Celebrating local industry in Menemsha

Local fishermen came together in Menemsha on Thursday afternoon for the ninth annual Meet the Fleet, hosted by the Martha’s Vineyard Fishermen’s Preservation Trust (MVFPT). 

For many Islanders, the event that took place on the Menemsha docks, from 3 to 7 pm as the sun began to set, is more akin to a holiday. 

“In my family, we have Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Meet the Fleet. This is our third holiday of the year,” Nick Wilbur, local commercial fisherman, said.

The Preservation Trust, which supports the conservation of the Island’s small-boat, owner-operated fishing fleets, hosts the annual event to showcase the local industry and raise funds, through sponsors, merchandise sales, and donations, for its programs. Since 2021, the trust has run the Martha’s Vineyard Seafood Collaborative, a program that acts as a local seafood buyer, and more recently, started a shipping program to connect local fishermen to off-Island buyers. The trust is also in the middle of an expansion, after it purchased the former Poole’s Fish Plant on Basin Road in Chilmark last year with a 99-year lease.

Chris Mayhew, who captains the Betty Anne out of Menemsha and harvests lobsters in the summer, said the celebration is “a good halfway point in the season,” especially for fishermen who have worked hard all summer. “Everyone comes together to celebrate the fishing fleet,” he said. 

The event on Thursday featured activities for all ages, including performances by Johnny Hoy and the Bluefish, the Philly Project, and the Dock Dance Band. There was a line-splicing contest, where fishermen raced to finish joining two ends of a rope (multiyear winner Ian Andres won again), a life raft survival-suit contest with the U.S. Coast Guard, a net-mending competition (won by Mikey Oliveria, a.k.a. “Ripped,” for the third time), and a scallop-shucking contest. 

Children also took part in crab races, where they lured a crab down a wooden track with meat on a string, and gyotaku, a traditional Japanese art method that memorializes real fish or other sea creatures on cloth using paint. 

Island fisherman Otto Osmers, also known as “Otto-Zone” or “Ottomatic,” especially during the event, took first for the third time in the highly anticipated shucking contest. Osmers said the trick is making a clean cut and not missing the gut of the scallop. “I’ve been doing it for a couple years now, like eight years, and it’s my job,” Osmers told The Times.

Osmers said taking the win this year felt great: “I missed it last year, and it’s good to come back.” 

And while Osmers said he was happy to win, he’s not in it for the glory. He said that the contest is “about the fun,” and that Meet the Fleet is overall “about getting the community together.”

“We get people from every harbor here,” Osmers said. “It’s just a good time.”

“They work hard all summer, and they get to have a little bit of celebration,” John Keene, president of the Preservation Trust, said. “I would say the beauty of this is just the fusion of the public, the fishermen, the town, Coast Guard, EPO [Environmental Police], and everyone who comes together.”