Stonington Commercial Fishermen Catch A Break

STONINGTON BOROUGH, CT—While some Stonington draggers were at out at sea, Gov. Ned Lamont signed into law last week State Sen. Heather Somers' bill that may help Connecticut's last commercial fishing fleet.

Co-sponsored by the Groton Republican, the law which goes into effect Oct. 1 was written to allow vessels that hold licenses in one or more states, namely Connecticut, Rhode Island and/or New York, to ferry their catch earmarked for landing in one state, into another's port sans penalty.

According to The Westerly Sun, the law eases "regulations preventing local commercial fishermen from landing catches in multiple states on the same trip."

As it is, vessels are required to declare "their catch for a specific state and offload the catch in that state, even if the fishermen were licensed in multiple states and regardless of whether the catch was made in federal or state waters."

"Fishermen had to make multiple trips per week far offshore to make each catch designated for each state," it was reported.

The New Law Has One Catch, But A Stonington Fisherman Says It's A Good Catch

The only catch is that the agreement is for a very particular fish and season; the summer flounder, or fluke, from January to April.

Andrew Williams 22, a fourth generation fisherman from Stonington, currently working on F/V McKenzie Paige, says being able to offload in more than one state is a good thing and may help sustain the future of commercial fishing in Stonington.

Williams praised the new law saying it provides myriad benefits in that important, and short, winter season.

"In the winter time, the opportunity window to get out fishing is a couple days at best," he said.

Williams grew up on fishing vessels. His family, with patriarch now-shore captain Tom Williams at the helm since the 1960s, owns Port Judith and Stonington Borough-ported F/V Tradition and F/V Heritage with captains Aaron Williams and Tom Williams at the helm respectively.

The Williams' family of fishermen was featured in the Netflix documentary "Rotten," in the episode titled 'Cod is Dead,' about federal regulations on over-fishing and the unintended consequences. Andrew Williams was working on the Tradition during filming.

Somers Says The Law Has A Number Of Positive Effects & Williams Agreed

In a statement, Somers said the new law "will not only increase safety of our fishermen. It will result in less fuel usage, less crew time, and it is better for the environment because the by-catch would be reduced. There would be no more fish caught than is currently allowed. This new law simply allows for fish to be caught in a more efficient manner."

Williams agreed that eased regulations will allow "optimal yield," and more.

"We'll burn less fuel, it'll be safer for the crew, we'll have less by-catch, and less time of us in the ocean," Williams told Patch.

Although by all accounts, Williams appears to be at home on the sea.