The New Bedford Working Waterfront Festival will be held on Saturday, September 27 from 11:00 am to 6:00 pm, and on Sunday, September 28 from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at Fisherman's Wharf/Pier 3 – Steamship Pier in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
September 1, 2014 — The following is an excerpt from a story originally published August 28 in the South Coast Business Bulletin:
The trials and tribulations of contemporary commercial fishermen are well known in seaports throughout New England, but while their futures appear bleak in the eyes of some, there are others who dispute that notion.
Competition from foreign fleets, perceived depletion of fish stocks, environmental concerns and government regulations head the list of major issues confronted by fishermen everywhere in the world today and perhaps dampen the enthusiasm for fishing as a career.
Many fear the rich tradition of "inter-generational fishing" – the once-common trend of fishermen spawning fishermen from their offspring – is nearing the point of extinction.
That is the sentiment of Tom Williams of Point Judith, R.I., who has been fishing commercially since 1967. Williams is today a self-described "shore captain" who owns two commercial fishing craft – operated by his two college-educated sons – out of Point Judith and Stonington, Conn.
"I can't remember conditions for fishermen being this bad," Williams said. "Until attitudes about the fishing industry change, I think we're doomed to failure. I don't see how this industry can survive."
Williams said his family business focuses on harvesting groundfish off the shores of Rhode Island and Connecticut and his sons have worked full-time for him for more than two decades. He is an unabashed critic of regulations proposed by environmentalists and enacted by the federal government restricting catches by commercial fishermen to allow fishing stocks to recover.
"There are plenty of fish in the ocean today," Williams said. "There were times in the past when the resource was abused, but we saw the errors of our ways and worked with the government to correct them. However, the government has gone too far in not letting us catch what we can catch."
Williams's solution to the industry's woes is two-fold.
"First, we have to change how scientific data is gleaned about ground fisheries and allow input from fishermen into their management," he said. "Secondly, the perception of fishermen and what we do must change.
"We're not raping the oceans. We are small, independent businessmen who do not destroy, but instead maintain a resource and a great source of food protein."
Read the full story at the South Coast Business Bulletin