Even avid fishing fans may have trouble placing the commercial fishing technique known as “trap fishing.” Though once widespread, trap fishing, in which a series of underwater nets — some as long as 2,000 feet — is used to funnel fish toward a boat, is fast disappearing as federal fishing quotas and dwindling commercial fish stocks take their toll.
Yet as photographer Markham Starr discovered a few years ago, trap fishing is still practiced by a handful of commercial fishermen, including some in Rhode Island.
In 2008, Starr, who’s based in North Stonington, Conn., spent several weeks photographing the last of this proud seafaring breed. Now, his photographs have been turned into an exhibit, “In History’s Wake: The Last Trap Fishermen of Rhode Island,” at the South County Museum in Narragansett.
The show, which runs through the end of August, is part of “100 Years, 100 Communities,” a local history initiative sponsored by the regional preservation group Historic New England.
Read the complete article from The Providence Journal.