Charlie Brighton, owner of the F/V Kelsi & Morgan, landed 1.6 million pounds of baitfish last year. This year, with strict rules imposed by the National Marine Fisheries Service that effectively shut off groundfishing for federal permit holders effective May 1, Brighton said he won’t be catching bait anymore.
Instead, he said, he’s trying to learn how to catch squid.
“The groundfishing rules ruined me,” Brighton said. “So now I’m trying to catch squid. The other day, there were 25 draggers out of Point Judith west of East Matunuck Beach and we were all trying to chase squid. We must have looked terrible to all those people on the beach. In their mind they must be thinking ‘They’re raping the ocean.’ But the government has put everyone in the position to be chasing one little creature.”
Meanwhile, over at the Bait Co. in Galilee, owner Andrea Incollingo said her prospects are looking “bleak.” Before the new rules went into effect, she relied on a small group of federal permit holders to supply her with skate, most of it caught with flounder. That baitfish is then sold to the region’s lobstermen, who pay between $40 and $50 per 500-pound barrel.