two years, the celebratory atmosphere and acknowledgement of the value of commercial fishing hasn’t changed. The pandemic prompted a smaller event this year, hopefully next year we will be back under the big white tent at the VFW.
In the meantime, if you weren’t able to attend our 20th anniversary celebration – or even if you were there! – enjoy this gallery of the evening taken by Christine Hochkeppel of Salty Broad Studios.
Bear with me – forgive me might be the better way to put it – as I invoke yet one more acronym that has become increasingly important as we try to work our way through the maze known as United States fisheries management, keep our fleet on the water, and respond to big changes like global warming:
EBFM.
Ecosystem-Based Fisheries Management.
The idea is as it sounds, to think broadly about our relationship to the whole system and habitat that is the amazing ocean, tailor our work and impact with that big picture in mind.
Easier said than done – and it’s not even that easy to say!
For generations, the traditional way we have regulated fisheries is to think species by species. We try to figure out how much effort we can focus on one fish -- cod, scallop, lobster, monkfish, hake, flounder, the list is as long as your arm – and set up individual rules and quotas accordingly. Scientists conduct research on a stock, offer estimates of what is “sustainable,” and we can then try to harvest what makes sense with an eye to the future.
Some people use an analogy from the farming world and see this approach as akin to silos, self-contained, separate, side by side.
In many ways this makes logistical, scientific sense. But the unfortunate truth is that in many ways this narrow approach may no longer be sufficient to maintain sustainable fisheries.
Meanwhile, the playfield – in this case the Atlantic Ocean – is not just interrelated, meaning the antithesis of silos, but changing. In the most static of times the Atlantic remains perhaps the most complicated, multi-dimensional entity on the planet, and now that complexity is compounded by global climate shifts that cannot be denied.
This month the latest potential shocker emerged, a serious study suggesting that the Atlantic’s vital currents coursing north and south, including the Gulf Stream, could be shutting down due to rising temperatures throughout. Still a theory, data-driven but not proven, if true this could completely alter the ocean habitat we know, perhaps disastrously.
I’m not crying wolf here, but it makes no sense to continue with business as usual when the “business” isn’t working very well, and the “usual” no longer exists.
EBFM looks like a better way to respond to all of this.
The idea is to develop rules and tools that can incorporate big shifts in ocean patterns, that acknowledge how fish stocks fit into an interconnected pattern, that accept the fact that how we treat one species affects not just its reproduction but other fish and the habitat as a whole.
We know all this is true, but what we don’t know yet is how to account for it with regulations that are fair, defensible, enforceable, and accomplish our big-picture goals. Arriving at a simpler yet more dynamic management plan is chief among them.
Here’s how the feds (in language getting close to what we might call “federalese”) describe the idea:
“… (A) new approach that involves all species and fisheries in a specific area, recognizes the energetic limits of the system, takes into account the trophic relationships among species, allows for greater adaptability to variability and change, and addresses multifaceted goals and objectives.”
I’ve been named chair of the New England Fisheries Council’s EBFM committee; the meetings can get tedious, but this is work I seriously believe in and think could become a crucial national model. New England is a few steps ahead of the rest of the country in exploring the concept; come fall, COVID depending, there may be a chance to gather people from around the country to build coalitions and try to get ahead of a big wave.
If there is one community most sensitive to changes in the marine environment, who has to adapt to those changes or face disastrous consequences, it is fishermen. Time now for those who manage the fishery to use their example, move beyond silos and boxes, and face the future.
Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our 20th Hookers Ball - Let the Good Tides Roll! We are grateful to our sponsors, guests, and all who bid on the auction and supported our mission through generous donations, with the event raising $153,000!
Congratulations to our amazing runners who have crossed their finish lines for the Asics Falmouth Road Race 2021. We're appreciative of everyone’s fundraising efforts with the team collectively raising $13,500! Thank you to Rich Bryant, Holly Buddensee, Tarryn Christensen, Ben Greenspan, Monica Heuer, Brigid Krug, Kathryn Mandalakis, Gregory Mansbach, Katie McEachern, Heather Morin, Molly Ogren, Brendon Parker, Bryan Ruez, Nancy Ruez and Stephanie Sykes. Check out our team link here.
A big thank you to artist
Susanne Taylorwho created another beautiful whale artwork for the Art in the Park summer event organized by the Chatham Chamber of Commerce. The auction proceeds are split between the Chatham Merchants Association and the artist, and Susanne is generously donating her proceeds of $1,400 to Fishermen’s Alliance.
On the Water
Ever wonder how a boat, or a fish, got its name? Want the word on what people are catching --- or how to cook it?
“By the late 19th century, the six- to seven-foot specimens routinely encountered in the early days became the stuff of legend,” a recent NOAA piece said of halibut. Maybe legends can resurrect. Fishermen have been seeing more of the storied fish that was a successful local fishery decades ago, though they are still only allowed to bring in one per trip.
The Fishermen’s Alliance has been working with partners to gather more science to justify re-establishing a bigger fishery. Captain Matt Hamilton of the Stranglehold, pictured here, sold his 125-pound catch to his regular buyer; sometimes you can pick up some delicious halibut at the Chatham Farmers Market.
On the Shore
This community thrives in large part because of a constellation of non-profit organizations and engaged businesses.
Sen. Markey has worked with us on multiple efforts to help the peninsula’s commercial fishing industry and blue economy. We were happy to welcome the senator and his staff to the Chatham Fish Pier yesterday where they were able to hear about the success of the industry and challenges that lie ahead from our staff and fishermen.
Two regional fishery councils came together to lay out concerns with an increasing number of ocean-based wind projects in the pipeline, and shortcomings in the regulatory process – including the lack of attention to cumulative impacts. Read the letter here and explore our new page that features our recent comment letters on projects and initiatives that impact the commercial fishing industry.
We work with the Net Gains Alliance, a global initiative committed to spur modernization of America’s fisheries information system. Greater accountability helps fish and fishermen. Check out this new @net_gains film “Fishing For Data.” It explores how and why the modernization of data systems is critical to improving fisheries management. View here.
On the Hook
We do a lot of reading, searching through the wide world of fisheries, and often find intriguing pieces to share. In the old days, you might call this your clipping service.
This is the third year that a so-called Dead Zone, aka The Blob, with low levels of oxygen, has made an appearance in Cape Cod Bay. Lobstermen first reported finding dead or listless animals in their lobster traps in 2019. Read morehereand to see our reporting on the issue click here.
We have been working with our federal legislators to help convince the U.S. Department of Agriculture to expand its purchasing and distribution program that sends American-made food across the country to food banks, schools, the military, and prisons. Purchases in that program historically have been very heavy on beef, chicken and pork products, very light on fish.
“We want fish, and independent, American small-boat fishermen, to be brought to a par in this effort,” said Seth Rolbein. “The haddock chowder program proves that’s feasible.” Read morehere.
Fishermen on Cape Cod have seen how climate change is affecting their businesses. The New England Fishery Management Council, which our CEO John Pappalardo serves on, is joining other East Coast marine management councils to plan for the future. The project, called East Coast Climate Change Scenario Planning, is a response to accelerating and debilitating impacts on fish stocks and marine habitats. Find out more here.
