POINT LOOKOUT, N.Y. (AP)–The journey starts at the dock here, on Long Island, about an hour's drive east of Manhattan. And it all comes back to Point Lookout, too.
The worn wooden dock is home to a fleet of three commercial trawlers, plus dozens of scallop and hook-and-line boats that go out into the cold Atlantic Ocean and return with the fruits of the wild, salty waters. The catch goes to seafood dealers near and far–or, delicately garnished, to the tables of swank New York restaurants.
For Mike Mihale, co-owner of the dock, it means more. He has been fishing here since he could walk, carrying on a tradition going back to his Greek grandfather and going forward to his three young daughters, to whom he's passing on his passion.
Associated PressDrift net fishermen unload red salmon in Alaska.
Fish or die could be the motto of those, like Mihale, who accept the challenges of weather, danger and what they see as over-regulation, to keep the tradition going. "I'm doing what I was born to do," the 40-year-old Mihale says. "If you told me I couldn't fish, I'd jump off that dock!"
To glimpse the world he inhabits, one corner of the $1 billion a year commercial fishing industry in New York–and to see how fish goes from sea to table–an Associated Press reporter and photographer spent time in the Atlantic on a Point Lookout trawler, then followed the catch from the ocean to Mihale's dock, where it was loaded onto trucks headed for restaurants and markets. They also met with vendors at the nation's biggest seafood market, in the South Bronx. And in Manhattan, they visited with a chef at a high-end restaurant.
Come aboard, then, and follow the fish.
A $4,000 VOYAGE
Capt. Anthony Joseph's rusty steel trawler, the Stirs One, pulls away from Mihale's dock at 10:30 p.m., its smokestack spewing as it cuts through the dark waters. The 119-ton Stirs One is headed about 100 miles out into the open ocean for a fishing trip expected to last three days, aiming to return with a catch of 30,000 pounds or more.
As one of Mihale's main suppliers, Joseph, with a crew of up to four deckhands, prowls these waters year round, in rain and shine, brutal winds and cold.
It's not always a bonanza: Sometimes Joseph catches too little even to cover his costs–about $4,000 each time he goes out, including 25 gallons of diesel fuel per hour, food for the crew and 10 tons of ice. Fuel costs have risen sharply in recent years, as has the price of a commercial license.
"It's a struggle to make a living, and I have four daughters," says the 43-year-old captain, who's been in commercial fishing for 17 years. "But I love it."
As the mammoth green net dragging off the back of the boat rises from the depths of the sea, he pulls on his rubber boots, lights a cigarette and strides across the slippery deck–ready for the catch.
And here it is: a torrent of wriggling sea life spills from the bulging net into a container on the deck.
Hands go to work, pitching back overboard thousands of pounds of seafood– from sand sharks, for which there's little demand, to fish not allowed to be caught by regulations. Seagulls cry with delight, nosediving for effortless meals.
A mound of ocean treasure remains, including monkfish and squid that will end up on Manhattan restaurant plates.
