Sakonnet Lobster Company Remains a Rhode Island Industry Mainstay [VIDEO]

For many Little Compton and Tiverton residents and tourists, summer means traditional visits to a popular family-owned business entrenched in the world of trapping and selling lobsters.

If it were possible to line up the tens of thousands of lobsters  of Little Compton has trapped, handled, sold and distributed in its 39 years of existence, it would stretch hundreds of miles into the Atlantic Ocean.

And the baiting, trapping and processing of these Atlantic lobsters by the popular company, founded by Jim Mataronas III in 1972, all happens on Sakonnet Point where so many local residents depend on the sea for their livelihood and for recreation.

The 10-foot high stacks of hundreds of lobster wire traps (or pots) that have been stored from late winter to early spring are gradually getting shorter.

“Many of the fishermen are still gill netting and fin fishing,” says Margaret Mataronas, wife of Jim. “But they will soon be out on their lobster boats setting traps.”

“My husband started the business in 1972,” Margaret added. “Custy Rainone of Galilee helped us out a lot to get started in the business.

She said her husband first built a 40-foot boat named ‘Sunny Jim’ and later built an 80-foot boat designed for multi-species fishing, but is still used just for lobstering.

“Now we have five 40-foot boats we depend on for most of our lobsters," she continued. "Many of them head out from Westport to Point Judith to Cox’s Ledge and other spots.”

Manning those boats to catch the bulk of the lobsters the company sells for retail and wholesale purposes are her sons, Gregory, James IV, Douglas and Richard, who are all lobstermen and have their own boats, she said. The dependable crew also includes Gary and Seamus.

James IV made international news when he caught a one-of-a-kind, mottled brown and bright red lobster, off Newport, R.I. in 2007.

“The chances of him catching that were one in 50 million,” said his proud mother of the rare lobster, now preserved and on display inside the store with a distinct lobster motif.  “It is called a mosaic genetic DNA disorder.”

The company also sells sea robins, pogies, heron and skates for lobster bait and deals with Point Trap Company nearby and with Parascandolo & Sons Bait and Trap Company of Newport.

It is never easy being a lobsterman, especially under windy or cold conditions with lobster pots often baited and checked frequently right up until New Year’s Day.

“We have to watch the storms,” Margaret said. “Right off shore, the last storms churned up so much mud the pots got moved, damaged or buried.”

She said lobstermen often prepare their boats for launch as early as 3 to 4 a.m. and may return from 2 to as late as 9 p.m..

Once the lobsters are graded the chicken, or smaller lobsters ranging up to 1 1/8 pounds and jumbos averaging 4 to 5 pounds, they are placed in a dark, cool and hospitable environment.

“We always keep the temperature of the room at 50 degrees,” Margaret said of the special system that keeps lobsters fresh. “We pump water from the harbor under the road right into the store to our lobster tanks.”   

She noted that lobster prices have not gone up in three years.

“Lobsters are a wild animal and are elusive and it costs a lot to maintain boats, buy licenses and pay for gas and other costs," Margaret said.

The final destinations for lobsters not sold at the store radiates outward from local restaurants to far-flung places. She lists  of Little Compton,  and of Tiverton; The Back Eddy Restaurant, Westport; and Tweet’s Balzano’s, Bristol, as some of many locations where they sell their lobsters.

But for those who can not buy directly or do not frequent restaurants, there is another way to buy Sakonnet Lobster Company crustaceans.

“We can air ship overnight and have shipped lobsters from Alaska to Hawaii and Thailand,” Margaret added. “In the 1980’s we were 38th in the nation for overseas export of lobsters and I don’t think it has changed that much.

Margaret said the lobsters can stay in the tanks for up to six months, but they usually don’t last that long. Indeed, longevity of lobsters is not a problem- at least not for consumers, that is.

26 California Road, Little Compton, RI
401-635-4371
Hours: Monday through Saturday, 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Sunday, 9 a.m. to noon

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