The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) has drafted new rules for both the recreational and commercial fisheries to preserve the dwindling stocks.
More than 400 people registered to fish in the third annual Fluke for Luke tournament, the two-day fishing derby that commemorates the life of Luke Gurney, the beloved Island fisherman who died in a tragic fishing accident in June 2016.
The first hint of spring weather drew visitors in considerable numbers to the newly constructed Tashmoo Creek at Vineyard Haven, where the firm Turner and Breivogel is making the waterway which will turn the lower half of Lake Tashmoo into an arm of the sea. Although plans of the creek were drawn before the opening was votes, and these plans have been available to anyone, the appearance of the creek, as it begins to take shape, exceeds by far the popular conception of what it was to be.
The approach of spring is heralded on the Vineyard, as well as at many other points on the coast, by the running of fish. Fish are to be had at any month in the year if one knows how and where to get them, but no movement of a school or body takes place during the winter in the waters near the shore or the land-locked lakes and ponds.
Johnny Osmers, Paul McDonald and Tim Sauer had been fishing from their 35-foot Menemsha lobster boat Shearwater for less than an hour on the first day of November, when they felt the bite.
