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Jan. 18th, 2007 10:16 amOne note chowders disturb fishermen (ny times, reg required).
“The only stable fishery is a diverse fishery,” he said. No place in the world is richer in lobster than the waters around Stonington today, but the population explosion was caused, in part, by the vanishing of the groundfish. “They fed on the young lobsters, the spats,” he said, “but the large fin fish are also part of an ecosystem that actually protects the lobster.” Even with good management, he said, the lobster, too, could disappear.
“And when they go,” he added, grasping one of the crustaceans from the counter of the church kitchen and in a single flourish twisting off its claws and tail, “the last of America’s Colonial industries will go with them.”
What chowder eater, nourished on soups rich with many kinds of fish, could listen to the scientists who began to worry in the 1970s about the effects of river damming, pollution and overfishing? Like most, Mr. Bridges continued to lower his metal-link scallop nets to the bottom of the ocean. He continued to plot his own course and to keep his whereabouts to himself. He continued to haul thousands of pounds of fish every few hours and he continued to ravage the ocean floor.
In 1985 fishermen landed seven million pounds of groundfish in Stonington alone. Ten years later those fish disappeared from Penobscot Bay, and for the first time in nearly two centuries, chowder changed.
“The only stable fishery is a diverse fishery,” he said. No place in the world is richer in lobster than the waters around Stonington today, but the population explosion was caused, in part, by the vanishing of the groundfish. “They fed on the young lobsters, the spats,” he said, “but the large fin fish are also part of an ecosystem that actually protects the lobster.” Even with good management, he said, the lobster, too, could disappear.
“And when they go,” he added, grasping one of the crustaceans from the counter of the church kitchen and in a single flourish twisting off its claws and tail, “the last of America’s Colonial industries will go with them.”
What chowder eater, nourished on soups rich with many kinds of fish, could listen to the scientists who began to worry in the 1970s about the effects of river damming, pollution and overfishing? Like most, Mr. Bridges continued to lower his metal-link scallop nets to the bottom of the ocean. He continued to plot his own course and to keep his whereabouts to himself. He continued to haul thousands of pounds of fish every few hours and he continued to ravage the ocean floor.
In 1985 fishermen landed seven million pounds of groundfish in Stonington alone. Ten years later those fish disappeared from Penobscot Bay, and for the first time in nearly two centuries, chowder changed.
