BACKSPACE: Towing a dory to herring grounds in Stonington

FIRM HAND ON THE TILLER—A father and son head out for herring fishing off Stonington. Photo by Jeff Dworsky/Penobscot Marine Museum.

Feb. 10, 2026

Young Justin Boyce does not seem completely convinced a photographer should have been invited along while he and his father, Jeff Boyce, tow a line of dories to their herring fishing grounds in this photo taken around 1980.

Herring fishermen once staked out their claims by anchoring a dory in the cove where they planned to fish the next day. But since this photo was taken more than 40 years ago, Atlantic herring populations, not to be confused with the river herring called alewives, have plummeted. The Atlantic herring decline led to a severe bait crisis in 2019. However, at least until the time the Penobscot Marine Museum received this collection of Kodachrome slides from Stonington resident and photographer Jeff Dworsky in 2016, the Boyces were still fishing.

–Written by Matt Wheeler, Digital Collections Curator, Penobscot Marine Museum

“BACKSPACE” is a partnership between the Penobscot Marine Museum in Searsport and The Rising Tide that showcases the unique coastal and maritime history of our towns in and around the Blue Hill Peninsula. This feature, pulled from the museum’s extensive photographic archives and associated records, will appear monthly in The Rising Tide. For more information about the Penobscot Marine Museum, please visit their website.