Chesapeake Bay watermen are no strangers to Canadian-built boats as Provincial 42’ and 45’ workboats have been coming to the region for decades, built by the Provincial Boat and Marine of Prince Edward Island, Canada.
Another Canadian builder making inroads into the bay’s fiberglass workboat market is Cory Guimond of Millennium Marine of Miramichi, New Brunswick. The builder has just delivered two boats to the Bay region.
Longtime waterman Maurice Bosse of Montross, Va., recently received delivery of a NuWave 37, which is 37’ LOA x 13’ beam and 26” draft. The boat is powered by two 350 h.p. Suzuki outboards, which should push it up to 40 knots. Jett’s Marine Inc., in Reedville, Va., installed the two outboard engines.
Bosse, a high-line crabber on the Chesapeake Bay, has a 255-crab pot license from the Virginia Marine Resources Commission to fish the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay and a 285-pot license from the Potomac River Fisheries Commission to work Maryland’s Potomac River.
So many of Virginia’s crab fishermen have switched to working from trailered small outboard boats, which allow them to move quickly into areas where crabs are more plentiful. The new 37-footer will be used mostly to haul pots to and from the crabbing grounds and for onshore cleaning.
“I needed a bigger boat to move my pots quicker, says Bosse. “It just takes too much time to move them around in the small boats that we are working.”
Grandson of George Robberecht
Bosse has an interesting and rich history as he is the grandson of the late legendary Dutchman George Robberecht and his wife Hermina. The Oct. 1988 issue of National Fisherman P. 31 story entitled “A pioneer in marketing live eels” tells Robberecht’s story.
Hermina learned to eel with her father as a child along the Dutch dykes, and she was the main reason George got into eeling. After World War II, they moved from Holland to Canada, where, around 1953, they started fishing for eels. The Canadian eel season was too short, so the Robberechts moved first to Florida and then, in 1963, to Virginia, where they established a major eel fishery, flying live products across the Atlantic Ocean to European eel markets. The business thrived on the bay until conservation efforts to preserve the eel population limited the commercial harvesting of eels.
Smith Point Sea Rescue’s boat christening
The new Smith Point Sea Rescue (SPSR) vessel, Rescue III, was christened at a 50th anniversary ceremony in May at Reedville, Va. Guimond drove down from Canada with his Maltese poodle, Pool Pompeii, to attend the event.
The new Donelle 35 hull is 34’ 8” LOA, 13’ beam, and 44” draft with an 18,000 lb. displacement. The volunteer rescue group has served the Potomac River region for a half-century - towing boaters, including commercial fishing boats, that have broken down or grounded in shallow waters or delivered fuel to those who have run out.
The christening of any boat is an exciting time. SPSR dedicated members Dee David and Sandy Doptis were selected to christen the boat. Together, they each smashed a bottle of champagne across the bow, with David getting it on the first hit and Doptis on the second. The final christening blow brought cheers from the group.
