My goal with this documentary series is to bring awareness to the commercial fishing industry on Cape Ann. It’s been the primary industry here for hundreds of years, with many families that have been fishing for generations. It’s a tough business, with considerable challenges on every level, from administrative and regulatory matters to outfitting a fishing vessel and hiring a capable, reliable crew, and getting the fresh fish to market.
Today, quotas and the number of licenses set by federal NOAA regulations each year either boost or deflate the price of fish and the value of a license, making commercial fishing an unpredictable endeavor at best. Fishermen have to continuously adapt to find the balance that makes it worthwhile for them to stay in business. It’s not easy.
I took eight fishing trips during a two- year period aboard a purse- seining vessel fishing for menhaden, a small, oily fish that has many uses, including bait and omega 3 oil. These fish are pelagic schooling fish that migrate inshore during the summer, and offshore in the winter months. Menhaden are a vital link in the food web for fish, marine mammals, and birds.
I photographed the crew in the early summer months, when the fishing permits allow the quota to be harvested. Their days started at 3:00AM, and they would fish until their hold was full. Usually that entailed setting the net four times with a weight of twenty five thousand pounds of fish each set. Then returnimg to port, around 8:00AM, where the catch was unloaded and processed at the wharf. Some days the fish were close to shore, so the fishing vessel didn’t have to go as far or stay out as long. As the season progressed, the fish moved further away and the crew had to go a greater distance to find them.
During my first summer with the crew, I was able to shoot in various locations on the fishing vessel, including the crow’s nest, thirty feet or more above the deck. On deck, there were few places I could safely stand and shoot when work was underway. It was always very wet on board—like the crew, I wore heavy duty waterproof boots, pants, and a jacket, and took care to keep my camera lenses dry. I used several different lenses and, at times, an underwater housing when they were hauling in the nets on the upper block.
During my second season shooting, I took six trips on the vessel. The fish were farther out than they had been the year before; it took about an hour to reach the fishing grounds, heading out in the darkness before dawn, catching the sunrise. This gave me the perfect opportunity to shoot portraits of the crew as they waited to start work.
I’m extremely grateful that I was to be able to go out on the fishing vessel with a crew that embraced my desire to photograph them. On an active fishing vessel, at times it’s very busy, with lots of tension on the nets, and various ways I could have gotten seriously injured. The fishermen trusted me to keep out of the way while they worked, and did what they could to ensure my safety.
I was very fortunate to have two things working in my favor. First, I don’t get seasick; after almost a decade of experience being on fishing vessels in all kinds of weather, I have my sea legs. Second, I have a good friend who knows the captain well.
