Eastman’s Fishing Fleet Donating Use of Boat For NH Foodbank Trip, November 3rd
September 17, 2008
When: Monday, November 3rdWhere: Eastman’s Dock, River Street, Seabrook Beach, NH
Eastman’s Fishing Fleet of Seabrook, NH is donating the use of one if its boats, the Merilee Ann III, for a second New Hampshire Food Bank trip.
Last October, a group of friends from New York, Connecticut and Massachusetts, who regularly went out fishing through Eastman’s, made a special trip and donated their 1,000-pound catch to the New Hampshire Food Bank, the state organization that helps stock the shelves of local food pantries. Eastman’s donated another 600 pounds.
This fall, Mark Bellaire and three others who went out last year are organizing another trip on Monday, November 3rd. They will donate their catch and raise money for the New Hampshire Food Bank and four local Make-A-Wish Foundation chapters through an online auction at eBay’s MissionFish.org website.
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Electric Torpedo Ray Caught Off Newburyport
August 10, 2008
On Wednesday, August 6th, while fishing on the Erica Lee II, a Coastal Discoveries student caught a rare (in these waters) 25-pound, 3-foot long, 28-inch-wide electric torpedo ray.
The ray was caught about half-mile offshore Newburyport in 35 feet of water. Visit Katie Farrell’s article in the Newburyport Daily News for the entire story.
The ray, which is a member of the shark family, not to be confused with a skate, has a large disc-shaped body and its skin is free of spikes that are characteristic of common skates. The ray can produce a very strong electrical charge of 220 volts.
Captain Bob Yeomans, told Ms. Farrell that he hadn’t seen an electric torpedo ray this far north in about 20 years . “They mostly stay south or west of Cape Cod,” he said. “This one was a stray.”
Coastal Discoveries, founded by Captain Bob Yeomans and his wife,Lee Yeomans, is a very successful on- the-water summer day camp that is in its 20th year of operation.
Website: Visit the Coastal Discoveries website for more information about their programs.
Porbeagle Shark Breeding Ground On Georges Bank
July 21, 2008
A post on Canadian Broadcasting Center Online reports that scientists have discovered a new breeding ground for porbeagle sharks off Canada’s East Coast on the Candian portion of Georges Bank.
A research team located the mating area on Georges Bank earlier this month after hearing reports from fishermen that they were hauling up the large, blue-grey sharks in their nets. Steve Campana, a marine biologist who specializes in the species, said the find makes it only the second known breeding ground in the Northwest Atlantic for the fast, fierce-looking shark that can reach almost four metres in length.
Until now, scientists knew of only one breeding ground for porbeagles off Newfoundland and Labrador’s southern coast. The area was closed to directed shark fishing shortly after it was identified as a mating area.Campana said Fisheries managers are now reviewing the latest find to determine whether the area should be closed to shark fishing to stave off another collapse in the population.
The porbeagle fishery is worth an estimated $2 million annually on the East Coast, with 90 per cent of it going to markets in Boston.
To read the complete post, visit the following link:
Newfoundland Sail Boat’s Encounter With A Whale
July 16, 2008
It’s been an active summer for whale and shark sightings in the waters off the coast of New England and the Canadian Maritimes.
The captain and crew of a Newfoundland sail boat had a close encounter with a large marine animal — possibly a killer whale, a humpback whale or a great white shark while sailing earlier this week off the coast of St. John’s, New Brunswick.
An article by Richard Dooley in the Star Phoenix, reports that the 8.5-meter sailboat, Turanga, collided with something big and stopped dead in the water.
“We saw this huge dorsal fin come out of the water and head straight for the boat,” Drodge, the captain of the sailboat said. The fin got momentarily caught in the forward sail, or jib, of the sailboat.”
Drodge and his companions are convinced the animal that struck their boat on Sunday was a killer whale, or orca. Whale expert Wayne Ledwell, in Mr. Dooley’s article, said he’s never heard of an orca attacking a boat in Newfoundland waters. He thinks it might have been a humpback or perhaps a great white shark.
For more information, click on the following link to read Mr. Dooley’s article online.
Whale attack leaves N.L. skipper quaking, by Richard Dooley, Star Phoenix
Young 6-Ft. Long Female Great White Shark Washes Ashore on Nantucket
July 15, 2008
The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries confirmed that the 6 to 7-foot long shark that washed ashore on a beach on Nantucket yesterday (Monday, July 14th) was a young female great white shark.
