An ocean of expense

High diesel prices cut boat operators' profits, keep many craft moored

Joseph Orlando and his son Mario dragged the waters off Cape Ann for nearly a week, burning 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel to catch a load of cod that sold in Gloucester for $5,600. The fuel bill: $4,400.

"Six days of work, and we didn't make any money," said Orlando, 54, rattling off other expenses, including $300 for ice. "This fuel thing is just overwhelming."

Soaring energy prices are hitting the waterfront hard, squeezing fishermen, pleasure boaters, charter vessels, whale watches, and other marine businesses. In many ways, they're getting hit harder than their land-based counterparts. On the water, "fuel efficient" means a couple miles to the gallon.

It also means recreational fishermen, tourists, and ferry riders are paying more. The Steamship Authority recently raised rates to cover rising fuel costs, adding as much as $2 to one-way fares on Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard ferries. At Boston's Long Wharf, Boston Harbor Cruises added a $2-per-ticket fuel surcharge for its whale watches and Provincetown ferry. In Plymouth, Capt. John Boats added a $3 per ticket surcharge for whale watches, recreational fishing trips, and its own ferry to Provincetown.

But surcharges cover only part of surging diesel prices, which have nearly doubled in the past year to about $4.50 a gallon from $2.60, said Bob Avila, sales director and a boat captain at Capt. John. A four-hour whale watch, he noted, can burn 500 gallons - or more - of fuel.

"Situation: Bad," Avila said. "This is just crazy."

At the same time, events on land are making a bad situation worse. The combination of rising gas prices and a weak economy are leading consumers to cut spending, translating into fewer customers. At Capt. John, for example, tour buses that last year arrived full for whale watches now pull in with empty seats, said Avila.

Tom DePersia, owner of Big Fish II Sportfishing Charters of Marshfield, blames energy prices for a 20 percent slide in his business, which takes groups of six on deep-sea fishing trips.

"People don't want to travel," he said. "My regular customers are holding off because they're worried about heating their homes this winter."

DePersia, meanwhile, has added a $20-per-person fuel surcharge for his trips and reduced the size of his fleet to two diesel boats, putting his third - a less efficient gas-powered model - up for sale. "But there's not a lot of buyers," he said.

Boat dealers and manufacturers can attest to that. Brunswick Corp. of Lake Forest, Ill., maker of popular Sea Ray and Boston Whaler brands, last week cited record fuel prices and poor economic conditions when it disclosed the shutdown of four boat plants and layoffs of at least 1,000 workers in the face of the worst US power boat sales in 40 years. In Massachusetts, sales of new boats, trailers, motors, and accessories fell 22 percent last year compared with 2006, according to the National Marine Manufacturers Association, a trade group in Chicago.

Gary Voller, owner of Gary Voller's Yacht Sales and Brokerage in Falmouth, said boat owners who might have traded up in past years are now sitting tight, waiting to see where gas prices and the economy go. As a result, the middle market - 30- to 40-foot gas-powered boats from $100,000 to $500,000 - is "all but dead."

"It's gasoline driven, economic fear driven," Voller said. "Even people with hefty incomes are pulling in their reins a little."

Local marina operators say slips are largely filled, but boats are spending more time at the docks. Boston Harbor Shipyard and Marina in East Boston even added a fitness center and horseshoe pit in anticipation that high fuel prices could mean more dock-bound boaters.

"We want to keep them in boating," said manager Pat Gately. "We don't want them to put up 'For Sale' signs."

At Constitution Marina in Charlestown, Jack Bittner, 64, of Lynnfield, said he'll keep his 40-foot motor yacht, but he's changing habits to save gas. He expects to take shorter trips, and when he does use the boat he'll cruise at slower speeds, which reduces gas consumption.

With a 300-gallon tank, and gas at the dock pushing $4.50 a gallon, a fill-up could run more than $1,300. It's not a fill-up he wants to rush.

"We're a little choosier of where we go, how far we go, and how fast we go," said Bittner, a retired engineer. "But if you're doing something you love, you don't want to give it up."

Fishermen face tougher choices. With diesel prices almost doubling, but lobster prices unchanged, Tom O'Reilly, a lobsterman out of Plymouth, said he's leaving his boat tied up most days. He tends his traps no more than twice a week now, and has had to take another job.

"The fuel costs and the bait costs just outweigh what you're catching," he said.

With cod prices half of what they were this spring, Orlando, the Gloucester fishermen, is also weighing when to leave the dock. With federal regulations restricting the number of days he can fish, Orlando must choose each fishing day carefully, gambling that cod prices at the Gloucester auction will be high enough to offset fuel costs when he returns.

"We always thought regulations would do us in, but now it seems it's going to be fuel," said Orlando, whose family has fished for generations. "I have a boat that's worth the world to me. What do I do?"

Robert Gavin can be reached at rgavin@globe.com.