Conch bait

A buyer from the local fish wholesaler, Gambardella, speaks up for a larger horseshoe crab catch and a longer season. Located at the Town Dock, the business is a major force in Stonington.  When a Gambardella daughter marries, the whole fleet is in port to celebrate.

“Cut up, horseshoe crab is good bait for conch,” the buyer reminds the DEP representative.  “Right now, we have to buy lots and lots from out of state.  Might as well give our Connecticut boys a chance to earn some money here.”

An environmentalist from the Audubon Society objects to enlarging the size of the catch or extending the length of the season. 

“Shorebirds have evolved to time their migration to the availability of horseshoe crab eggs,” she explains.  These pearly-green eggs are laid in holes, on sandy beaches, then buried.  A single clutch contains thousands of eggs.

One fisherman says in a loud aside, “Birds are birds.  Let them eat bird seed.”

On the other hand, a local shellfish farmer has no objections to a longer crab catch season since horseshoe crabs feed on his thumbnail sized oysters called “spat.”

"Those crabs are attracted to spat like flies to a spill of coke,” he says.  “They’re as bad as rabbits in a carrot patch.”

All this discussion surrounds a creature that predates dinosaurs and will be cut into quarters for conch bait.  But then I remember what Bobby told me about conch.

“As a kid, I used to pick conch off the beach and give them to the old Italians in town.  Now I get $60 a bushel for them.”