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Fabled San
Francisco fisherman: all dressed up and no place to go until
June 9 and the opening of the new Hyde Street Fishing
Harbor. Photo by Alessandro Baccari |
Every year, we have the Blessing
of the Fishing Fleet, which takes place the first week of October,
where all the families gather at the chapel and go out to sea. They
go out on a Red and White vessel and the fishing fleet follows as
they go under the Golden Gate. As the procession goes beyond the
waters of the Gate on the Marin side, they cast flowers into the sea
and there’s a moment of silence and all the horns of the vessels
blow. It’s quite moving. You’ll see three or four generations of
fishing families who have lost someone – a father, a brother or a
son to the sea. Now of course, we have women fishing. We even have
women in the fishing industry and wholesale processing area.
Our new harbor costs about $7
million dollars. We’re grateful for the efforts of the Mayor and
the Port of San Francisco most of all, but we also want to thank the
State of California Department of Boating and Waterways and a true
friend of Fisherman’s Wharf, Senator John L. Burton, who has
played such a significant role over the years in securing funding
for this project. We’re also grateful to Assemblyman Kevin Shelley
and Supervisors Gavin Newsom and Aaron Peskin, and former Supervisor
Alicia Becceril. It took a lot of funding to get us here and these
folks made it happen.
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Fisherman’s and
Seamen’s Memorial Chapel, non-denominational place of
worship and shrine to the memories of more than 200 lost
fisherman. The location is the site of the old Coast Guard
building from which rescue missions to foundering vessels
were dispatched. Photo by Alessandro Baccari |