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whale watch

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    Painting Hulls, Tuning Up Engines, and Sharpening Our Hooks

    Will the joys of fishing with smaller groups and more space on boats last?

    By

    Another season on the water is soon upon us and, with a little luck, we may not have Covid issues dramatically affecting everything we do. Still, the last two seasons have taught us a thing or two.

    April is a month for boat operators to bring their vessels out of storage, put the finishing touches on them, and get them into their slips ready for business. Bottoms and hulls get painted, engines are tuned up, and Coast Guard inspections get done in preparation for what looks to be a very busy tourist season. Cape-wide, lodging reservations have indicated high demand so far.

    Lacy Carter, the reservations office manager at the Dolphin Fleet, reports robust activity already. “We are all very optimistic,” she says. “All we need is good weather and whales.” People are looking forward to their Cape Cod vacations, says Lacy.

    Things are picking up again at MacMillan Pier. (Photo by Nancy Bloom)

    The whales being here is almost a given, but the weather we all need in order to do good business is another matter. It seems to be getting more iffy and challenging lately with climate change underway. My observation, shared by many others on the waterfront, is that we seem to have a shorter true summer weather pattern. We definitely have more wind than in past years. The predictions are also in on the upcoming tropical weather season and the consensus is we will see yet another increase in storms and landfalls this year. Time will tell.

    Capt. Rich Wood has an angle I hadn’t thought of on what a non-Covid season could be like for his fishing and whale watching business on the Beth Ann.

    “Six-pack charters did extremely well during Covid,” Rich says. He’s talking about small six-passenger groups. “It was just you and the family — no crowds, no strangers. But now, with less risk, will they come back for seconds?”

    In other words, Covid introduced a different kind of outing that people really enjoyed. But maybe visitors will go back to bigger boats — and crowds — to save money. Add in world unrest and inflated gas and oil prices and some people’s charter outing dollars will probably have to go to fill their oil tank at home instead.

    “On the other hand,” Rich says, “people might be fed up and say the hell with it — live for today. Who knows?”

    As for fishing on the Cee-Jay, we seem to be getting the typical number of phone calls for April. But we are seeing one unintended consequence from the Covid experience. Like everyone else, we had to up our fares and lower our passenger capacity last year to comply with social distancing protocols. We got so much positive feedback about the increased space on the boat that many people asked us to keep the same model going forward. So, we’re going to do that.

    As to what’s going on out there in the briny, the right whales are here in Cape Cod Bay and have been for a while, feeding on the enormous quantities of plankton in the water at this time of year. That means the bay-wide 10-miles-per-hour speed limit is in play. And no lined trap gear is permitted until May 15.

    The striped bass migration is going as usual. They have come as far north as New Jersey as of this writing and are continuing north toward our waters. They seem to be slightly ahead of schedule, although a protracted cold front could easily slow them down.

    In the meantime, we will sharpen our hooks, put new line on our reels, and get ready to start fishing.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    Can Commercial Boats Survive Social Distancing?

    Charters, ferries, and whale watch boats will need to reduce capacity

    By

    Bay State Cruise Company ferry
    The Boston ferries would have to reduce their capacity by about two thirds to be in compliance with social distancing guidelines. (Photo Bay State Cruise Company)

    Another week has gone by, and we are still living in a world where social distancing is very much a part of our day-to-day lives. At this point, it’s time for waterfront businesses to start planning how they will operate under tough parameters.

    The first thing that becomes evident is that commercial vessels are not going to be able to carry nearly as many passengers as their licenses allow and still be compliant with the six-feet-apart rule.

    The Cee Jay, the charter fishing boat I run, has 45 feet of railing on either side. At six feet apart, I can put seven passengers on each side of the boat. The stern, at 10 feet wide, allows for one person in the middle. That’s a total of 15 passengers per trip within social distancing parameters.

    Then there’s the whale watch boats. They are licensed for 250 passengers. Using the same formula, with 100 feet of railing per side on the lower deck, only 16 passengers would be allowed on each side. The upper deck, roughly 50 feet long, permits eight passengers on each side. The stern railing would allow for two more. That’s a total of 50 passengers on a 250-passenger boat. Six-passenger charter boats are looking at a one to three passenger limit, depending on the boat.

