27th Annual

Westport Fishermen's Association Clambake and Raffle

Sunday September 26, 2010

Tickets are now available!- more info in article below

 

Board member Cuke Macomber serving up his 26th bake for the WFA

This year's hand-crafted Grand Boat Raffle prize

The date has been set for Sunday September 26th, 2010 for this years bake. Tickets are now available by mailing in your order and checks made payable to WFA Po Box 83 Westport Point Ma 02791. The cost of the bake is $35 for regular clambake and $45 for the bake with a whole lobster. Orders must be received by September 19, 2010 to ensure enough clams and lobsters for everyone!

This time honored traditional Seaweed and Rock Bake will be directed by Bake Maste Ray Davoll and his talented crew to ensure a perfect bake. The ticket price includes a generous bowl of Clam chowder to start and an assortment of meats, vegetable, and white fish with your clams. There will be a cash bar serving ice cold Narragansett Beer, Wine, Soda and Water. Plan to participate in our 50/50 raffle and or a chance to win something from our raffle table of hand crafted items and wonderful gift certificates. Of course we will end the event with the announcement of this year's Wooden Canoe Raffle winner.

We do hope you will plan to join us!

 

The WFA is sponsoring a Classic Wooden Boat Exhibit

October 16th and 17th 2010 from 12 noon - 4:00pm.

The event is free and open to the public at the Horseneck Point Life Saving Station and Visitors Center

Home built classics and Boats of Historical significance will be on display. Hobbies related to the "wooden boat Mania" will be featured in the visitor's center.  Displays will include, but not limited to, half models, full models, paddle making. Information on kits and materials availability will be offered. The exhibit will also feature the works of R.H. Baker, a noted naval architect who lived and practiced in Westport.

Entrance will be free, come on by we are located at 139 East Beach Road in Wesport MA. Enjoy one on one discussion of construction techniques, style, design, etc. Maybe it will encourage you to build one of your own.  The exhibit might entice you to sign up for a boat building program that will be given during the coming winter months. Stay tuned for more information on the upcoming community boat building opportunities.

Save the Date-Sunday December 5th, 2010

The WFA welcomes Linda Greenlaw at The Back Eddy

The WFA is thrilled to announce that Linda Greenlaw will be speaking about her latest book SEAWORTHY and Life on the Line early this December upon her return from her latest commercial sword fishing trip, over the next couple of months from New Bedford to the Outer Banks and back.

Ticket prices, how to acquire them and more information about the event will be available soon. Stay tuned!

Antique Fishing Equipment Summer Exhibit at the Horseneck Point Life Saving Station

The exhibit is free and open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from 12-4 from July 3rd-September 5th 2010 at the historic and newly restored Life Saving Station located at 139 East Beach Road Westport MA 02791.

The WFA has put together a wonderful antique fishing equipment exhibit in the visitors center of the HPLSS. We hope you will make time this summer to visit us and see what our local community friends and members have donated from their collections. The exhibit is complete with old bamboo rods and reels, an assortment of old lures, clamming and quohaging tools as well as a harpoon and complete set up  commonly used for swordfishing along with a couple of old swords. We are also pleased to mention that we have on display a wonderful collection of old photos ranging from the turn of the century to the 1950's that beautifully capture the fishing culture of our local community.

Two 2010 Continuing Education scholarships have been awarded

Danielle Smith and Ethan Harrington have each been awarded a 500.00 scholarship for their continued academic and civic excellence. Danielle has successfully completed her second year at The University of Rhode Island studying Nutrition and Dietetics. Ethan Harrington successfully completed his first year at Bentley University working toward a degree in Corporate Finance and Accounting.

Danielle wrote in her essay of her interest in volunteering with the Peace Corps or Ameri Corps upon graduating for a year or two to assist in areas of damage caused by the BP oil spill. Ethan mentioned how he intends to use his interest in business to work in a field that supports the environment by their choices to reduce their carbon footprint and be an environmentally sustainable business.

The Westport Fishermen's Association wishes to congratulate both students on their efforts toward higher education and their consideration of how they can apply their academic interest towards areas of conservation!

Fisheries Enhancement Possibilities

The Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries has prohibited the taking and possession of alewives and blueback herring for the last few years because of the diminished stocks of these fish. There are many possible causes of this situation and it most probably is a combination of several of them. There are many traditional "herring runs" in Westport.

Some of the more notable are the herring ditch that empties into the harbor from Cockeast pond, Kirby brook, and the main portion of the Westport River that empties out of Forge Pond at Forge Rd. I had one of the last haul seine permits in Westport. We used to set a 450' seine from a rowing skiff off of a sheet of plywood in a horse shoe shaped pattern from shore out and then back to shore which we proceeded to haul in slow and gradually come together as the "bunt" got closer to shore. We used to do this at various predetermined traditional points we called "seine sets" mostly to the north of Hix Bridge. We did this to catch White perch and herring (alewives) mostly. We also caught a few American Shad, occasional striped bass, very rare sea-run trout and even muskrats and snapping turtles. The white perch we caught if big enough were sold and the herring we sold to be used for lobster bait or penned up for bass bait. There was a lot of herring around then. Sometimes we caught enough in one set to fill both the seine skiff and the one we towed it with.

The herring that go up the main river to the foot of the dam at Forge pond cannot go any further and must spawn between the tidal water down near the Head of Westport and the dam which is not very far upstream. Before the dam was built in the 1800's the fish could get up to "Westport Factory" dam and before that dam was built they could go many miles further up to Flag Swamp.

