Tag Archives: owner of Empire Fisheries
New Ice Machines Help Bolster Stonington Fishing Industry
“When the boats are fishing hard, each one will take 20 tons of ice per day, so we need the ice production,” said Gary Farrell, dockmaster of Stonington’s town dock, home to a commercial fishing fleet. “… Boats sit at the dock when they can’t get ice. You can’t go out and catch fish unless you got ice to put it on, so this is a big thing for us to get ahead of this.” On Monday, Farrell stood next to two new ice machines installed on the steel platform on the second floor of the dock’s icehouse, which are expected to alleviate the problem. Rob Smith, president of the Southeastern Connecticut Fisherman and Lobsterman Association, which rents the dock from the town, said the ice house was barely providing ice to all the boats in the Stonington fishing fleet — about 10 vessels total — and struggled to supply ice to other vessels. The 40-year-plus career fisherman keeps his vessel, the Carly Grace, a 54-foot dragger, in Stonington. Smith said the dock’s main revenue is selling fuel and ice. more, >>click to read<<14:16
New Regulations for Whelk and Horseshoe Crabs a Challenge for Commercial Fisheries
New state regulations intended to rebuild the whelk and horseshoe crab populations in the Long Island Sound could substantially limit the catches of local fisherman. Davis said that the department had done surveys trawling different areas of the Long Island Sound each year. Asked about the proposed regulations, Bob Guzzo, a commercial fisherman out of Stonington who catches whelk, said he thought the regulations were unnecessary, and that the department shouldn’t be involved in making them. He said that the whelks come and go in cycles. Guzzo said he believed the trawl surveys were inaccurate. >click to read< 14:16
CT DEEP Proposing New Rules For Lobster, Striped Bass, Others – The proposed regulatory changes are intended to address the “depleted state of these ecologically and economically important species in Long Island Sound,” according to DEEP officials. >click to read< 17:02
