It is fact that making a living the way their fathers and grandfathers did is become difficult and the fishing heritage in Menemsha is in danger of slipping away. They still fish the traditional underwater troughs and canyons, with the traditional gear. But they are also not unknown with the present fact of struggle. They keep their eyes open for opportunity, for ways to adapt from a struggling segment of the fishing industry to one that is growing.
They are looking for other ways to make it on the water and the mussels came up about three years ago. It just clicked. They grow like weeds out there. Now these fishermen are going on for aquaculture because they think that the end result could really look toward the future.
Although it is in the experimental stage, mussels are growing right now off Chilmark’s north shore, with other areas set aside off West Tisbury, and Aquinnah. The town of Chilmark, and just about everybody in it, wants a sustainable fishing industry to survive. In order to fish, the two men needed some space on the Menemsha harbor waterfront, to store gear and land their catch.
Tim Carroll, the town’s executive secretary said that the effort of these fishermen now have a base to work from, and the town has moved a step forward in its efforts to preserve the fishing industry. The mussel farming operation began as a partnership of researchers, government, and fishermen. Rick Karney of the Martha’s Vineyard Shellfish Group orchestrated the permitting and planning here on the Island.
Scott Lindell, director of the scientific aquaculture program at the Marine Biological Laboratory in Woods Hole, we can grow mussels twice as fast here in southern New England than they can in Prince Edward Island. He told that the system used at the mussel farm was developed at the University of New Hampshire. It is designed to avoid gear and turf conflicts while providing optimum growth conditions for the blue mussel.
The aquaculture project turns the risky equation of fishing upside down. Traditionally fishermen invest a lot of time and equipment to venture out and hope they net a good catch.
