Change in the Fishing Industry: A Captain’s Perspective

Andrew Bois, manager of Knuckleheads bar restaurant, credits much of New Bedford’s thriving economy to the success of the commercial fishing industry.

“It’s helped this city, because we have restaurants like ours, gear places, netting places and clothing stores that all the fishermen go to,” Bois said. “It all helps support the economy.”

New Bedford is home to the most lucrative commercial fishing port in the U.S., yet some of the men and women supplying the catch feel oppressed in their community ashore.

With a fleet of 500 vessels, 122 million pounds of product is acquired annually. The $322 million in direct sales contributes to a larger sum of $11.1 billion in the port’s yearly economic value.

The fishing industry in New Bedford supports the jobs of nearly 7,000 people, according to Mayor Jon Mitchell. From engineers to data observers, the people of New Bedford are oriented toward the sea.

Knuckleheads has been named by New Bedford citizens as a “fisherman’s bar.” One frequent patron is Captain Alan Curtis.

“There’s no more fisherman’s bars,” Curtis said. “Knuckleheads — a lot of fishermen go there, but there used to be fisherman’s bars on the waterfront. There was The Harborside, Cultivator and The National Club. Over in Fairhaven, there was The Ferry. There were probably 15 fisherman’s bars around the harbor, and they’re all gone. The Ferry Cafe — they made it into a martini bar. I don’t know too many fishermen drinking martinis.”

Aside from the refurbishment of culture and comfort on land, Curtis believes that the tight-knit New Bedford community he once knew has been severed by personal endeavors. He has lost respect for the way in which people now earn their livelihoods: by who you know and who you are related to.

Curtis fears that the overregulated life on the vessels will never return to the fishing of his day.

“I hate what’s happened to this fleet,” Curtis said. “I hate what it does to the guys — the 20 hours on deck. It’s crazy. Guys are getting hurt all the time. But I’m at the end of my career, and nothing I say is going to change it. I fish my boat out here in front of New Bedford; I just keep to myself now. I don’t know most of the captains or guys anymore. It’s all new, all young.”

To say the least, modern regulations on commercial fishing have been an adjustment for Curtis. On a recent trip, he felt like a criminal in the eye’s of the Coast Guard.

“They came on the boat to do an inspection, and they had their guns out,” Curtis said. “They were treating us like we just robbed a bank, raped a woman and sold some kid drugs. That’s how they treat us. I yelled at one guy and said ‘this boarding stops right now.’ He had some young kid out on deck — 19 years old — holding a 45.”

According to Curtis and other New Bedford fishermen, it isn’t just professionals treating them without respect, it’s locals and tourists too. They are beginning to feel like “out of sight, out of mind second class citizens” in the city they helped prosper.