Saving Seafood

MASSACHUSETTS: Gloucester condemns Commercial Street wharf

May 4, 2017 — The city is continuing its investigation into what caused a wharf at 80 Commercial St. to collapse into Gloucester Harbor on April 28, taking a tin outbuilding with it.

City Building Commissioner Bill Sanborn said the remaining portions of the pier and the damaged building have been condemned and the owners ordered to remove it.

“We’re still investigating and haven’t determined the cause,” Sanborn said Wednesday. “We’re working with the owners, requiring them to bring in an engineer to tell us what caused the failure and how they’re going to make it safe.”

Sanborn said the city has not cited the owners for any violations, but reiterated that the investigation is ongoing.

City assessor records list the owner of the 80 Commercial St. site as the Anthony Curcuru Trust et al, but Sanborn said the ownership is more complicated than that.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times

MASSACHUSETTS: Fishing vessel tows tour boat home

August 22, 2016 — While it may have been the three-hour tour described in the “Gilligan’s Island” theme song, it was a happier ending for 34 passengers touring the seas around Cape Ann.

The Coast Guard says the captain of the 37-foot Cape Ann Harbor Cruise boat King Eider began issuing mayday calls shortly after 4:30 p.m. Saturday after the vessel began taking on water at the rate of 5 gallons per minute. The boat was in the area of Brace Cove, outside of Gloucester Harbor.

“I heard the mayday call for a boat with 34 passengers and I thought, ‘This ain’t good,’” said Capt. Kevin Twombly of the Lisa & Jake, based out of the Cape Ann’s Marina Resort. Twombly was returning from a chartered trip fishing for haddock and cod with a “couple of folks” and was coming around the Back Shore when he heard the call.

“I just went in there, and when I saw what the situation was, I just hooked ’em up,” he said.

The Lisa & Jake, a 40-foot charter fishing vessel, was the first on scene at 4:40 p.m., followed by a Coast Guard motor life boat crew from Station Gloucester and two boats from the Gloucester Harbormaster’s Office, the Coast Guard said. Boats from the Massachusetts State Police and Gloucester Police Department also assisted.

Read the full story at the Gloucester Times