Trout Tournament

The 34th annual trout tournament sponsored by the Martha’s Vineyard Rod and Gun Club will be held rain or shine at Duarte’s Pond off Lambert’s Cove Road from 5 to 10 a.m. Saturday, May 10. More information is available by calling Bob De Lisle at 508-627-3019.

The Menemsha Fisheries Development Fund presents Securing a Future for Coastal Fishing Communities: Ideas from Eastern Maine on Wednesday, May 7, at 5:30 p.m. at the Chilmark Public Library.

Robin Alden, executive director of the Penobscot East Resource Center and former Maine commissioner of marine resources, and Ted Ames, life-long commercial fisherman, scientist and 2005 winner of a MacArthur Fellows Program award, will share their work.

Truck Delivers Trout

Recreational freshwater fishing got a boost on the Vineyard on Tuesday when state officials delivered more than 1,100 healthy, hearty trout, all of them over a foot in length, to four Island ponds.

Using a special hauling truck that holds a lot of bubbling water, the state Division of Fisheries and Wildlife delivered 600 rainbow trout, 300 brook trout and 200 brown trout. They also delivered 40 tiger trout measuring more than 14 inches in length.

Surfcasters Groups Meets

For Awards, New Officers

The Martha’s Vineyard Surfcasters Association will hold its annual banquet and awards ceremony Saturday, Jan. 26 at noon in the Baylies Room of the Old Edgartown Whaling Church.

President Jeff Sayre said the event is open to members and all those who are thinking of membership.

The association is a recreational fishing club now in its 19th year. The group has 150 members.

An awards ceremony will honor the top club anglers of 2007.

Fish Talk

Fish, Fish, Fish will be the topic of Louis Larsen’s talk at the next Friends of the Library speakers bureau at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at the Vineyard Haven library. Mr. Larsen is the owner of the Net Result. Refreshments will be served following the talk.

Weakfish, also known as squeteague, were once common in this region, so popular a sport fish that up until 1987, they were part of the annual fall Martha’s Vineyard Striped Bass and Bluefish Derby. Then they disappeared from these waters. They were removed from the derby after not one was caught in 1987.

Pending legislation to make striped bass a game fish in Massachusetts was further delayed this week when a public hearing was postponed at the request of backers of the bill.

The hearing by the joint Committee on Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture was due to be held on Tuesday on Beacon Hill, but has now been rescheduled for January.

Cape and Islands Sen. Robert O’Leary and Rep. Timothy Madden both sit on the committee.

Ravaging of the river herring population by midwater trawlers and an absence of round-the-clock environmental police protection were the hot topics at a meeting between Cape and Islands Rep. Tim Madden and members of the newly formed Martha’s Vineyard Dukes County Fishermen’s Association Friday.

A plan to require all saltwater recreational fishermen to obtain either a state or federal license has been postponed a year to January 2010. The notice by federal fisheries authorities came out recently; a plan to establish a Massachusetts recreational fishing license has also been postponed.

Paul Diodati, director of the state Division of Marine Fisheries, said he is pleased by the delay, as it gives federal authorities more time to work out details for the license.

West Tisbury oysters were on the market during the holiday season, but they are unavailable now. Tom Osmers, town shellfish constable, said there were three commercial oyster fishermen out on the pond. The season opened on Monday, Dec. 15 and was closed on Wednesday, Dec. 31. The fishermen were limited to one bushel a day, a sparse amount compared to years ago when the fishery was healthy and more productive.