Today

Steve Johnson’s duties as pier manager and harbormaster don’t allow for much quiet reflection. The downtown working waterfront may be picturesque for tourists but it's all business for fishermen.

After visitors stroll the length of Main Street and stop into a shop or two, they invariably end up on the fish pier. If it were a national park it would have little signs advising people to take pictures “here.”

That the pier is a central landmark in Stonington is no accident. Built with federal funds in 1984 at a cost of approximately $3 million to support commercial fishing, it maintains public space for fishermen to keep skiffs, park trucks and unload their catch.            

Although it has space for only about 80 punts, and parking for 58 trucks, it is the only “no strings” place a fisherman can tie up his skiff, unless he has shorefront property or friends with docks.

According to Pier Manager and Harbormaster Steve Johnson, “Being downtown, in the center, not only tourists, but residents can see what it’s like to be a real fishing community.

“The pier maintains the independence of the fishermen. Without the fish pier it would revert back to dealer control, where the dealer requires you to sell him your product or find another place to park your truck, another place to buy bait and another place that will sell you fuel at a discount.”

Currently, the fish pier serves as a place for lobstermen, urchin divers and mussel harvesters haul out their catch, and for lobstermen to load or haul out their traps, using the pier’s hoist, and usually getting help from Johnson. There is no lobster buyer currently on the pier. It no longer serves groundfish boats; there is only one groundfisherman working out of Stonington, a situation that has much to do with a combination of federal regulations and an alleged scarcity of groundfish.

During the ‘90s, when urchining was booming, Johnson says, “Urchining was carrying the pier.”  There are sometimes scallop buyers at the pier, or mussel buyers, but, Johnson says, “The musseling seems to be fished out...If it weren’t for lobstering, I don’t know what would happen to this community.  It wouldn’t be good...”

Even late into the evening the lights blazed at the pier as Cambodian urchin buyers peeled bills off thick rolls and handed them over to fishermen who were hauling totes of urchins off their boats. Although that has leveled off, the pier is still a vital part of the community.

To counteract the loss of the urchin money, the harbor committee, with the selectmen’s approval, recently raised parking rates for trucks from $65 a year to $200, and for skiffs from $35 to $100 a year. The jump was so high because the rates had never been changed since the pier opened.

Town Manager Richard Avery, commenting on the lighter use of the pier, says, “Who can tell what the future will bring? Even if it’s underused for a couple of years, it’s a valuable part of the town’s infrastructure. Just because a road is lightly used you don’t tear it up.”

Johnson is also harbormaster; sometimes the jobs overlap. His concern about waste oil polluting the town’s waters led him to spearhead a drive to collect the oil.

“Not too long ago, 400 plus gallons of oil in five gallon buckets were found thrown over banking and left to rest on clam flats in Stonington. I’ve also seen five-gallon buckets left at numerous places on the island.”

 The selectmen recently approved the purchase of a trailer and a tank for the collection of used oil. The oil can be burned in special burners used for heat in various places in Stonington, including the town garage.

As Johnson was talking about the oil, an angry fisherman stormed into the office.  “That bastard moved his mooring too close.  I can’t get in my [blankety-blank] skiff...he’s way above where he was.  I can’t go that way any further...Come and look at it right now.  They’re gale warning for tomorrow and if he doesn’t move I’ll move the [blankety-blank] mooring.  It’s directly under my boat.”

The interview was over.