The Trojan-
Next is a scallop boat at the floating part of the Town Pier-
What a mess. Hopefully these two wrecks will be removed as soon as possible.
AGM has moved their barge and crane over to the Brant Point Coast Guard Station. Not sure if they are just storing it over there or if they are going to be doing some work on the pier there.
The roads around the waterfront are in shambles. Especially Easton Street, Brant Point and Children's Beach. It looks like a bomb went off. They are busy working on replacing sewer lines. I'm sure the work will be completed and the roads put back together and paved just in time for the Summer people's arrival. Here are a few scenes of the mess-
The commercial bay scallop season ends on the last day of this month. The highliners are getting their full 5 bushel limit every day. It turned out to be a very good season after all.
18 comments:
It looks like the company doing the work has ensured that there is still access to the ramp at Childrens Beach for the few die hard scallopers left. Remember a few years ago when they were trying to get the ramp repaired and the residents didn't want it done? I sat next to one of the opposition at one of the public hearings and he asked me, "Are you for or against?" I replied that I was for an improved boat ramp which will help with the traffic flow and retain the majority of the beach as is and he was horrified. His eyes welled up and he asked, "What about the children?" That's when I realized what we were up against.
Dan
Dan,
I'll bet you 200 nub-eating crab and 20 bucks that I know who "What About the Children" voted for last November.
Speaking of the children, if you see them with two heads this summer, you know that they have played on the toxic pile of sand they call Children's Beach now.
I remember when the town pier was under construction.Alot of the old timers were against it-"all's I can say is wait for the first southeaster come screamin'up the harbor" and "Crissake,what good is a wharf you cant drive on?",etc.Of course the old fellas were right and keeping with Nantucket tradition the engineers ignored them.That place has claimed more boats than all of Nantucket Shoals put together
A charter boat and a scalloper. Stewards of our waters, indeed.
That one is not a charter boat.
Stewards of our waters? Was that necessary? Another washashore point rounder's comment on something he knows nothing about.
"Another washashore point rounder's comment on something he knows nothing about."
Since i don't know nothing, explain to me why the scallopers think the town should pay them to save their own business (i.e. move the seed that they will harvest, for a profit, next year)?
That's actually a very good comment and question, anonymous.
Those boats were claimed by poor maintenance and neglect, not a "southeaster screamin up the harbor" The majority of the boats that sink in the harbor or wash up on shore do so because they are neglected or improperly tied up/moored. Lots of boats sit on that pier all year long with no problems (assuming no ice). Just because your a native doesn't make you right. Should we go back to killing whales...
Take it easy, cap. No need to get defensive and start flaming my site.
Martie
Has the Bonita been raised and moved, or did it settle on the bottom?
While I am not a scalloper,its easy to understand why some scallopers expect the town to pay them to move seed.Its an incentive and you have to be a year round resident to see this.First off, many scallops are crushed under the feet of the several hundred off-island family limit people scouring the bottom with their push rakes.The commercial scalloper who depends on these scallops cant harvest them,they are gone.So,if he can recover that loss by being paid to move seed,it is only fair.Also,during a big scallop year created by fishermen saving seed by being paid to move it, many Nantucket businesses thrive-restaurants,the lumberyards,the Ford garage,clothing stores,etc.The money stays on island.Getting paid to move seed is very beneficial financially to Nantucket,not expensive.I hope this clears up any confusion.God bless the scallopers.Few towns can boast of a 135 year old industry and whatever they are doing is working so lets leave them alone
The town of Nantucket has historically paid fishermen to move seed scallops,bring in starfish and conchs by the bushel as well as paying them a bounty for shooting seals.Paying the scallopers to move seed is an incentive,and its a good thing.However,not all scallopers "expect" the town to pay them and many scallopers move seed on their own all the time.Lots of old timers would "salt a place" with seed hoping to harvest it on a blowy day.If a big scallop year is to be had because of seed saved and moved by fishermen and the town pays them to move it,much of the town businesses benefit from the additional income derived from the harvest.There you have it-pay the fishermen to move seed,the seed grows up,is harvested and we all reap the bounty,the wealth is spread around.
The wreck, Bonita, has been raised and she is laying off one one of the finger piers at Children's Beach.
Johnny Sunbeam, my e-mail address is coatue65@comcast.net
By your logic then, the Town should pay the fisherman to move the seed in September, not April. And the Town should pay Farmer Phil & Farmer Steve to plant their crops in the spring, and subsidize the landscapers and builders, and painters, so that their workers have money to spend downtown when the crops comes in? Sounds like the village 'foundry' during the Great Leap Foreward.
Are you a communist?
Since nobody's been "paid" to move seed for five years how did these fisherpeople survive the massacre of seed (?
I belive the State paid bounties on seal noses (see Eddy & Irene).
More to the point; 95% of the real scallopers went to work and brought in 5 legal boxes / license / day, all season long. And the other 5% whined about how unfair life was.
Commercial scalloping brings into the local economy(from offshore) about $1.5M in a 15K bushel year.
Pleasure boating brings into the local economy (from offshore)about $20+M/year. Do the math. And, forget using Whitey's "trickle down" hocus-pocus BS.
Always nice talking with natives.
We can go back and forth about this forever. There really is no point. You simply can't argue with an old Nantucketer who has been plying the waters of Nantucket way before most people here even knew where Nantucket was on a map. I know several old local salts. They always tell me that they have forgotten more than I will ever know about scalloping, etc.
I saw the scallop boat from the town pier being towed into the childrens beach ramp. i guess it is all better, now.
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