The shark washed ashore on a beach off Sheep Pond Road Monday and was discovered by several children on the beach.
Here are two links to follow for more information about the story:
- Shark Washes Up Off Sheep Pond Road, byBy Jason Graziadei,
Nantucket Inquirer & Mirror, July 14, 2008. This article has photographs of the shark.
Lecture: The Annual 1500-Mile Long Triangular Migration Of Wild Atlantic Stripers
July 14, 2008
When: Wednesday, July 16, 2008 at 7:00 p.m.Where: Sawyer Free Library, Friend’s Room, 2 Dale Avenue, Gloucester, MA
On Wednesday, July 16 at 7:00 p.m., the Schoooner Adventure Series is holding a free lecture by inveterate fly-fisherman Richard Murphy for an on wild-spawning Striped Bass that roam coastal beaches, bays, and estuaries from the Carolinas to Maine.
The lecture is being held at Sawyer Free Library, Friend’s Room
2 Dale Avenue, Gloucester, MA. Richard Murphy is a Civil Engineer for the State of Massachusetts and the author of Fly-Fishing for Striped Bass.
For more information, visit the Schooner Adventure website.
Great White Shark Sighted Off Vineyard Beach
July 11, 2008
It is believed that the increasing population of seals year-round in the waters off Martha’s Vineyard is the primary reason for the increased number of shark sighting in the past few years.
Mark Alan Lovewell of the Vineyard Gazette has a report on this most recent sighting. To read it online, visit the following link:
Article: Swimmers Sent Out of Sea Following Shark Sighting By Mark Alan Lovewell, Vineyard Gazette
So far we haven’t heard of any recent great white sightings in the waters off of Greater Newburyport, including the North Shore and the New Hampshire seacoast.
Great White Shark Seen in Vineyard Waters
June 6, 2008
Mark Alan Lovewell has an interesting article in the current issue of the Vineyard Gazette (Friday, June 2, 2008) reporting that two charter fishing captains have reported seeing a great white shark in Vineyard waters during the past week.
Last Wednesday evening a great white shark was seen approximately 50 feet off the Menemsha beach. And last Sunday afternoon at about 4:30 p.m., a great white shark was seen by a charter captain in the waters off of Gay Head. The great white shark breached (came out of the water) three times near the captain’s boat.
Estimates of the size of the shark were in the 15 to 19 foot range with a weight of 3,000 to 4,000 pounds. The shark also was described as having a wide girth. This is a good size great white shark.
The growing seal population in the waters off the Vineyard may be the reason for the sightings of great whites in the area. A large shark was also observed close to shore last August off the Katama region of the Vineyard.
Mr. Lovewell’s article is well written, informative, and well worth reading. He provides a lot of interesting facts and details. It is not your typical stay out of the water “shark” article, but it does make you realize that there are sharks in the waters off our coastline and that you must use common sense, especially if you are surfing in waters inhabited by seals.
Article: Two Island Charter Captains Report a Great White Shark
Striper Fishing: Using The Bucktail Jig
May 20, 2008
Striped bass (stripers) and herring are running in our coastal waters right now. With the fishing season just starting to heat up, we’ll provide you with links to articles and fishing reports from local fishermen and writers in our region to give you a feel for what is going on in our coastal waters and rivers.
Here is a link to an article by Dave Sartwell on how to use a common lure, the bucktail jig, to catch stripers in our waters. He describes how the jig can be used in a a number of different ways, casting, trolling or jigging, depending on the circumstances.
Mr. Sartwell’s article appeared in the Glouceter Daily Times on May 19, 2008.
Please Don’t Feed The Whales
April 19, 2008
Even whales know when there is a free lunch!
If you don’t think whales are intelligent creatures, read the article by Wendy Stueck in the
The depredation problem, which is when whales snatch fish from commercial fishing lines, is so serious that Canadian fisheries officials are issuing bulletins to commercial fisherman about the impact that this learned behavior by whales can have on commercial fishing activities.
The article states that researchers are studying how the whales home in on fishing boats and what methods could be used to deter them. Some of the ongoing research into the whale depredation problem being conducted by scientists at the North Pacific Research Board in Anchorage, Alaska suggest that distinctive sounds made by long-line vessels hauling in their catch can attract whales from up to 19 kilometres away.
Ms. Stueck’s article provides another fascinating view at how responsive whales are to conditions in their environment.
Website Link: Fishermen Urged To Avoid Snack-Happy Whales by Wendy Stueck
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