Russ Bowles, first mate on the Serena, a fishing vessel out of Stonington, CT, works on nets before the ship takes off in the middle of the night for a day of trawling.

Russ Bowles, first mate of the Serena, sits at breakfast after yet another overnight fishing trip. After the continued decline of the Stonington fishing fleet, leaving him making less money every year, Bowles, who had waited for five years for a moratorium on captains' licenses to be lifted by the National Marine Fisheries Council so he could captain his own vessel finally gave up and quit the fishing industry.

Russ Bowles has a smoke before taking one of his last fishing trips.

Russ Bowles unloads dogfish that will be sold to make fish and chips from the Serena. The vessel changes the species it fishes for based on quotas set by the National Marine Fisheries Council. As the region's quote for a more valuable species is met, and regulators force fishermen to quit bringing them to market, fishermen pursue the next most-valuable species. Dogfish are low on that list.

Harbor porpoises that died in a stranding event.

Vivian Volovar, who comes from a lobster fishing family, believes the cure for the collapse of Long Island Sound's lobster stock is using traditional fishing techniques and gear, like wooden traps, which will eventually fall apart on the sea floor when they are lost, as opposed to modern, wire lobster traps that continue to kill lobsters when they are lost.

Fishermen in the Courtroom

The Serena, a trawler our of Stonington, CT, heads into port at dawn after a trip trawling for fluke.

Al Madiera,right, captain of the Serena, and Russ Bowles, his mate, sort through skates on the deck of the vessel after the region's fishery reached its quota for fluke and flounder and other more valuable species, forcing the fisherman to work overnights to fish for skates that they could sell as lobster bait.

Russ Bowles mops his face after finishing a night fishing for skates.

Oyster Bisque at a Stonington, CT restaurant.

Staccato, one of the last few hundred northern right whales, was killed by a boat strike off the coast of Massachusetts. The whale was buried in manure by a researcher in Amherst, MA to clean the bones and prepare them for reconstruction.

Pricey condominiums in the once sleepy fishing village of Stonington, CT are displacing the fishermen.

After injuring his hand on his boat and bandaging it, Al Madiera, captain of the Serena, a fishing vessel in Stonington, CT, headed to Massachusetts to a National Marine Fisheries Council meeting, where he got more bad new. Quotas for fluke were being lowered again, pushing him that much closer to going out of business.

A lobster caught by Nick Crismale, president of the Long Island Sound Lobstermen's Association. The lobster stocks in Long Island Sound collapsed around the turn of the millenium. Scientists suspect many causes, including pesticides sprayed to kill mosquitos causing outbreaks of West Nile Virus, pollution from New York City, and overfishing.

A party boat on Long Island Sound has 96 fishermen holding fishing rods off the sides, making the vessel look more like a porcupine than a fishing boat.

Fishermen at a New England Fisheries Council Meeting react as new quotas are announced that will put many of them out of business.