With the sale of Viking, a 40-foot fishing boat that has plied the waters off the Vineyard for three generations, the Island’s once-vibrant fleet of small wooden draggers is now at the brink of extinction.

Craig Coutinho of Vineyard Haven confirmed this week that he will sell Viking along with his fishing permits.

A total of 173 deer had been taken yesterday in the first week of shotgun season. The three primary deer check-in stations on the Island reported Thursday that the number of deer taken so far is about the same as in recent years. The two-week shotgun season for deer ends on Saturday, Dec. 8.

State wildlife forester Brian Hawthorne has been counting the deer checked in at the Manuel F. Correllus State Forest. Mr. Hawthorne said, based on what he has seen so far, the deer population is healthy and well-fed.

This weekend offers an early morning show. Three planets and a star line up in the eastern sky before sunrise. Venus is the brightest of the three and works as an easy guide to find the other two. Above and to the right of Venus is the ringed planet Saturn. To the left and below Venus there is the always-hard-to-find planet Mercury.

The bright star Spica, the main star in the zodiacal constellation Virgo, can be seen above all three and to the right.

Shifting sand at both Wasque and Lucy Vincent Beach has uncovered what may be parts of two shipwrecks.

Last Sunday afternoon, Andrew Orcutt of Edgartown and Albany was out walking the shoreline near Wasque and the Norton Point breach. He discovered remnants of what appeared to be a ship in the wash.

Despite stormy weather, the bay scallop season is under way and doing well, local officials and fishmongers report. But while fish markets are moving product, the weather hasn’t helped get either fishermen or consumers to the store.

“We’ve got plenty,” said TJ Giegler at Edgartown Seafood, on Cooke and Main streets. The retail price on the Island before press time was under $18 a pound.

The big producing towns this year are Edgartown and Chilmark. Tisbury and Oak Bluffs are slow. Aquinnah has yet to open, usually waiting until later in the month to do so.

Three planets are in the southeastern sky before sunrise, although only for a short time. The planets are Venus, Saturn and Mercury.

Mercury is the errant planet and will only be visible for the next week, possibly a little longer, before it drops back into the glare of the sun.

Most people can pick out Venus high in the east. It is the brightest planet in our sky and has been readily visible for months. Venus is in the southeastern sky before sunrise. The second brightest celestial object nearby is the ringed planet Saturn.