    The ferries from Boston would also have to reduce their passenger-carrying capacity by roughly two thirds. Maintaining social distancing on these boats will significantly affect their income stream. Whether operating at reduced capacity is enough to sustain these businesses depends on the individual business, but given the shortness of our season, it will put them under considerable stress. Still, it beats the heck out of not operating at all.

    Marinas are yet another story. As of this writing, both Provincetown Marina and Northside Marina in East Dennis are proceeding with business as usual and taking slip and mooring reservations. I would imagine that, if Gov. Baker keeps social distancing measures in place throughout the summer, common facilities at marinas, such as bathrooms, showers, lounging areas, and on-site restaurants, might have to be off limits, and customers would essentially be required to stay on their boats. The launch boat that picks people up from their mooring to bring them to shore would also have to reduce its passenger-carrying capacity, or mooring customers would have to use their personal skiffs to go back and forth.

    The bottom line is, we are looking at a vastly different landscape on the waterfront if the virus still has us in a stranglehold come June and July.

    Charles Darwin said the adaptation of a species to a changing environment is the primary determining factor as to whether it survives. That theory is being severely tested at the moment, and time will tell how we fare.

    Otherwise, there’s not much to report on the fishing scene, as not many people are out. Striped bass continue to push north towards us, and mackerel are around Cape waters. The weather remains strangely inhospitable to a day of fishing.

    Commercial regulations just came out for striped bass. The overall quota has been reduced by 20 percent and the minimum keeper size has been increased from 34 to 35 inches. The bag limit remains 15 per day. The commercial season opens on June 24, with Mondays and Wednesdays the only days for commercial boats to work.

    THE SCUTTLEBUTT

    With Fishing on Hold, a Bivalve Bonus Appears

    In a spring like no other, sea clams are a welcome sight

    By

    Spring has been a very confused season so far. As I write this, snow is falling in the western hills of Massachusetts as well as my winter home in the White Mountains of New Hampshire. Here on the Cape we have been pummeled by stiff southerly and southwesterly winds for days on end.

    One of the quirks of high winds coming from that direction is, if it blows hard enough, waves and strong currents the wind creates deposit massive numbers of sea clams on the beach. Walking the beach, you can easily fill up a pail with these large bivalves, which make excellent baked stuffed clams. They’re also good for chowder and there are plenty of locals in town with great recipes. I love eating the two abductor muscles, located near the opening to either side of the clam, either raw or marinated.

    sea clams
    Washed up sea clams at Hatches Harbor in Provincetown. (Photo Stephen Ryan)

    It is important to make sure they are alive before you cook and consume them. Consuming a dead clam can make you very sick, and they are highly perishable. A simple tap on the shell will make them close up tight and confirm they are alive and well.

    The question of the hour remains: how are we going to do the things we love to do out on the water safely in these times of social distancing?

    As of this writing, the whale watch boats are on hold until at least May, and I will certainly not be running the Cee Jay on its normal schedule in early May. My best guess is we will have to lower the number of people we take out on our boats and mark spots at the railings to keep passengers at the suggested safe distance of six feet apart from each other.

    I am not convinced, however, that this is a workable plan. The smaller six-person charter boats are even more challenged then the bigger whale watching and party fishing boats, as their space is significantly smaller in proportion to the number of passengers on board. Going to the beach is a little less restricting compared to being on a boat and probably easier to pull off under the current social distancing guidelines.

    In preparation for the big spring run of striped bass at the Cape Cod Canal, towns have marked off parking spots six feet apart and are encouraging fishermen to fish only in front of their cars. Good luck with that! Either way, this is going to be a season on the waterfront unlike any other and is truly going to be a work in progress as we all try to figure out life in the new normal of Covid-19 World.

    Meanwhile, the striped bass are continuing their migration north towards our waters with an earlier than usual arrival expected. There are no signs of bluefish south of us yet, which is unnerving, as we have gone five years without any consistent bluefish presence in our locale for reasons unknown.

    It is important to know that the fishermen of our beleaguered commercial fleet, who already have enough headwinds to fight in their day-to-day lives, now do not have many markets to sell to, with some restaurants closed entirely and the rest open for take-out only. But necessity is the mother of invention. You can get beautiful fresh local seafood either delivered or put together for contactless pickup from Cape Tip Seafood in Truro and Holbrook Oyster in Wellfleet. Please give them a call and support them with your purchases. It could be the difference between staying solvent or going out of business for the fleet in these trying times. Thank you, and stay safe.

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