Pre-owned Hinckley Yachts now certified and guaranteed

Hinckley Yachts of Portsmouth introduced their first certified pre-owned program this week at an owners rendezvous in Key Largo, Florida. I always stop by the Hinckleys at boat shows as they are the gold standard of luxury yachts.

Hinckley makes a full line of innovative luxury vessels from center consoles and runabouts to 48 and 55 foot express yachts. The company’s focus on uncompromising quality, innovation and classic design has won them many awards and a market reputation of performance and service.

The new program offers buyers of previously-owned Hinckley Yachts a certified pre-owned program that includes extended warranties and the assurance that their purchase has been factory maintained.

Peter O’Connell, Hinckley CEO said, "Many Hinckleys that reach the used boat market have not only been built by Hinckley, but they have been maintained throughout their life by our own staff. We know these boats, we know that they've been properly serviced, we represent them in the marketplace, so our confidence in them is very high."

To qualify for CPO status a Hinckley must have been serviced in the company’s seven service operations, or in a yard authorized to service Hinckley products. Boats then undergo inspection and must be listed for sale with a Hinckley-owned sales office. There is no program cost to the sellers or buyers.

The first certified pre-owned Hinckleys are expected to be available this month. For information visit hinckleyyachts.com.

Trump budget cuts would harm fishing and fishing communities

President Trump’s 2018 proposed budget cuts for climate change initiatives has the scientific community alarmed and will harm the fish and the fishing community here in Rhode Island.

Brad Plumer, senior editor of Vox.com, said: “What’s clear is that Trump wants the US government to pull back sharply from any effort to stop global warming, adapt to its impacts, or even study it further. That includes eliminating much of the work the Environmental Protection Agency is doing to research climate impacts and limit emissions… It includes scaling back the Department of Energy’s efforts to accelerate low-carbon energy. It also includes cuts to NASA’s Earth-monitoring programs. The proposal would also eliminate the Sea Grant program at NOAA.”

All of this is very concerning as fisheries management relies heavily on science and research for data collection, understanding the impact of climate change on fish and ecosystems and much more.

In recent years we have had warm water fish such as black sea bass and summer flounder move up the east coast, and we have seen cold water fish such as cod and haddock leave the area. This type of fish movement is important to study and is directly related to climate change, changing ecosystems and warming water.

Here are some budget cut highlights that impact the fish, fishing communities, ecosystem-based management and climate change work.

First NOAA’s Sea Grant program, used by 33 states to provide grants to help coastal communities deal with the challenges of climate change, would be eliminated. This is not a budget reduction but a federal budget elimination.

In Rhode Island, like many other states, the Sea Grant Program is a federal-state-university partnership. The program, which is based at the University of Rhode Island, was one of the first Sea Grant Programs in the country formed by legislation sponsored by Senator Claiborne Pell. Rhode Island Sea Grant designs and supports research, outreach and education programs that foster coastal and marine stewardship.

For example, Rhode Island Sea Grant programs have helped to expand aquaculture in the state, mitigate beach erosion through use of offshore deposits, and address Rhode Island Marine Trades industry workforce skill gaps. Sea Grant studies have also explored the social impacts of ocean wind farms with the aim of encouraging ocean wind farm development on the east coast.
For the next two years, Rhode Island Sea Grant planned to improve understanding of shellfish (bivalve and gastropod) stock assessments and population dynamics with a focus on resource management implications. Additional plans called for studying the impacts of climate change on finfish and shellfish population dynamics in Rhode Island waters, with emphasis on Narragansett Bay species and fisheries.

Last week the Providence Journal reported that in addition to Sea Grant, the Coastal Resources Management Council (CRMC) in Rhode Island would get a 60 percent budget cut from Trump. Environmental writer Alex Kuffner said, “(CRMC) regulates all coastal development in the state, including homes, marinas and seawalls, and also collaborates on projects to restore habitats, such as the recent raising of a salt marsh along Ninigret Pond threatened by rising.”

In addition to eliminating the Sea Grant program and much of the funds going to CRMC, Trump’s budget includes a 31 percent cut to the EPA’s budget, from $8.2 billion to $5.7 billion. This includes zeroing out funds for many climate programs, including the agency’s work to monitor and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, as well as its Energy Star program, the voluntary program that helps companies produce energy efficient products. In the Department of Energy, Trump plans to impose a 17.9 percent cut, about $2 billion, from core energy and science programs intended to accelerate the transition to new (and cleaner) energy technologies.

As members of the fishing community, we need to help communicate these proposed cuts to others and share how they will impact the fish and fishing. We need research-based fisheries management programs that consider climate change and its impact on the fish and fish movement so we can grow fish populations to abundance.

The Trump-proposed cuts to NOAA and climate change programs will greatly harm the long-term health of fisheries and fishing communities.

Where’s the bite

Striped bass. “Fishing was off a couple of weeks ago when the water cooled but in February and January we had some good striped bass hold-over fishing in the Providence River. A customer caught 40 to 50 school striped bass,” said John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait & Tackle, Riverside. Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle, Providence said, “Capt. Rob Taylor and his friend Matt targeted striped bass one warm night earlier this week in the Providence River Basin. The herring were active and so were the striped bass. They landed a 34”, 16 pound striped bass along with a number of fish in the 26” to 31” range.”

Freshwater fishing. Carp fishing continued to remain strong this winter and with the start of spring carp fishing is getting better. Jacob Ayott landed a 26 pound carp in a Rhode Island pond using pop-up baits (that stay on top of the leaves).” said Dave Henault of Ocean State Tackle. “With no ice to speak of in January and February we have had very little ice fishing,” said Ken Ferrara of Ray’s Bait & Tackle, Warwick. John Littlefield of Archie’s Bait said, “We had some customers ice fish in Rhode Island early in March as the water was colder then than in winter, but it is all over now. We did have a couple of anglers see DEM stocking area ponds with trout for Opening Day, April 8, but nothing at Willett Avenue Pond in Riverside yet.”

Cod fishing. Make sure vessels are fishing the day you want to go. Party boats sailing for cod fish at this time include the Frances Fleet at francesfleet.com, the Seven B’s (with Capt. Andy Dangelo at the helm) at sevenbs.com, and the Island Current at islandcurrent.com.

Captain Dave Monti has been fishing and shellfishing for over 40 years. He holds a captain’s master license and a charter fishing license. He is a RISAA board member, a member of the RI Party & Charter Boat Association and a member of the RI Marine Fisheries Council. Contact or forward fishing news and photos to Capt. Dave at dmontifish@verizon.net or visit his website at noflukefishing.com.