Sam Parisi invites “Good Morning America” to Bring America Back to Gloucester and New England!

Bore Head, Need a favor ,trying to reach out to Good Morning America,,,

I always like getting emails from Sam Parisi, because he is always interested in looking for ways to engage with people on fishery issues, and sometimes we’ve been able to help him do that. This time, he mentioned a Good Morning America video about his family’s fishing vessel, recorded about thirty years ago, or so, and asked if we could find it. I couldn’t! He found it and sent it to me.

GMA did a nice little story about Captain Joe Piscatello, and his family, the people of the Fishing Vessel American Eagle, which is Sam’s family, and their story of choices that found the vessel sold and converted into a wind jammer, sometime around 1986.

Gloucester Fisherman Story – >click to watch<

Sam would like to invite Good Morning America back to town to do an update on the family, and on the fishing industry in Gloucester.

I stumbled onto a different GMA venue, Good Morning America in Gloucester, May 13, 1992, and it was shot on the day the NEFMC was cutting days at sea for conservation. There was quite a crowd watching the filming of interviews that day, that included Joe Brancaleone, Joe Testaverde, Angela Sanfillippo, and Lena Novello, an original Gloucester Fishermans Wife Association founder who were more than the wives, but were the grass roots lobbyists for the Gloucester fleet. There were also many other notable speakers.

I started looking at the video, and the listening to the issues brought up during that time period which were similar today on so many levels, including shortages of fish, and interaction with whales. The irony of the whale discussion was that the first whale to die at the hands of the Pilgrims was a North Atlantic Right Whale! Whales have been an issue for a very long time here.

Pollution was an issue also discussed, and it was interesting listening to John Prescott of the New England Aquarium. He told us that the biggest pollution problem is people, and our need to dump our waste into the sea. Effluent, human waste, and dumping. “There are chemicals going into the water all the time”. Its certainly worth a listen.

Under the circumstances of the issues that continue to cause stress and uncertainty for New England fishermen, lobstermen, and their support infrastructure, perhaps it is would be a good time to get Good Morning America to come back to New England.