October 9, 2014 — Dominic Nicastro, 64, a father of three and grandfather of five, was a lifelong fisherman when fishing vessels numbered into the hundreds and landed millions of pounds of fish here daily.
Jay VanDerpool, 47, a father of two, continues to make his living from the sea as a Rockport lobsterman.
Three Giacalone brothers run a seafood business at Fisherman’s Wharf on the Inner Harbor.
These men are among the 154 faces portrayed in 71 photographs featured in the new exhibition”Portraits of a Working Waterfront” at the Cape Ann Museum. The show was designed to illustrate the maritime web of relationships that exist in Gloucester, the nation’s oldest seaport. Generations of Cape Ann families have made their living with jobs connected to the ocean and the aquatic chain of jobs continues to evolve into the 21st century as the fishing industry responds to ever-changing government regulations and the resulting economic fallout.
The portraits represent the fishermen who work offshore and those who work at the businesses onshore, as well as their wives, children and a host of others in between whose livelihood depends on the fishermen’s success at sea. Although fishing tends to be a male-dominated industry, several women are front and center, including Viking Gustafson of the Gloucester Marine Railways, and Ann Molloy of the family-run Neptune’s Harvest, a fish fertilizer producer.
The show opens Saturday at the museum, which went beyond its usual parameters to reach out to a segment of the community who may not see themselves aligned with the city’s cultural anchor.
Read the full story from The Gloucester Daily Times
Read more about the exhibition at the Cape Ann Museum