The difference between a tragic ending to a fishing trip and the Coast Guard's rescue of the two-man crew of the dragger Miss Sonya may have been the result of a decision by the captain to return home a day early.
Matteo Ferrara, 52, was operating the 36-year-old, steel-hulled boat for its owner, Corrado Buccheri, who had purchased it three years ago. Like Ferrara, the Miss Sonya's mate, Joseph Lucido, 54, is a freelance fisherman rooted in the community.
On Monday, Ferrara took aboard Lucido and 750 gallons of diesel fuel and headed the Miss Sonya out for two days of targeted fishing on or around Stellwagen Bank, the nearest and most convenient grounds for the fleet from Gloucester — only 15 miles or so from port.
In the current regulatory environment, Stellwagen opened on Dec. 1 and closes for the season at the end of March. After that, risk rises dramatically. Buccheri, 61, said starting in April, to get to the nearest open grounds, his and other Gloucester boats will need to motor "six to seven hours to the north or the south."
So because the calendar hadn't turned to April and the Miss Sonya wasn't hundreds of miles away on the open ocean, the Coast Guard was able to make a flawless rescue just 22 minutes after the initial SOS.
One minute after Ferrara and Lucido were rescued, the Miss Sonya rolled onto its side. Four minutes later, it was upside down, where it stayed for 16 minutes before making its final curtain, spewing diesel as it settled slowly to the shallow bottom of the main shipping lane.
Closer to home or farther away, the daily limits are the same: 800 pounds of cod and 250 of yellowtail. Exceeding them subjects the owners to draconian penalties.
So they tend to aim at bringing in even less — for example, 740 to 780 pounds of cod, said Buccheri, who owns a body shop, sells industrial fishing gear and owns three boats with multiple permits.
"You try to eyeball and cut yourself short," he said. Buccheri was dealing yesterday with the headaches of losing a boat for the first time since he got into the business more than a quarter century ago.
Ferrara had been toying with the idea of keeping the Miss Sonya out on Stellwagen for a third day when conditions degenerated early yesterday. The wind whipped up to 30 knots, causing seas of 3 to 5 feet.
That's far from "perfect storm" conditions, but no fun either. He decided to end the trip without consulting Buccheri, who said he trusts Ferrara.
"The weather was too rough, but he makes his own decisions," said Buccheri. "I've known him for many, many years. He takes out other boats."
Buccheri authorized Ferrara to be interviewed by the Times, but he declined.
The captain's decision had cash-income implications for all three men.
As is typical in what's left of the Gloucester commercial fleet — with maybe 75 boats actively fishing, compared to the nearly 500 a generation earlier and back through the last century — the business model is focused on risk- and profit-sharing.
"You never know how much you're going to get," he said.
From the two days' catch in the hold of the Miss Sonya — and based on the current $2 a pound price being paid at auction for cod and yellowtail — the captain could expect to gross $1,000 to $1,100, while the mate's share would be between $700 and $800, Buccheri said.
His share would be equal to the sum of the shares of his employees, once the fuel, supplies and expenses such as insurance and the price of the fishing permits are amortized.
The 750 gallons Ferrara bought for the Miss Sonya's outing cost Buccheri almost $3,000. Staying out the extra day would have allowed Ferrara and his partners to add one third to their gross proceeds from the enterprise at no appreciable increase in fixed costs.
For Buccheri, the catch and "days-at-sea" restrictions of the fishing rules enacted by a government-industry council answerable to the U.S. secretary of commerce meant his only hope to turn a profit on his $400,000 investment in the purchase and outfitting of the Miss Sonya three years ago was to be able to fish it a lot. That meant buying multiple permits at prices ranging from $100,000 to $150,000.
After three years, Buccheri said he was just about at the break-even point with the Miss Sonya. At its best, fishing produces modest returns, and almost never any bonanzas.
In this regard, it is more like farming and less like mining — the sibling risk-of-nature occupations. Balanced against the need for reward is the risk inherent in all fishing.
Acting against the impulse to greed, Ferrara opted to come in yesterday with two days of catch. After chugging north from Stellwagen, Ferrara had the Miss Sonya barely two miles south of the Dog Bar breakwater when the old boat started taking on water.
The water temperature was 37 degrees. In that water, the crew of the Miss Sonya could have expected to remain conscious for 15 to 30 minutes and alive for 30 to 90 without survival suits, according to the U.S. Search and Rescue Task Force.
"Thank God, it happened the way it did," said Buccheri. "It could have been a disaster."
Richard Gaines can be reached at rgaines@gloucestertimes.com
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