Big changes down at 'Sanfilippo Country'

The National Marine Fisheries Service's ongoing groundfishery survivor series, which began in earnest with Amendment 5 in 1994 and is currently up to Amendment 16, with more elimination challenges to come, has spurred dramatic change for three fishing families at Felicia Oil Co. Wharf - aka Sanfilippo Country.

The wharf owner has been swept into the fray, too.

The series has lately reduced groundfishermen's precious days at sea and forced many to buy additional permits, which can cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars for large vessels. Some fishermen who paid off their boats now find themselves in debt again because of the permit purchases.

The Sanfilippo name once dominated the crews of vessels that berthed at the Felicia Oil Co. Wharf off Commercial Street. Today, just two draggers are owned and partially crewed by the Sanfilippos there.

Sanfilippo changes

Some members of one of Gloucester's Sanfilippo fishing families who had enough of the business decided to dissolve the two corporations - Capt. Gus & Bros. and Captain Domenic & Bros. - that owned the steel-hulled stern trawlers Capt. Gus, 77 feet, and Captain Domenic, 72 feet. Both vessels docked at Felicia Oil Co. Wharf, and each had only one groundfish permit.

But brothers Capt. Gus J. and Nino Sanfilippo, who ran and partially owned the Captain Domenic, wanted to remain in fishing, so they bought out the rest of their kin's shares in the corporations. They kept the Captain Domenic and the original corporation's name and sold the Capt. Gus and transferred its permit to their vessel.

"Nino and I are partners. Between the upkeep and insurance, we weren't making it with just one permit," Gus Sanfilippo explained. "Now with two permits (about 140 days at sea), we can make a living with the Captain Domenic. But if we work the 2:1 (days at sea) areas in the Gulf of Maine, that number will be halved."

Vito steps up

Vito Giacalone, a former fisherman, a commercial property owner, the fishing industry's friend and one of its chief advocates, subsequently purchased the Capt. Gus from Nino and Gus Sanfilippo and renamed it Jenny G after his wife.

"I just wanted to use the fishing permit from my former Jenny G," Giacalone said. "Plus, I didn't want any more big boats to leave Gloucester."

Even though Vito stopped fishing about five years ago, the saltwater never drained from his arteries.

"I just feel good knowing that I have a boat again," he said. "My son Nicholas and I will work the Jenny G. We're looking at short trips and at landing high-quality fish. With this vessel, we will not be limited by either distance or weather."

The vessel docks at Felicia Oil Co. Wharf.

Giacalone often looks at the big picture of the Gloucester fishing industry.

"There's hope. The industry is not going to stop for a while," he said.

Meanwhile, "we're getting ready," said son Nicholas, who was putting some final painting touches on the vessel this week before it heads to sea.

To sell or not to sell

Local fishermen, vessel co-owners and brothers Peter and Enzo Russo have been "trying to get ahead of the (fishing) game, but the game has lately been getting ahead of us," Enzo Russo said. "Our problem is we do not have enough days (at sea) to work."

He co-owns and skippers the 97-foot stern trawler Miss Trish II, one of the last two 90-footers in the Gloucester groundfish dragger fleet. He and Peter also own the 67-foot twin-screwed dragger Jessica D.

Felicia Oil Co. Wharf is where both vessels tie up.

The brothers have already come up with a remedy they hope will get them ahead of the game again. They bought the approximately 77-foot Mary & Josephine and her two permits. This Gloucester dragger was formerly owned by another Russo family, which had enough of owning and operating a groundfish vessel.

The Russo brothers plan to transfer those permits to the Miss Trish II and sell both the Mary & Josephine and the Jessica D, along with her permits. The Jessica D's permits could not be transferred to the Miss Trish II because of size, horsepower, and tonnage limitations.

But, with rising fuel prices, the Russos now find themselves torn over which big boat they should keep - the larger, more sea-kindly and fuel-guzzling Miss Trish II or the smaller, more economical-to-operate Mary & Josephine.

'Beanie' pulled in

John "Beanie" Nicastro, owner of Felicia Oil Co. Wharf and Felicia Oil Co., said he and sons Salvatore and Paul had 16 boats dock there five years ago.

"Now we have just 11, and they are all tied up (because of the fishing restrictions)," Nicastro said. "I've been here 50 years, and this has been the worst year. We just don't know what the next step will be. I went into mandatory retirement because of the National Marine Fisheries Service."

Beanie Nicastro's livelihood once largely depended on selling fuel, oil and supplies to the vessels at the dock. Many of them were large, offshore boats.

The Nicastros find themselves today selling only a fraction of the supplies they once did. Fortunately, they have expanded Felicia Oil Co. to sell home heating oil.

"We still have the home heating oil to carry us through," Beanie Nicastro said.

Raf's moved

Howard Rafiel Johnson, the ambitious man with a disability who established Raf's Bait Wagon and was featured in a July "Ebb & Flow," has found a new location to conduct his growing bait, used rod and reel and, now, hook and lure business after being told by the city this week that he could no longer operate his business from a stationary spot along the public road at the entrance of Parker Street. He was told that he would have to stop and go, like the ice cream trucks do.

But Kelly LaRosa, who owns the land across the street from where Johnson previously operated, has given him written permission to set up shop on her property.

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