Need some help from you Northeast guys!

[Gary M]

I'm spending a week up in Bar Harbor, Maine right now and will be posting some interesting Grady photos soon, but we came across this interesting fishing boat today in Southwest Harbor near Bar Harbor. There was no one around to ask and the guy in the local West Marine didn't have a clue either. We are wondering what's up with the long bow pulpit as well as the obvious harpoon up there too!

Any ideas?

 

[striped bass]

Used for spearing sword fish and other types of large. Its a sport for some fishermen.

 

[enfish]

There are a lot of those in southern California... Swordfish stick boat. It's the only way to fish swords commercially out this way.

 

[journeyman]

Commercial tuna (Stick Boat)

 

[jekyl]

Reminds me of the ones in the mediterranean which have enormous pulpits as well as masts that look like radio transmission towers which they use to spot from. Hard to believe they have been doing it like that for centuries.

 

[jekyl]

Isn't google a wonderful thing.....a picture is worth a thousand words

 

[jekyl]

and another one...........there is nothing more fun than going down to the docks and seeing how different cultures .......go fishin. cheers from OZ

 

[fishingFINattic]

A boat like that was recently used to tag some great whites very close to shore off of Mass!
See them all of the time offshore-
Tim

 

[fastal]

it is a tuna harpoon boat.

 

[JeffN]

Commercial tuna (Stick Boat)

+1 The pulpit is high so the person on the pulpit can see the same things in the water as the person in the tower. Or so I have been told.