Tag Archives: women
Women of New Bedford’s Waterfront
Captain Jessica Walker, 34, first stepped foot on a commercial fishing vessel, which happened to be the Legacy, when she was 19. The college history major was looking for a summer job and this one was far from “potato country”, the place in Northern Maine she called home. She started with summer trips that eventually became full-time work. She worked her way up to mate and learned everything from the boat owner and previous captain, David Wilhelmsen. When he stepped down, Walker assumed the role of captain in the summer of 2013. Further up in the harbor, fishing vessel Reliance was docked earlier in the week for maintenance before departing for the next scalloping trip. Two men with welding helmets sat on the deck repairing the metal gear while Crystal Vaughan stood up in the wheelhouse attending to inventory. 21 photos, >click to read< 10:20
UBC study: Women are key to fisheries, so why don’t they get credit?
Most summer mornings, Jessica Taylor awakens before dawn and puts coffee to boil, the rich steam an alarm clock for her predominantly male crewmates. The Sointula-based, sixth-generation fish harvester’s subtle opening to another day fishing is vital for the crew’s mental well-being and successful catch, yet beyond the boat, it will often go unnoticed in official fisheries data. So will Taylor’s role as a female fisher. That’s a global trend, according to researchers at the University of British Columbia, and one they valued to be at least $7.4 billion ($5.6 billion US) a year globally. The study is the first to estimate the dollar value women contribute to fisheries. >click to read< 11:58
The women behind the sardine factories of Southwest Harbor
“It was guaranteed employment,” Corliss said, “You didn’t need an interview. “And it was really good money back then. If you were a fast packer, you could get more than the [standard] hourly wage. A lot of people would earn money for school clothes in the fall.”,, Sardines are in the herring family. When the fish were schooling, fishing crews would go out and haul in. When boats were out fishing, the factory whistle would blow to let people in town know to get ready to work, Corliss said. more, photo’s, >click to read< 18:05
The Women Doing Canada’s Most Dangerous Job: Fishing
“The first two captains I asked for employment—one was a family friend and the other my uncle—told me no when I asked for a job,” Fleet said. “As I’d never done it before, I didn’t exactly know what the risks and dangers were.” At the time, Fleet knew of only one woman who worked on a lobster boat, out of an estimated 1,500 Grand Manan residents in the industry. The only position she found was available because few others wanted to take it. Notorious for being reckless and hard to work with, the captain had lost two of his crewmen overboard the previous spring, though he was able to retrieve them safely. When she heard Fleet would be working with him, Fleet’s mother cried. >click to read< 21:01
‘Get Off The Boat’ — Women In Commercial Fishing Industry Fight Sexual Harassment
When Robin McAllistar worked in the commercial fishing industry in the 1970s and 1980s, she was often the only woman on the boat. Once, she said she was stuck on a boat with a captain who was constantly drinking. She said he assaulted her in her room, and she had to fight him off. “I mean physically grappling and trying to get through and get out and get away,” she said. “I wasn’t raped, but that was only because I got out.” The next day, she hopped onto another boat to get away. Roughly 15% of commercial fishermen in Alaska are women. >click to read<20:23
More Women Move Into Maine’s Rough And Risky World Of Lobstering
It’s 6 a.m. on a calm morning in Maine’s Rockport Harbor, and Sadie Samuels is loading traps from her pickup truck onto her 28-foot lobster boat. The daughter of a lobsterman, Samuels was born in a nearby hospital and has been on the water here for most of her 25 years. “I’ve been coming out fishing in this harbor since I was born. I came here before I went home from the hospital,” she says. “I had my first student license when I was 7.” Lobstering is physically demanding, dangerous work, and it has traditionally been considered a man’s job. But Maine’s lobster fleet has a growing number of women who, like Samuels, are running their own boats, and busting stereotypes along the way. In 2016, women held 434 of the 5,000-plus lobster licenses in Maine. Audio report, read the story here 19:36
Updated Advice on Eating Fish During Pregnancy
“These findings very consistently demonstrate that among women who consumed more fish during pregnancy — or at least the amounts we’re currently recommending — that there were improvements in children,” Dr. Stephen Ostroff, the F.D.A.’s acting chief scientist. Read more here 15:43
There’s No Crying on a Fishing Boat by Stephanie Boudreau.
My father likes to joke that he comes from a place where “the men are men, and the women are men too”. While my folks moved away from a life on the water, at least during their time with the Armed Forces, I moved towards one. As I was completing my MSc and looking for work, I applied to be a fisheries observer in the North Pacific. Read more here 17:08