The WFA with the help of Dept. of Ecological Restoration, which is a section of the Dept.of Fish and Game, are exploring the possiblity of restoring these fish runs. This could involve the elimination of the Forge Pond Dam and construction of a state of the art fish way at Lake Noquochoke at Rt.6. The Forge Rd. dam, because of the relative position of Forge road and it's height has been deemed unsuitable for a fish ladder. This project potentially would give these fish Lake Noquochoke and many miles of river to the north additional spawning habitat. We are in the very initial stages of exploring this project and nothing has been decided but we feel it would be great to bring this fishery back to the way it used to be.

Please visit the following link to learn more about river restoration and fish enhancement.

Community Boatbuilding

One of our ideas for event plannig when the WFA first started to restore the Life Saving Station was to use the space to build a boat. Well, the flags are flying, the weather station is purring and the boat house is finished. It's time to build a boat! Join our directors to help loft, steam, strip plank, fair, epoxy glass, finish and varnish a boat from scratch. Most of the work will be done by hand and the WFA will provide the tools and materials to build a 15 foot Rangeley row boat. The Rangeley Boat is a distinctive American sporting boat that has been in use on the Rangeley Lakes of Maine for something like 100 years, and was well known to past generations of fishermen for its numerous excellent characteristics. The finished boat will be raffled off at our annual clambake in September 2011 and the proceeds go to clean up rivers, scholarships, marine heritage and preservation.

We anticipate that there will be about 40 sessions from November to May. Sessions will run on Saturday and Sunday 12 to 4, most weekends. We will offer six Supporting Builders the opportunity to attend all or as many sessions as they wish for a $500 donation. Also offered are several five session packages for a $100 donation.  First come first served. All others are invited to stop by and watch the progress at no charge.

For more information and details contact Tom Perkins 508-636-2250 or perkins315@charter.net

The Horseneck Point Life Saving Station and Visitor Center will be open to the public on Saturdays and Sundays from June through September.

We do hope you will plan to come by and see this Historic Maritime treasure and Visitor Center. We are located at 139 East Beach Road Westport Ma overlooking East Beach and Gooseberry Island.

Doors will be open Saturdays and Sundays from 12-4pm.

photo by Chip Gillespie

The Horseneck Point Life Saving Station Grand Opening and Recognition Ceremony

The WFA would like to thank all who came out to support and witness the raising of the flag and recognition ceremony of the Horseneck Point Life Saving Station on December 12th 2009. Despite the cold winter temperature there was a full house at the station to recognize all who had been so influential in the success of this 3 year restoration project.

It was a great day all in attendance complimented the WFA board of directors on their job well done. All of our generous sponsors from our own association members and friends to the Westport Community Preservation Committee and the State Department of Conservation and Recreation were pleased to see the results thier contributions brought about and preserved in order to share the maritime history of Westport with our local community and visitors to come in the years ahead.

State Representative Michael Rodrigues was one of the guest speakers who shared with all who were present his support of the project and influence in assuring the passing of a bill through legislation that enables the WFA to engage in a 25  year lease with The Mass state Department of Conservation and Recreation to continue to preserve and manage the historic Life Saving Staiton and the newly renovated visitor's center. He even brought along and presented to WFA president Jack Reynolds a framed copy of the bill to have to display in the visitor's center. The WFA is truly grateful to Representative Rodrigues and Senator Joan Menard for all of their help getting the legislation passed and approved by the DCR.

Renee Dufour the Southeastern District Manager for the Department of Conservation and Recreation another guest speaker that afternoon shared her experience with working with the WFA to see this project to fruition. Renee was our local contact person and wonderful to work with. She shared with the audience the latest developement in the project which is to enter the HPLSS into the Historic Curatorship Program ensuring benfits of collaborating with the DCRin order to run programs and help to support and offset marketing costs and future usage of the Visitor Center and maritime museum.

Warren Messier Chairman for the CPC also spoke on behalf of the project, their involvment and continuous support in securing funds through their generous grants that enabled us to pursue  matching DCR grants with the State assuring us the funds necessary to execute a restoration and renovation project of this magnitude. The WFA truly appreciates the continued support of the CPC and recognizes its importance to the preservation of buildings like the historic Station #69 that link us to the history of Westports Past.

Below is a photo of John Galluzo, the Executive Director United States Life Saving Service Heritage Association was also in attendance for our grand opening and came to also be one of our guest speakers. He was pleased to be able to come and speak about the Life Saving Service Heritage Association and the importance of the restoration project. By his side is WFA President Jack Reynolds. The WFA was pleased to have him come back to speak at the dedication ceremony since he was an intrical part of the introduction of this restoration project from the onset at our annual meeting a couple of years back when we first introduced the project idea to our association members. His knowledge of the history of the Life Saving Service was instrumental in communicating to our donators and sponsors the importance of preserving this historic peice of Westport's past.

Below is a photo of some of the guests helping to install the historic surf boat into its new residence for at least the next 25 years. It was a great finale to a wonderful afternoon.

We are also grateful to WFA friend and member Betty Slade who was kind enough to donate her time and talent to video tape the event. The video can be seen on the local access channel. The WFA also owns the video of the event. Copies will be available to the public soon for a modest price. If interested in obtaining a copy please contact us via the email link on the website or via our PO Box 83 Westport Point MA 02791 .