Fishing Back When

By Jessica Hathaway

1971— Cold temps in Maine’s Penobscot Bay have locals remembering the Big Freeze of 1918, when islanders walked to neighbors over the frozen sea and Vinalhaven Harbor shing boats were locked in.

The steel freighter Clara was loaded with Christmas trees in Shelburne, Nova Scotia, headed for the Bahamas. On Dec. 14, the cargo went up in ames, and local shermen rushed to the aid of the crew. The captain sent all but his rst mate and engineer to safety, including his wife and 2-year-old son. All survived, but the crew lost all their belongings in the re. Fishermen’s Wives in Coos Bay, Ore.,start campaign to promote local eets. President Nixon signs an executive order on Dec. 23, requiring industrial permits before dumping chemicals or pollutants into inland or coastal waters out to the three mile-limit.

A trawl crew cuts loose a crab pot lost to winter weather.

New England state regulators delay increase in minimum lobster size. “The gauge increase put us at a bad place in the marketplace,” says Dave Cousens, vice president of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association. “If Canada had agreed to join us, it would have been all right.” Alaska’s Gov. Walter Hickel takes of ce for the second time after a 20-year hiatus, bringing in Clem Tillion of Halibut Cove as a special adviser on sheries. But the move hasn’t eased the concerns of some shermen after Hickel put the Bering Sea eet on notice.

Richard Green backs Senora in to the dock on Deep Creek after a day of ghost potting — searching for lost gear — on Virginia’s James River. Pat Shanahan and the Genuine Alaska Pollock Producers celebrate a 55 percent quota increase over the 2010 TAC, with abundance predicted to continue for the next several years. Debate over Amendment 17A to the South Atlantic snapper-grouper shery management plan unites the Southeastern shing community in an example of exceptional cooperation to nd an alternative to closing 26,000 square miles and 170 complex species.