Summertime means whiting in Ipswich Bay

whitingIn early July, (Heather Atwood) spoke to Gloucester fisherman Al Cottone, executive director of Gloucester Fisheries Commission, at the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives offices after his fourth day of fishing for whiting. A strapping, dark-haired, 50-year-old, Cottone confessed he was beat. He’s not used to the unrelenting action that fishing for whiting demands anymore. Cottone has been fishing since he was 17, and has never had any other kind of work. But his ground fish quota this year, allocated by National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, was pared down to almost nothing: This means two things: Cottone cannot catch enough fish to make a living, unless he begins leasing quota from other fishermen, which has added costs. (Cottone says that many fishermen are so fed up, or they are just leasing their allocated quota to the few fishermen left, and finding other work.) It also means Cottone is out of shape; he just hasn’t had enough fishing practice recently. But Cottone loves fishing for whiting. Read the story here 10:58

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