Watermen Await Irene

Fishing Industry Awaits Irene

Mobjack Bay Seafood workers spent Thursday clearing the dock of gear that might blow away if Hurricane Irene continues its march toward the Chesapeake Bay. "I'm not going to tell you that I'm not concerned," said John Vigliotta, owner of the Gloucester County company, which grows millions of oysters annually in steel cages that sit near the bay's bottom.
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It was business as usual Thursday among the docks at Deep Creek inNewport News.

Despite warning from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission, Poquoson watermen Jim Diggs said he plans to keep his crab pots in the James River through the storm. With 50 feet of line, he figures the steel baskets will not be disturbed by Irene.

"I'm not too worried about the crab pots," he said.

When your business is on the water in the mid-Atlantic, the annual threat of hurricanes and tropical storms is just part of the game.  Back in graduate school, I remember a professor telling me that anything you hung over the side of the boat, however expensive, had to be considered expendable.  Loosing gear is just part of the business, and the profit margin on the take has to be big enough to pay for it on the average.