Blessing of the Fleet

Last week I shared the guide to visiting Stonington, CT. One of the annual July events, The Blessing of the Fleet was this past weekend. The Blessing of the Fleet has been happening for 60+ years in Stonington borough. A tradition to honor our fishermen and their families as well as remembering the ones we lost. Read more about it here.

This year was the first time that Town Dock hosted an Open House on Saturday. I attended and got a peek inside of the fishing vessels that I often photograph. I didn’t realize that I’d be walking away with an expanded knowledge and even MORE appreciation for our fishermen!

I toured two different type of fishing vessels:

F/V Tradition

This boat goes out for 2-4 days. If they catch squids, then it is shorter trip because squids doesn’t stay fresh for long. This crew is usually 2-4 people. The captain even sometimes goes out alone! The boat is a lot smaller compared to the scallop boat.

F/V Furious

The scallop boat goes out 6x a year, for 5-15 days at a time. There is usually a crew of 5-6 people. This boat was HUGE, close to 60 feet long. We started the tour on the deck, where the scallops first comes on board. They go through a sorting process (weeding out baby scallops, rocks, etc). Meanwhile, they only have 50 minutes before the next net of scallops comes in! The scallops are then brought into a room inside the vessel where they’re dumped into a trough. In there, the scallops are cut out of the shells and washed. 50 pounds of scallops are put into a bag that goes down a chute to the chilled storage space below the deck.

Another surprising fact that I learned was that the captain actually helps with this process WHILE piloting the boat from that room. That room is in the back of the boat so there is no direct view of water in the front. This processing room does have a GPS/spotter that the captain uses to navigate.

After learning the processing of scallops, we saw the gallery and kitchen. I watch too many TV shows, so I always thought fishermen doesn’t shower while they’re out on the seas. I can confirm that F/V Furious DOES have a shower! The fisherman also shared that they bring about $3K worth of food for their voyage. They work in 6 hour shifts. Every day they must report about their catch: how many they got, what trip and even the location, all this information goes to the regulatory committee.  It is important that the scallops, and all other seafood, are not over fished.

F/V Furious also can be limited to where they can fish on the water, which is why the regulatory committee also need to know their location. While we were touring the piloting section of the boat (called the wheelhouse), they answered any questions that people had.  We were told one story about a recent gas fill up that ran over $40K. The crew is not paid a salary, instead each crew member is given some portion of shares of the profit, so unfortunately they all feel the pain of raising supply costs.

I always had an appreciation for our fishermen, but this tour allowed us to ask all the questions and learn more in depth about their trips. Obviously I never knew all of the behind-the-scene details - how long they leave for, how much things cost them, how long their shifts are, etc. This tour showed how they truly work hard to bring amazing fresh seafood to our shoreline town. I’m really glad that the Town Dock hosted the Open House this year!

Please support them by purchasing LOCAL seafood. There is a Sea Well right there at the town dock. The seafood is in a freezer and it is a honor system, you pay for what you get (there’s a price list in the window). See more retailers (and restaurants!) that has Stonington Fresh seafood here.

Please inform me if I got any facts incorrect as it was a verbal tour. I didn’t think to take notes as I did not expect to have my knowledge expanded as much it did!