The New York Times - August 1, 1983

"This is our Portuguese holiday," Ken Gregory, who was working with the crew of the vessel Gale, said on a recent Friday. "The captain gives us off so we can work on the gear. But actually, if we don't do this, nobody makes any money."

Through much of the 19th century, Provincetown was a major seaport, and fishing remains important to its economy and character. But many of the men who drag their nets across the bay bottom are skeptical about the future. Prices the Same, Costs Up

"There's been a big change in the industry here," said Francis Santos, 58 years old, who has been fishing from Provincetown for 42 years. "We're getting just about the same prices for fish as we did years ago, and the costs have about tripled."

Arthur Reis, who owns the Joe-Stephen, says two-thirds of the boat owners would like to sell their craft. Many crew members would like other jobs, but there is little other work to be found.

In a very good year, they say, they make $25,000 to $30,000, but there have been years when some have earned $10,000. In winter they leave port once or twice a week and spend most of their time unemployed.

"One of my sons is a fisherman," Mr. Santos said. "The other was smart."

"We always talk about the romance of the sea," Mr. Gregory said, "and how it's a big joke."

"When the wind is howling and it's cold and your hands are freezing pulling in the nets, there's nothing romantic about the sea," Mr. Santos said.

Water problems have plagued Provincetown since 1977, when a leak from a service station's underground gasoline tank contaminated ground water within 600 feet of the town's principal wells. In 1981 the Board of Selectmen imposed a moratorium on liquor licenses, hoping to preserve water by slowing the growth of businesses.

"A line had to be drawn," said Selectman George Bryant. Alice Foley, who owns Alice's Restaurant on Commercial Street, says the line was drawn right through her business.

For three years she applied for a seasonal beer and wine license, only to be turned down. "People come in and ask if we have beer or wine, and when they find out they can't, they just leave," she said.

Many residents say selling beer or wine where food is served would make sense. Others oppose any kind of moratorium. Still others say Provincetown has grown enough.

"Besides," said Mr. Bryant, "a law is a law is a law."

When acquired immune deficiency syndrome, or AIDS, drew national attention, this community, with its large homosexual population, feared for tourism. Some Boston television stations broadcast reports of how AIDS was affecting the town. A headline in a local newspaper here read, "A News Epidemic."

"The whole AIDS thing here," said Linda Weinstein, a director of the Human Rights Coalition of Provincetown, "it's all out there in the air somewhere, but there's really no basis for it. It's unfair."

One death because of AIDS was reported in Provincetown, but that was in 1980. Some merchants tell of a decline in business, but most say things have changed little. "Apparently most people either haven't heard what the media has been saying, or they just haven't believed it," Miss Weinstein said. "Just take a look at the crowds on Commercial Street."

About 3,500 people live here the year round, and there are about 30,000 seasonal residents. On most summer days 60,000 to 80,000 people are here.

Commercial Street offers such sights as New Wave, a shop with a purple porch and walls. The nightclubs say they have some of the best female impersonators in the country. And there are the tourists, in their plaid shorts and with their cameras hanging from their necks.

The poet Stanley Kunitz, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1959, sits on his porch and recalls the 1950's, when this was one of most active artists' colonies in the country. "Since then, there had been a real period of doldrums," he said. "But now I think there is a sense of revival."

There are now more than 15 art galleries. The Fine Arts Work Center, offering a seven-month program for young artists, was started in 1968 by Mr. Kunitz and the painters Robert Motherwell and Myron Stout. It has attracted young artists as full-time residents. Mr. Kunitz says he senses an artistic excitement almost as intense as that of the 1950's.

"There's a very easy and informal atmosphere here," Myron Stout said, "and that way of life is attractive to artists."

"There's a simplicity of elements," Mr. Stout said, speaking of the community's physical charm, "but I wouldn't call it austere. There's the sand, and the sea, and the sky. I think it's more sensuous than austere."

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