August 12, 2023 — What is it really like for those considered “Shoreside Support?” You met some of our fishing families in the previous article, Fishing Family Point of View: Regulations and Policies across the Coasts, but what does it take to love a commercial fisherman? My fellow Partners of Commercial Fishermen and I can tell you straight.
Lindsey Hoadley is the owner of the lifestyle brand Mothersun and the Captain, wife to John Hoadley, and mama to two girls, Soleil and Echo. John is a spiny lobsterman, urchin, and sea cucumber fisherman out of Santa Barbara, California. The husband and wife team are currently building their new business, thegoodcaptainco.com.
Their love story began as a decade-long friendship before love, marriage, and John becoming a stepfather to her oldest, Soleil. “When we gave birth (to our second child), we had just bought our lobster permit to start our first lobster season, so we birthed a baby and a new business at the same time,” Lindsey said. “It has been a thrilling ride growing a family and our businesses.”
Challenges of this lifestyle vary from fishery to fishery, and Lindsey can testify. “John’s original fishery is sea urchin, which is WAY different than lobster. So it’s diving vs. trapping, which is not similar in any way, really,” Lindsey said. “I had to talk to my therapist about his line of work because it really scared me that he was underwater all day, every day, out at the islands where there are tons of sharks and weather and current.”