May 23, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Discovery, an 84-foot commercial fishing vessel based in New Bedford, and its crew of seven became disabled early Friday about 100 miles off Nantucket, the Coast Guard reported.
Crewmembers aboard the Discovery contacted watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern’s command center at 2:30 a.m. Friday, reporting they had a disabled rudder and needed assistance.
May 20, 2016 — SCITUATE, Mass. — The weather is getting better and many people are thinking about getting out on the water. A few sail boats can be seen offshore in the brisk springtime wind and more than a few recreational fishing boats are at mooring in Scituate Harbor.
This is also the traditional time for the North Atlantic right whales to leave their wintertime home in Cape Cod Bay and head for the Great South Channel southeast of Nantucket. This year the right whales are acting differently and scatting more than their normal migration.
Dr. David (Dave) Wiley, research coordinator at the Stellwagen Bank National Marine Sanctuary, suggests that the change in behavior is probably due to warmer than normal waters in the Gulf of Maine, a change that is having effects on many species.
We are lucky to have a variety of whales that make their home in the Gulf of Maine or are seasonal visitors. Watching a whale breach or play with other whales is a truly amazing experience that many of us can enjoy simply by boarding a private vessel in Scituate Harbor. Along with the joy and excitement of observing the whales comes responsibility.
March 7, 2016 — On a remote island off of Nantucket, scientists are using a tool most commonly associated with war and surveillance to get a look at fuzzy baby seals.
Researchers who want to get a handle on the growth of New England’s gray seal population have been using drones as part of an effort to photograph the animals, which gather in huge numbers on remote islands.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration used a pair of unmanned aircraft on Muskeget Island off of Massachusetts to take pictures of seal pups in January. The island is the biggest gray seal breeding colony in the country.
The pictures will help scientists find how many gray seals there are in Northeastern waters, said Kimberly Murray, the coordinator of the seal research program at NOAA’s Northeast Fisheries Science Center.
“We need to know how many seals there are before we can know what’s going on, and how to manage them. Or, I should say, manage us,” Murray said.
Read the full story at Gloucester Daily Times
January 8, 2016 — A New Bedford fishing vessel’s voyage was cut short Thursday after the Coast Guard found multiple safety violations, according to a statement from the Coast Guard.
The 83-foot Amber Nicole did not have a life raft, had improperly marked survival suits, and no record of performing mandatory monthly drills, all serious safety deficiencies, according to the Coast Guard statement. The boat was operating about 44 nautical miles off Nantucket with a crew of seven.
January 5, 2016 — Coast Guard officials say they are looking into safety policies and procedures after the tow of a Gloucester fishing boat went fatally wrong last month.
“We’re doing a thorough investigation” in conjunction with the National Transportation Safety Board, Coast Guard spokesman Ross Ruddell said Monday, while the Coast Guard was in the process of towing in another boat that had become disabled off Nantucket.
The investigation into the December incident will involve a review of safety policies, including whether to stock rescue vessels with defibrillators, Ruddell said. Currently, Coast Guard helicopters carry the life-saving equipment, but rescue boats are not required to do so.
Gloucester fishing boat captain David “Heavy D” Sutherland, 47, died Dec. 3 when his boat the Orin C went under while being towed by the Coast Guard in heavy seas off Cape Ann.
Two other fishermen, Rick Palmer and Travis Lane, were rescued. Sutherland was unresponsive when pulled onto a Coast Guard motor rescue boat and could not be revived after more than an hour of CPR, according to Coast Guard officials.
The Orin C sank 12 miles off Thatcher Island in Gloucester after first being towed by a good Samaritan vessel called the Foxy Lady. The tow was imperiled by high wind and waves. The Orin C’s surviving crew members told the Boston Globe that the Foxy Lady’s tow line was too short and it was going too fast for the rough weather.
A large wave reportedly crashed over the Orin C’s bow and caused it to flood, according to a Coast Guard statement.
January 4, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — The Coast Guard helped tow a 95-foot New Bedford fishing vessel Monday after it became disabled Sunday morning about 100 nautical miles east of Nantucket, according to a news release.
Watchstanders at Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England’s command center were notified at about 7 a.m. Sunday from the Megan Marie’s captain who said the boat was disabled due to a lost rudder. There were six people on board, he said.
