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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 35 Number 9
May 2008
‘Work Vessels for Vets’ aims to help returning soldiers
MYSTIC, CT – Late last year, Connecticut lobsterman John Niekrash sent a letter to Commercial Fisheries News looking for a veteran from Iraq or Afghanistan who could use a good working lobster boat to help him get back on his feet in civilian life.
Niekrash had been moved to donate his own boat, which he had been thinking about replacing, after hearing a severely wounded vet tell his story a few months earlier. His letter to the editor led to an article in the pleasure boating magazine Soundings, and soon Niekrash started hearing from people in the fishing industry around the country who wanted to help.
The outpouring was so great that Niekrash, in partnership with Kathleen Burns of Noank Shipyard in Mystic and Zack Schmidt of 6K Design, decided to create a foundation called “Work Vessels for Vets” to make the donation of a working fishing vessel an annual event.
On April 4, with a US Marine Corps Color Guard and US Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-CT) in attendance, Niekrash handed over ownership of the Krasher III to US Marine Reservist Richard Giguere. A Rhode Island native, Giguere recently returned from a second tour of duty in Iraq and now plans to commercially clam, crab, and lobster from the donated boat.
Niekrash explained that, in his original letter to CFN, he had said he would give the Krasher III to the first returning vet who contacted him, and that was Giguere. The two met and talked, and Niekrash was soon convinced Giguere was serious about making his living fishing.
“He’s a great kid,” Niekrash said.
He also thanked all the workers at Noank Shipyard, who had maintained the Krasher III for 17 years and donated all the work to make the fishing vessel ready for the ownership transfer.
Now Niekrash is turning his attention to his next boat, the Krasher IV, and to getting ready to organize next year’s donation.
“The plan is for the foundation to present a donated work vessel to a returning vet every April – not a boat to cruise around in, but a boat to work the seas to make a living,” he said. “Noank Shipyard has been extraordinarily kind in offering their time and services, as they did with Krasher III, to get the donated vessel ready for relaunch every year.”
More information on the foundation is available online at <www.workvesselsforvets.org>. /cfn/
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