Filmmakers Document Island’s Dwindling Fleet

Louisa Hufstader Saturday, February 3 2018 - 5:30am

<p>About 40 Islanders got a first look Wednesday at footage from an upcoming documentary about the Vineyard’s commercial fishery.</p>

About 40 Islanders got a first look Wednesday at footage from an upcoming documentary about the Vineyard’s commercial fishery, which is struggling to stay profitable in an era of privatized permitting and industrial consolidation.

“It’s not completely dead. There’s a faint heartbeat,” said Wes Brighton, a Chilmark lobsterman and gillnetter who is making the movie with Vineyard filmmaker Jeremy Mayhew.

But Mr. Brighton told the audience at the Chilmark library that Island fishermen are at a severe disadvantage under federal regulations that favor larger businesses.

Commercial fishing licenses are now private property and like taxi medallions, they can be sold to the highest bidders. This gives the advantage to big fishing companies from New Bedford and Gloucester who can buy up multiple licenses and send out scores of boats, Mr. Brighton said.

In one clip from the documentary, tentatively titled The Changing Tide, longtime Chilmark fisherman Everett Poole warns that small operators are at risk of going out of business.

“It’s going to get tougher and tougher, the more the licenses are consolidated,” Mr. Poole tells the camera.

Other footage from the film is more upbeat, with arresting scenes of night fishing and belowdecks work. The clips screened Wednesday highlighted the vitality and diversity of the Vineyard fishery with shots of lobsters scuttling in traps, nets bulging with squid, shellfishermen bringing in their catch and a teenager heading out on his small boat, rod in hand.

The film crew, which includes Will Dintenfass, Dan Martino and Emily Vanderhoop, also sent cameras into the air for a drone’s-eye view of Menemsha and underwater to capture dolphins swimming alongside a fishing boat.

Mr. Mayhew and Mr. Brighton began working on the The Changing Tide after receiving a Vineyard Vision fellowship for the project in 2015. They are collaborating with the Martha’s Vineyard Museum and the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust, which presented Wednesday’s preview.

The full-length documentary, covering the Vineyard’s fishing history as well as its present and future challenges, is scheduled to be completed in August. On Wednesday, the filmmakers asked their audience to spread the word that they are still open to more interviews and are looking for historical images and footage.

Mr. Brighton, who is a member of the Fishermen’s Preservation Trust board, also made a pitch for donations to support the trust’s work in buying commercial fishing licenses to lease at a discount to Island fishermen.

A license can cost from $30,000 to millions of dollars for the right to bring in a particular catch, according to trust executive director Shelley Edmundson.

Chilmark selectman Warren Doty, who is also a board member of the trust, said a combination of donations, investments and low-income loans from environmental foundations have enabled the trust to purchase two licenses so far and a third, for lobster, is in the works.

The trust’s first license allows the taking of 32,000 pounds of sea scallops per year. The second had belonged to Island fisherman Luke Gurney, who died in 2016 after being swept overboard while setting conch pots off Nantucket. The trust bought the late Mr. Gurney’s conch, seabass and scup license from his family at market value, Mr. Doty said.

More information about the Martha’s Vineyard Preservation Trust, which also presents special events for the Vineyard community throughout the year, is online at mvfishermenspreservationtrust.org.

Comments

Good job, Jeremy. I wish you

Joshua Morrell Amsterdam, NY

Good job, Jeremy. I wish you and your team, good luck, perseverance and strength. May, Our Lady Star of the Sea watch over you. Take care!

Thank you to The Gazette and

MVFPT Documentary Film Martha’s Vineyard

Thank you to The Gazette and Louisa Hufstader for this write up.

Yes, we are open to more interviews and are looking for additional historical images and footage. We can assist in digitizing/preserving whatever old materials you may have pertaining to the Island’s commercial fishing history. please email us at: [email protected]

I bet you already have, but I

MWG Edgartown

I bet you already have, but I would say go for the gold, solicit all of the fisherman, both active and former, film as much as you can! What seems like normal and regular to us is novel and important for future generations. Just look at all of the tape the Gazette has on it's youtube. The more the merrier as far as I am concerned. Cheers!

My husband & I visited Martha

Deborah Cornelius Sodus NY

My husband & I visited Martha's Vineyard for the first time this past September. We look forward to seeing this documentary!!

I would hope that the public

Anonymous Chilmark

I would hope that the public does not miss the point that was made at the presentation pertaining to the fact there actually is a lot of hope within the fishing community. The image of a dwindling fleet portrays more of a bleak picture than is warranted. If the access door to the permits that were lost can be reopened, and capital restraints addressed, the island's important traditional industry could blossom into a vibrant and diversified contributor to our collective culture. I trust the public will rise to the challenge and support the film and the Martha's Vineyard Fishermans Preservation Trust and help pry the access door back open

I remember when I grew up,

deshandra brown Edg

I remember when I grew up, all of the fishing boats would bring their harpooned swordfish catches to memorial wharf in Edgartown. When the industry declined/disappeared I asked them years later what happened. They said the following: The US government (Pres. Jimmy Carter) gave away the rights to the rich fishing grounds at Georges Bank to the Canadians. And the Japanese 'long line' trawlers over-fished the swordfish, by killing all the small fish before they could reproduce. As such...the industry disappeared from New England fisherman.

On the “Gave away the rights”

Mike K Orleans

On the “Gave away the rights” part

The decision by Canada and the United States to declare an exclusive economic zone (EEZ) of 200 nautical miles (370 km) in the late 1970s led to overlapping EEZ claims on Georges Bank, and resulted in quickly deteriorating relations between fishers from both countries, who respectively asserted claim to the fishery resources. Both nations agreed in 1979 to refer the question of maritime boundary delimitation to the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Following five years of hearings and consultation, the ICJ delivered its decision in 1984, which split the maritime boundary in the Gulf of Maine between both nations out to the 200 nautical miles limit, giving the bulk of Georges Bank to the United States. Canada's portion of the Gulf of Maine now includes the easternmost portion of Georges Bank.[citation needed]

I am in full support of this

Supportive Island Resident Vineyard Haven

I am in full support of this wonderful project. The island's commercial fishing community and culture is a critical piece of our island and our heritage. We are fortunate to have young fishermen willing and ready to continue the tradition of working on the water. There is hope for the future--therefore the headline should read,"Martha's Vineyard Filmmakers Document HOPE for Island's IMPORTANT Fishing Fleet."

and then there's the

Michael OB

and then there's the Codfather.
again.

I remember the first lobster

Roger S. Chilmark

I remember the first lobster I ever ate. Right down there in Menemsha, the fellow who sold me it and the fellow who caught it, he’s probably dead now and maybe that’s the point of what you guys are doing. Keep it up, document what we have here as it is special.

It doesn't seem right that

Joe W. Rush Goffstown NH

It doesn't seem right that big businesses can buy up individual permits. To me it compares to a big trucking company buying up the Commercial Driving License of retired truckers. Just think of that. I have no idea how long this law has been in effect, but I believe that it needs to be changed. Is there anything being done in DC about this?

This is important work. As a

Sam Low Oak Bluffs

This is important work. As a long time documenter and filmmaker I applaud thois work. Bravo.

As HHH wrote: “Long out the

Douglas Korves Always on Island

As HHH wrote: “Long out the lines.”

Quality work all!

Do you really need a permit

Becca Mankiewicz Edgartown / New York City

Do you really need a permit to fish commercially in local waters? Is there a difference between local and deep sea fishing? I am realizing now I don't know much about the fishing business, but i do know that I love fish! Edgartown seafood or Net Result every summer! Looking forward to it this year, you have to interview the guys at those places, true establishments.