Anthony Nguyen is both Vietnamese and Filipino and works in a managerial accounting role. He has ties to the fishing industry through his current job and his father’s occupation as a scalloper in the industry. Anthony is being interviewed by Genesis Galan on Tuesday, April 16, 2024, at his workplace, NORPEL, a processing center for seafood and other meats used in pet food. In the interview, he discusses his early involvement in the fishing industry during high school and the difficulties he experienced as a result of his father’s decisions.

Carlos Morales came from Guatemala to New Bedford to find work to provide for his family. He shares his experiences in the seafood processing industry and about his job as a fish cutter. We learn about life in Guatemala and his education there, as well as how it set him up for success in aspects of his job. He closes his interview with his aspirations for his kids as well as for his future.

Cape Verdean men have struggled for generations to work in professions, guaranteeing enough income to provide for their families.  They have gained a foothold on New Bedford’s docks unloading and loading foreign ships, particularly because workers on those ships often don’t have passports or papers that allow them to debark from the ship within the United States. Thus, longshoremen up and down the United States seaboard provide those services. Those longshoremen have come to be known to be part of the International Longshoremen’s Union abbreviated as the ILA.

In this interview, DEAM speaks of his evolving relationship with the fishing industry, from growing up with various family members involved in fish processing and delivery (including his father), to working as a truck driver for the fishing industry to finance his college education, eventually leading to his current job as a product manager at a food packaging company.

This is a loving portrait of a single mother who worked extremely hard to provide for her children.  In this interview, Debra Soares describes her mother’s resilient, hardworking nature in the face of long, cold hours working as a fish processor.  She extolls the importance of extended kinship networks, the power of being raised by a village, and the sacrifices that the women in her mother’s generation and the first-generation immigrants from Cape Verde made working in the fish houses.

Eliezer “Eli” Lopez is a retired fish cutter who was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New Bedford as an infant. He dedicated over 40 years of his life to working in the fishing industry in New Bedford. In his interview, he mentions the different fish houses he worked for and the people he worked with. Eli also describes the culture of the time, and his experience with alcohol and substance abuse, and shares his personal journey towards spirituality, highlighting challenges and lessons learned.

In this interview, Francisco Cardoso speaks about growing up in Cape Verde, immigrating to the U.S., and working first as a boat painter and later as a Hydraulics and Control Lead for Atlantic Shellfish Inc. Francisco discusses the economic pull factors that led him to the U.S. as well as the ways he takes pride in his Cape Verdean heritage. He discusses the challenges of learning a new language and how the ethnic and linguistic diversity and mentorship of his co-workers in the commercial fishing industry helped him acclimate to life in the U.S.

In this interview, Francisco “Chiquinho” Almeida describes his journey from Cape Verde to Portugal to the United States and the many jobs he held before becoming a scalloper. He describes the role of language in the commercial fishing industry and how regulations have affected him and the commercial fishing industry at large.

Giao Van Dang was a scalloper who left his homeland of Vietnam as a part of the boat exodus after the Vietnam War. Like the other refugees in the boat, Giao fled the country with the hopes of finding better opportunities. Through hard work and determination, Giao was able to carve out a life for himself in America, returning to the ocean that he loved. Giao is currently happily retired and still stays connected to the ocean.

Cape Verdean men have struggled for generations to work in professions, guaranteeing enough income to provide for their families.  They have gained a foothold on New Bedford’s docks unloading and loading foreign ships, particularly because workers on those ships often don’t have passports or papers that allow them to debark from the ship within the United States. Thus, longshoremen up and down the United States seaboard provide those services.  Many of these longshoremen are part of the International Longshoremen’s Union, abbreviated as the ILA.