Used Fishing Boats

Boating industry feels pinch at pump

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OCEAN PINES -- As gas prices near the $4 per gallon mark, people on the road aren't the only ones taking a hit.

In the Ocean City area, the boating industry is feeling the effects of seemingly ever-rising fuel prices, too. Ocean Pines resident Stan Mawyer watched his boat transport business come to a screeching halt in the past year.

"It's totally arrested," he said. "It's just not happening."

Mawyer, who runs Chesapeake Yacht Services, said while he continues to offer boating lessons and repairs, the yacht delivery that made up the bulk of his business has come to a stop.

In the past, he explained, he and his four hired captains would make several trips a year from the Chesapeake Bay area to Florida, delivering yachts to customers' winter homes. Many of them, he said, would even use their yacht as a Sunshine State condominium for the winter.

Source: Delmarva Now

Day at the Docks starts free fishing program for kids

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Free is good pretty much no matter what it is, and following Sunday’s 33rd annual Day at the Docks, all kids 15 and under get to fish free on any open-party half-, three-quarter- or full-day trip out of any of the San Diego Bay-based sport boats.

It all starts Sunday with the free Kids Fishing Adventure sponsored by Everingham Bros. Bait Co. and Okuma Fishing Tackle. Fishing pens will be stationed on the dock at H&M Landing, Point Loma Sportfishing and Fisherman’s Landing, and each will be stocked by Everingham Bros. with mackerel. Fishing is 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.

But the big Day at the Docks celebration is only the beginning of a more than month-long program where kids 15 and under get to fish free with a paying adult on any of the San Diego-based boats. It’s a terrific way to introduce a youngster to the splendors of ocean fishing without breaking the bank.

Source: U-T San Diego

Fishing for Fluid Dynamics

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Fishermen may stretch the truth about the size of their catch, but when it comes to understanding the currents flowing through their watery workspace, their boasts hold up. In a new study, scientists report that knowledge gleaned over several generations by Italian fishermen has helped reveal lake water movements that researchers might otherwise have overlooked.

The body of water in question is the Y-shaped Lake Como, nestled in the Italian Alps. About 30 full-time fishermen ply the lake in small boats and cast large, floating gill nets that can be 700 meters long and up to 9 meters tall. These mesh walls, which fishermen can lower to different depths, snag fish as they drift through the water overnight. Fishermen must predict how the currents will move their gear to prevent the nets from tangling. They can also read the water's motions in how it wraps their nets into curving shapes.

Source: Science Now