Bright and beautiful, if cold, morning on the docks. Two boats were getting readied to go out tomorrow morning. Equipment needed to be checked and minor adjustments made to the scallop nets. While taking in the scene on the docks I spotted one of the scallopers coming in, the Kathy Ann. This boat is a 97’ steel scalloper built in 1989 in Florida. Each boat has a specific type of license the numbers of which are capped. Thus, if someone new wants to get into the business they must buy a license – if one is available. As boats in the fleet are refitted and change categories, one license will be transferred to another boat that now meets those specifications. So it seems the bigger fleets have the advantage as they can swap licenses as they refit or buy new boats.
Once the Kathy Ann was docked they unloaded their catch of scallops – got some nice people shots and came home with 2 pounds of super fresh scallops!