CAPTAIN JASON SAWYER HAS BEEN SQUID FISHING FOR MORE THAN THIRTY YEARS , BUT THE EFFECTS OF THE CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC FORCED HIM TO CHANGE THE SPECIES HE ’ S TARGETING . BY JAMIE COELHO
When restaurant closures went into effect last spring and dining out options dwindled , the local squid industry suffered . Fishermen went from getting $ 1.50 to only ninety cents a pound for squid . Captain Jason Sawyer , who navigates the F / V Cody and unloads at Handrigan Seafood in Point Judith , which ships to Sea Fresh for processing , had to make the tough decision to temporarily target fluke and scup instead of squid .
“ The virus hit and restaurants were shutting down ,” he says . “ We were going squidding and fish houses didn ’ t know what they were going to pay for the catch . We couldn ’ t ship it overseas or sell it to restaurants . This forced a lot of fishermen to not target squid .”
In fact , the harvest total for 2020 was much lower than the previous year ; the total quota landed in 2020 was 20,434,501 pounds compared to 27,213,341 pounds in 2019 .
Sawyer originally started squidding at age eighteen in 1990 out of Davisville with his cousin , and moved on with him two years later when his cousin captained the Seafarer . Originally from Camden , Maine , Sawyer moved to Rhode Island to harvest squid on a freezer trawler for an average of two weeks at a time . These boats flash-freeze the catch within an hour to keep it fresh .
“ Most of the squid was sent overseas ,” Sawyer says . “ When we were freezing the squid , we didn ’ t have to worry about the product going bad . We could get through the tough days when we didn ’ t catch much and continue to stay out there and harvest .”
Sawyer became a captain in 2013 when he pivoted to pursue fresh squid harvesting . It involves shorter trips where they put the fresh squid on ice without freezing it . “ My first daughter was born the following year and I wanted to be home more and not out at sea for two weeks at a time ,” says the father of two
Captain Jason Sawyer with his boat F / V Cody in Point Judith .
young girls . One trip can last three to six days and haul in up to 20,000 pounds of squid .
On fishing trips , he would trawl up and down the East Coast from the Hague line in Canada ( the boundary between the United States and Canadian territorial waters ) all the way down to North Carolina . In summer , he could do day trips to spawning areas in Nantucket Sound , off Nantucket and Martha ’ s Vineyard . “ Catching squid is pretty tough sometimes ,” Sawyer says . “ We rely on other fishermen to find out where they are catching . There are certain places to check like mini canyons on the continental shelf all up and down the East Coast .”
Once he finds a spot , a net plunges down sixty to 120 fathom deep ( a fathom is six feet ). “ Basically , you ’ re | | CONTINUED ON PAGE 110
RHODE ISLAND MONTHLY l APRIL 2021 39