Chris Rodriques
The Working Waterfront Festival Community Documentation Project
This project documents the history and culture of the commercial fishing industry and other port trades. The project began in 2004 in conjunction with the Working Waterfront Festival, an annual, educational celebration of commercial fishing culture which takes place in New Bedford, MA. Interviewees have included a wide range of individuals connected to the commercial fishing industry and/or other aspects of the port through work or familial ties. While the majority of interviewees are from the port of New Bedford, the project has also documented numerous individuals from other ports around the country. Folklorist and Festival Director Laura Orleans and Community Scholar and Associate Director Kirsten Bendiksen are project leaders. The original recordings reside at the National Council for the Traditional Arts in Maryland with listening copies housed at the Festival's New Bedford office.
On September 27, 2013, Markham Starr interviewed Chris Rodriques as part of the Working Waterfront Festival Community Documentation Project. Chris recalls her childhood in New Bedford, and her experiences as a fish house worker during the 1970s and 1980, working at Golden Eye and other fish processing plants like J.B. Fillet and Kyler. Some fish houses she worked for, like Sea View, Cape Way, Tichon's, Parisi's, Riello's, and MacLean’s, are no longer in existence. She describes various roles she undertook, from trimming fish to packing, weighing, and shipping. Chris offers insights into the challenges and camaraderie within the fish house community, highlighting the predominantly immigrant workforce, especially Cape Verdean and Portuguese women. She also talks about the sense of family and community that developed among coworkers, with company picnics and outings. She discusses the impact of the fish house workers union strike, the resulting changes in the industry, and the eventual decline of the fish houses and union. Chris also reflects on the sense of connection to the ocean and seafood that shaped her life, even after leaving the fish house industry.
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