The Good Samaritan fishing vessel Jason and Danielle, the disabled vessel’s sister ship, responded Sunday at about 2:30 p.m. and took Megan Marie into tow. But when winds increased to 20-30 knots and the waves reached 10 feet, the tow line parted and Megan Marie’s owner asked the Coast Guard for help, the release said.
Read the full story at the New Bedford Standard-Times
January 2, 2016 — NEW BEDFORD, Mass. — Few industries involve as much drama and risk as whaling did. The last voyage of the Essex, which inspired Herman Melville’s classic, “Moby Dick”, and is the subject of a new film, “In the Heart of The Sea”, gives a sense of the horrors involved. The ship left Nantucket in 1819 and sailed for over a year before being destroyed by a whale it was hunting. The 20 crew members survived the sinking, but found themselves adrift in the Pacific in three longboats, with little food and no water. Three opted to stay on a desert island, from which they were rescued three months later, on the verge of starvation. The others sailed on, hoping to reach South America but dying one by one. At first the survivors buried the dead at sea; then they resorted to eating the corpses of their crewmates. When they ran out of bodies, they drew lots to decide whom to shoot and eat. Only five of the 17 were eventually rescued. By then, they were so delirious that they did not understand what was happening.
The only reason that anyone could be induced to take part in such a dangerous business was the fabulous profit that could be made. Gideon Allen & Sons, a whaling syndicate based in New Bedford, Massachusetts, made returns of 60% a year during much of the 19th century by financing whaling voyages—perhaps the best performance of any firm in American history. It was the most successful of a very successful bunch. Overall returns in the whaling business in New Bedford between 1817 and 1892 averaged 14% a year—an impressive record by any standard.
New Bedford was not the only whaling port in America; nor was America the only whaling nation. Yet according to a study published in 1859, of the 900-odd active whaling ships around the world in 1850, 700 were American, and 70% of those came from New Bedford. The town’s whalers came to dominate the industry, and reap immense profits, thanks to a novel technology that remains relevant to this day. They did not invent a new type of ship, or a new means of tracking whales; instead, they developed a new business model that was extremely effective at marshalling capital and skilled workers despite the immense risks involved for both. Whaling all but disappeared as an industry after mineral oil supplanted whale oil as a fuel. But the business structures pioneered in New Bedford remain as relevant as they ever were. Without them, the tech booms of the 1990s and today would not have been possible.
August 24, 2015 — Crews aboard two Coast Guard cutters brought an 83-foot fishing vessel safely to anchorage off Nantucket at approximately 8 p.m. Sunday.
Watchstanders at the First Coast Guard District Command Center, were notified at 11:30 a.m. Saturday that the scallop fishing vessel Chaz’s Toy lost propulsion during a living marine resource boarding by the Coast Guard Cutter Escanaba crew 120 miles southeast of Nantucket.
The crew of the 270-ft Escanaba issued a marine assistance request broadcast for Chaz’s Toysoliciting commercial or good Samaritan assistance for the vessel, which went unanswered.
The cutter took the vessel in stern tow at approximately 4:30 p.m. Saturday. The following morning, the crew of the 110-foot Tybee relieved the Escanaba crew and continued to bring the vessel toward shore.
Read the full story at the Inquirer and Mirror
August 17, 2015 — Coast Guard crews aboard the cutters Escanaba and Hammerhead brought a disabled fishing vessel safely to shore early Monday.
Watchstanders at the Coast Guard Sector Southeastern New England Command Center, in Woods Hole, received a phone call from the captain of the vessel Challenger Sunday morning, stating a line had fouled their propeller, and they were disabled and adrift 70 miles southeast of Nantucket, Massachusetts.
Search-and-rescue coordinators from the Sector Southeastern New England command center diverted the Coast Guard cutters Escanaba and Hammerhead to assist.
The crew of the Escanaba arrived on scene and took the vessel, loaded with 650 pounds of scallops, in a stern tow at 9:30 a.m., Sunday. Later, at about 1 p.m. the crew of the Hammerhead relieved the Escanaba and continued to bring the fishing vessel toward shore.
Read the full story at CapeCod.com