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Commercial Fisheries News
Volume 33 Number 3
November 2005
Fishing industry volunteers host thousands at New Bedford event
NEW BEDFORD, MA - Curious to find out how the fishing industry works, the public came out in force Sept. 23-25 for New Bedford’s second annual Working Waterfront Festival.
Based on food sales, organizers estimated attendance during the two-and-a-half-day free event at around 15,000, nearly 3,000 more than in 2004.
With spectacular clear, warm, and breezy weather making it a perfect time to visit the waterfront, the New Bedford-area fishing fleet put its best foot forward, with dozens of scallopers, draggers, and clam boats lining Fishermen’s Wharf and Steamship Pier.
View CFN November issue photos here
Visitors were welcomed aboard a number of boats for tours, and boat owners, captains, and crewmen were on hand to explain the gear and fishing practices. In fact, more than 200 industry people served as volunteers to keep the festival running smoothly.
Other events included dozens of music, dance, and spoken word performances. There were a number of panel discussions, including one moderated by local author Astrid Tollefsen on the role of Norwegian immigrants in the New Bedford fishing community.
History was a strong theme of the event. According to festival Director Laura Orleans, volunteers tape-recorded all the panel discussions and 19 oral history interviews with members of the commercial fishing industry.
“Combined with the recordings from the first festival, these will become part of a public archive,” Orleans said. “We eventually hope to use these recordings to create radio programs, publications, and other products to continue to share the history and culture of the commercial fishing industry.”
Contest winners
Safety was the focus of this year’s festival and there were man overboard and helicopter search and rescue demonstrations and contests to judge the skills of those who work on the water.
The contest winners were:
• Scallop shucking – Shawn Machie of the Ilha Brava, who shucked 100 scallops in 4 minutes, 34 seconds;
• Survival suit donning (Saturday) – David Doleman of the University of Connecticut’s Ocean Technology Foundation, 27 seconds;
• Survival suit donning (Sunday) – Mike Shaw of the Ocean Technology Foundation, 18 seconds;
• Scallop dredge link squeezing – Chris Wright of the Harvester and Ronald Shrader of the Tradition;
• Net mending – Steven Wright of the Donny C; and
• Fish Filleting – Adozindo Caldas of Kyler Seafood.
Orleans said festival organizers welcome anyone interested in discussing future plans for the Working Waterfront Festival to join them. For more information, call (508) 993-8894, e-mail <info@workingwaterfrontfestival.org>, or visit the festival web site at <www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org>. /cfn/
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