December 2, 2024 — A cold wind cut across New Bedford harbor as Jim Kendall, a retired scallop boat captain, surveyed the city’s main fishing pier. Many of the boats sat idle, while a few crew members cleaned their decks and repaired equipment.
Kendall remembers how busy these docks used to be years ago, when there were fewer regulations and closures, and fishermen could head out most days of the year.
Now, “if you can fish, say, 60 days a year, you’re doing pretty damn good,” he said.
New Bedford is the most valuable commercial fishing port in the country, landing hundreds of millions of dollars worth of seafood every year. But Kendall said bringing in that haul is getting harder, and the margins tighter. He blames Washington, and specifically the Democratic Party, for the change in fortunes.
“A lot of the Democrats had basically forgotten about the fishing industry or just don’t pay much regard to it,” he said.
As for President-elect Trump, “the fishing industry is really supporting him.”
All across Massachusetts’ South Coast, cities and towns that voted for President Biden in 2020 flipped to Trump’s column in 2024. The former president even came close to winning here in New Bedford, a storied working-class city that overwhelmingly supported Biden just four years ago.
Kendall said he’s surprised Trump didn’t win New Bedford outright, given all the support he sees among the fishermen.