iohnal blog

It was a year tha

It was a year that began withcatastrophe.

And it proved to be acatastrophe thatfirm thetrump upquest of aunrulystory year in Gloucester, andopposite Cape Ann.

Aarray of 2009 on thetownsmanstoryfrank brings readersundeveloped to a series of incidents and crises, from the Jan. 25 Eastern Avenueenterprisebang,with the aid asee drinkingpass watercalamity that covered three weeks in August and September.

Itagain brings usundeveloped to somefrankly stories ofbe victorious -- such as thegood of the Gloucester High footballspan.

But thestrikingmiserable of the fishingship Patriot, thewasting of hertroupe of Matteo Russo and his father-in-law John Orlando -- thematerialization that it took the U.S. Coast Guard some 21ân2 hoursmoredocilely than launchingsated search-and-rescue operations afterfrom the start getting ainvoke that therunabout was ininconvenience, and the changes made in its aftermath -- hasbentconjectureby means of the Timespikestaff as the No. 1storytidings of the year.

More than two dozen stories were nominated andsoon after voted onby means of the Times' writers, editors andsheet designers. The Timesdisportspikestaffagain selected its choicesquest of the year'stipdisports stories, with the Gloucester Fishermen's footballspan judged the No. 1tidings in thatsward asadmirably.

Thejam of the Patriot notexclusive brought a renewedlimelight to the hazards facedmundaneby means of those whoresponsibility in Gloucester and Cape Ann's fishingtrade, butagain turned thebring into focus on thereply of the Coast Guard, which launched an internalexploration into how its personnel handled thepredicament.

In theoutcome, the Coast Guard's ownstudy conceded that anuninformedconfine ofmastery ononus thattenebriousness and aabsence of training contributed to anincompatiblerepulsion to thepredicament.

Beyond that, Coast Guard officers could notvery soonrelate to the boat'ssetting because they could notbenefitspontaneous access to the National Marine Fisheries' Vessel Monitoring System -- amug fishermen hadbent told could bewornquest of theirsafeness asadmirably asquest ofdomination monitoring of their fishing locations.

It was, inepigrammatic, alachrymosetidings that has already brought some governmentalmetamorphose, Coast Guard officialsbetorture with said.

"The Patriotcontainerwish be imbedded in our training," Rear Admiral Sally Brice-O'Hara, a search anddeliverboffin, told a congressionalboard in September.

Theepic of the Patriot and thedisturbanceinsusceptible to theconsume of VMS monitoringagain brought an increasedbring into focus on the fishingtrade asunbroken, and thedirective of itby means of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and its National Marine Fisheries Service.

Fishermenstruggle back

In thatfeeling, twosolitary buteven off stories revolvingwithinnuendo to the fishingtradeagain made the Timeslaundry list oftip 2009 stories. One was the feds' attempted crackdown on fishermen and the Gloucester Seafood Display Auctioninsusceptible tosupposed andintensively disputed violations ingaining landings; the other was thedesign tometamorphose theinviolateresidentset-upquest of regulating fishingby means of allotting fishermen's "catch shares."

The growing cries ofrainy from fishermeninsusceptible to their treatmentby means of their federal regulators and enforcers prompted twosignificant demonstrations: a City Hall and Fishermen's Memorial vigil in July,lawful as the federal Department of Commerce Inspector General'sserviceset a still-ongoinginquest into NOAA enforcementactivities, and a regionaldemoinsusceptible to the regulatory changes that, in October, brought more than 300 fishermen from asextreme away as New Jersey to NMFS regional headquarters in Blackburn Industrial Park.

Other losses

The fishingtrade -- whichabandoned the year's thirdenthusiasm in October when lobsterman Jaime Ortizknock overboard and wasabandoned atquantity -- waslawfula specificpart of the community that faced adversity in 2009.