Tag Archives: Town Dock Fleet
Connecticut: Stonington celebrates 68th Blessing of the Fleet
During Sunday morning’s Fishermen’s Mass at St. Mary Church, the Rev. Dennis Perkins read the names of the 41 fishermen from the Town Dock fleet who have died at sea. “If that doesn’t touch you, I don’t know what will,” said Cris Cruz, a Knights of Columbus member from Groton, who has attended the Mass for the past decade. The Mass marked the traditional beginning to the 68th Blessing of the Fleet, which remembers the local fishermen lost at sea and prays for the success and safety of current fleet members. photos, >click to read< 08:20
Stonington fishermen fight for their livelihoods: The fleet’s past, present and tenuous future
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. >click to read< 09:17
