At 3:20 a.m. Wednesday, the fishing boat Tradition, its deck awash in flood lights, eased out of the south pier of the Town Dock and headed out into Stonington Harbor. A few minutes later, the Jenna Lynn II followed, gliding through the placid water on the way to its fishing grounds.
The two boats would return Wednesday afternoon to unload their catches on the dock.
This scene has taken place here for more than 250 years as fishermen and lobstermen from the Town Dock and other borough piers have left home in search of fish, lobster and scallops in waters as close as Block Island and Long Island sounds and as far away as Georges Bank and Hudson Canyon.
While they have weathered storms, the loss of 41 fleet members at sea, declining catches and restrictions on how much fish they can land, the aging group of mostly men who make up the Town Dock Fleet now face a set of new challenges that threatens their future and that of the state’s last surviving commercial fleet.
These include the difficulty of luring young people into a grueling but potentially lucrative occupation and the leasing of vast areas of their fishing grounds to offshore wind energy companies that plan to erect hundreds of massive turbines.
Many of the fishermen, both past and present, began fishing as children, going on trips with family members. They always knew fishing would be their career, and most started fresh out of high school. Some dabbled in other jobs but always came back to fishing.
The fishermen are quick to stress that they are in favor of conservation and catch limits, as they know that protecting fish stocks will keep them in business. Many work closely with state and federal regulators and attend countless meetings to offer their input on regulations.
Many fishermen questioned the methods being used by fisheries scientists, saying what they were seeing on the water did not reflect the dire situation cited by regulators. They said some of the rules made no sense, as they were forced to throw back dead fish that got caught in their nets because quotas were exhausted or they were using a different size net.
And then there is the monitoring, as fisheries officials track boats with transponders and require captains to take observers with them on some trips.
In recent years, studies have shown fish stocks rebounding and quotas have been increased. For instance, the quota of fluke that can be landed in Connecticut this year was increased from 260,000 pounds to 579,000 pounds.
While catches were good last year, prices were very low due to lack of demand, as the COVID-19 pandemic closed restaurants and postponed parties and family gatherings. For example, fluke typically brings fishermen $5 a pound but was earning them 50 cents a pound last year. This year, prices have rebounded.
In the late 1990s and early 2000s, lobster catches plummeted. Various factors were cited, such as lower oxygen content in the waters of Long Island Sound, warming water, pesticides to control mosquitoes, runoff from lawn fertilizer and discharge from the many sewage treatment plants that dot the Connecticut shoreline.
Veteran lobsterman Mike Grimshaw, the president of the fishermen’s association, said the infrastructure at the Town Dock is in good shape after investments in recent years to upgrade equipment such as the ice machine, fuel tanks and other items.
He said the future is brighter for draggers and scallop boats that have all the permits they need, compared to lobster boats. He added that today, most lobstermen need a second job to support their families.
The Day Publishing Company