Whatever Floats Your Boat: The Fishing Superstitions Still Alive Today

While very few fishermen will admit to being superstitious, fishing culture in New Bedford is rife with superstitions and rituals. 

Women are not allowed on a boat before it leaves on a trip, according to Chris Wright. If women do come aboard, they are supposed to pee on the deck to get rid of the deck. 

“I don’t believe in all that stuff, but I won’t let my wife and daughter on my boat right now,” Wright said, pointing to a few of his crew members coiling ropes and organizing the deck in preparation for their next fishing trip. 

Another thing that is not allowed on a boat: bananas. 

Jessica Walker, the captain of the Legacy, did not know this rule when she first started scalloping.

“Guys would come up to me and take the banana I was eating,” Walker said. “No one ever really told me why. I just wasn’t supposed to eat them during the trip.”

This rule started when European nations were exporting bananas from their colonies. Insects—small gnats or massive tarantulas, depending on who is telling the story—would crawl into the bunches of bananas, stowing away on the boat only to reappear mid-trip to bite the crew.  

“Once, in the middle of a fishing trip, the first mate heard this story on the radio, and freaked out,” Tyler Miranda said. “He ran around, collecting all the bananas on the boat before throwing them overboard to be safe.”  

Garrett Thorpjorn had never heard of the banana rule, but there were two rules he lives by when he is on the water—don’t watch the movie The Perfect Storm before leaving, and if a seagull poops on you, it is good luck.