Lobstermen return to water, set pots
May 15—When last we saw Joe Mondello in early April, he was standing in front of a mountain of 550 traps —Mount Mondello — that were dry-dock casualties of Massachusetts' decision to close its waters to commercial lobstering on March 5.
The closure, enacted to help mitigate the possibility of gear entanglements with endangered North Atlantic right whales migrating through Massachusetts waters, began March 5 and ended at 12:01 a.m. Friday.
Mondello, as with many lobstermen at docks around Gloucester and the rest of Cape Ann, wasted little time getting back to work.
The 71-year-old, flying solo on Friday, was on the water by 6:30 a.m. The weather — bright, late-spring sunshine, little wind, cornflower blue skies and the first real heat of 2021 — was if the lobstering gods were celebrating the start of the season, as well.
By 10 a.m., Mondello, using frozen redfish heads, had baited the first load of about 30 traps and set them off the Back Shore from his 37-foot Tully IV. Then it was back in to the Everett R. Jodrey State Fish Pier to resume his one-man production line before moving over to set in the western edge of Gloucester Harbor.
"It was really nice out there today," Mondello said. "I'll set about 50 today altogether and I probably won't haul them until next week."
Tied up behind him, Sam Harrington was similarly engaged on the Lady Marie. But this wasn't really opening day for him. At least not in state waters.
"I went fishing yesterday out in federal waters," Harrington said. "Luckily, I still have my federal permit. Though they'll probably shut (those waters) down next."
Both Mondello and Harrington said the most striking image from the first day back was the unblemished nature of the water surface, a pristine sheet after the mandated removal of buoys, lines and gear during the closure.
"It was sort of funny going out there and not seeing any buoys along the way," Harrington said.
And so it went around the waterfront.
Capt. Steve Douglass, skippering his Cape Ann Harbor Tours boat Lady Jillian, stopped at the docks at the Solomon Jacobs Landing off Harbor Loop to pick up a couple of passengers who paid for the privilege of helping him — or maybe just watching him ‚ set his 10 traps. Also aboard, his two beagles, Bella and Tallinn.
"Glad to hear they opened it up," Douglass said. "Good day for it."
The state Division of Marine Fisheries decided early Thursday evening to end the closure, effective Friday, after its aerial survey flight during the day detected no North Atlantic right whales in Massachusetts waters.
So, for lobstermen, one hardship down. But the non-pandemic novelty of 2021 will continue.
Lobstermen still must reconcile themselves with new gear regulations concerning the width and strength of their new breakaway lines, as well as the painted identification markets on their buoys and lines.
But for this day, with the sun in full bloom and, finally, some water work to do after too long on terra firma, no one even bothered to complain about it. It would keep.
Contact Sean Horgan at 978-675-2714, or shorgan@gloucestertimes.com. Follow him on Twitter at @SeanGDT
