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CRONKITE: Arthur's son Mike Medeiros now works in the computer
industry.
MIKE
MEDEIROS (Former Stonington Fisherman): One thing about the fishing
showed me growing up watching my father and the way he loved his work,
I learned what it’s like to really love what you do.
When
my father began he could make a lot more money on the ocean than he
could on land. When I came along and I spent some time fishing with
him, that wasn’t the case any more. With government regulations and
the depletion of the fishing stocks, it’s a very uncertain future.
That’s one of the reasons why I personally didn’t go into the
business full time.
CRONKITE: Anne Rita's family has been in the fishing industry since
1916.
ANN RITA
(Bookkeeper, Stonington Fishing Fleet): I work here at the docks. I do
all the bookkeeping for all the boats down here and it makes – helps
ends meet. The fishing industry is not what it used to be. There’s
more rules, regulations, how much they can catch, how much they can
bring in, but we don’t struggle by any means, you know, we just –
we live comfortably.
I
married my husband who was a commercial fisherman, lived right across
the street. We’ve been
married for 25 years, our first year he quit fishing and went to EB
and he couldn’t. It was like the – the sea drew him and I said go
for it… But as far as my two boys if they really wanted to I
wouldn’t stop them but I would hope that they did something else
because I don’t know what’s going to happen in years to come
CRONKITE: Anne’s husband, John Rita started working for Arthur
Medeiros in 1971.
JOHN
RITA (Capt., Seafarer
Fishing Boat): You’ve got to save the fish and the fisherman. …let
us go out and make a living and send our kids to school and give them
the education and so forth. That’s all we want.
CRONKITE: John Rita has witnessed many changes through the years in
his former home town of Stonington
JOHN
RITA (Capt., Seafarer
Fishing Boat): It used to be a complete fishing village.
It was mostly a Portuguese village and people were very close
knit and would help one another tremendously in times of need.
Right
now a lot of the people
have sold the house for good money, I guess, because it’s on the
water and people you don’t even know from New York or whichever have
bought the places. There’s a lot of antiques downtown where there
were no stores,it was just a lot closer knit then, believe me, believe
me.
CRONKITE: One thing that has not changed in Stonington is the annual
Blessing of the Fleet. The Blessing of the Fleet started in1954 as
both a celebration of the fishing way of life and as a way to honor
those who have lost their lives at sea.
FRED
CALABRETTA (Assoc. Curator, Mystic Seaport):
It’s a community celebration, a family celebration and it… also
reflects Portuguese culture and the Portuguese traditions of many of
the fishermen. It’s
sort of a renewal and reinforces their way of life.
And it includes a parade through town, the actual blessing of
the boats when the regional Bishop blesses the boats as they pass by
in procession. They then go out and throw a memorial wreath with a
symbolic broken anchor overboard in honor of those who have been lost.
Despite
safety advancements and technological advancements, fishing is one of
the most dangerous occupations in the country.
MUSIC: Forebitter, Heidi
Marie
Another
boat is lost from Stonington harbor,
Lobstermen this time,
God help the sons and daughters,
Of the ones that make their living harvesting the sea
Hard winds of November,
Cold arms of the deep,
Old spirit of the fisherman,
Cast your locks upon the sea.
CONNECTICUT’S
WATER PARK
TERRY
BACKER (Long Island Sound Keeper):
I was born into the fishing industry and later became politicized to
the point where I started looking at the environment. For me it’s
just been part of my life.
MUSIC:
Callinan – Long
Island Sound’s Been Good to Me
Oh,
Long Island Sound has been good to be,
It taught me to swim and my love of the sea.
But now it needs help from others like me,
Who say Long Island Sound’s good to me.
TERRY
BACKER (Long Island Sound Keeper):
I later went on to become a Soundkeeper because I saw the – the
environment of Long Island Sound slipping drastically in the late
70’s and early 80’s. It was really becoming one big sewage pot.
I’m
employed by the Long Island Soundkeeper Fund which is a nonprofit
organization. Our
job is to protect the biological, physical and chemical integrity of
this water body. It’s
a huge job.
Things
are improving, however, when you look at their improving you also have
to look at, you know, three centuries of abuse from everything from
wetland filling to toxic legacy in the sediment to declining fish
stocks and species. The Sound has a long way to come back and the only
way it’s going to come back is continued resolve to stay at it at
all times.
And
my love of the sea,
But know it needs help from others like me.
This
Sound is our national park. We don’t have a Yellowstone or a
Yosemite or a Baxter State Park. We don’t have anything on that
scale. Long Island Sound is Connecticut’s equivalent to a national
park.
GOV.
JOHN ROWLAND (Connecticut): Well, it’s one of our greatest resources.
Economically it has – pays huge benefits.
We really lost a lot of our water quality a dozen or so years
ago and we found the people weren’t harvesting oysters here and that
from a recreational standpoint people weren’t swimming here as much
as they used to and boating and fishing and so forth.
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