Gus Lovgren, 33 years old at the time of the interview, is a captain and crewmember on the F/V Kailey Ann in Point Pleasant, NJ. Gus is the fourth generation in his family to fish East Coast waters, but maybe not the last: his five-year-old daughter has dreams of carrying on the family legacy, someday.

Scope and Content Note

Patrick Fehily, 29 years old at the time of the interview, owns and manages several lobster, gillnet, and scallop boats in Point Pleasant, NJ. Pat did not grow up in a fishing family, but after working as a lobsterboat deckhand in high school and failing to light his spark at college, he decided that fishing was the life for him.

Jake Eaton, 26 years old at the time of the interview, works as his father-in-law's sternman on the F/V Last Penny and operator of a lobster skiff, the F/V Eyesore in Portsmouth, NH. He comes from a long line of fishing families in Downeast Maine, and he finds it fulfilling to continue the family tradition. He grew up in Seacoast New Hampshire and went to high school in Dover. His father and grandfather were involved in fishing, with his grandfather being a lobsterman.

Peyton Mason, 23 years old at the time of his interivew, is an oyster and crab fisherman in Deep Creek, VA. Peyton didn't grow up fishing, but fell in love with it in 8th grade after watching other fishermen come in with their catch. It was not long before he obtained a waterman license, began harvesting oysters and crabs, and eventually built his way up to owning the F/V Emilie Virginia, a Chesapeake deadrise. But his ambitions don't stop there; Peyton has done stints on shrimping and scalloping boats to get exposure to fisheries in other areas, too.

Jake Griffin, 27 years old at the time of the interview, is a North Carolina fisherman specializing in niche fisheries such as shark fishing and the haul seine fishery (a traditional method of fishing from the beach with a skiff and a truck). Located at an ecological boundary, he targets various populations of sharks as they migrate down from the North and up from the South throughout the year. Jake's biggest worry is that public misunderstanding about the shark fishery will lead to management measures that shut him out of the fisheries he has invested in.

Scott Wivell, age 29 at the time of his interview, is a waterman in Cape Charles, VA. Scott grew up fishing with his father and is now the owner-operator of the F/V Lady Lynnae, which he uses for gillnettting, crabbing and oystering. Scott markets some of his own catch and thinks about having a retail market someday.

Scope and Content Note

James Leonard, 34 years old at the time of the interview, is the owner-operator of the F/V Briana James, an inshore dragger in Point Judith, RI. James comes from a fishing family and spent his twenties working on large offshore freezer vessels to save money. Then, with indispensable moral support from his wife and the boat-building expertise of his extended family, he brought a boat down from Nova Scotia and spent over a year rebuilding it for dragging in Rhode Island.

Scope and Content Note

Shana Kuhse, 24 years old at the time of the interview, is a deckhand and captain in Stonington, CT, where she mostly works on a lobster and conch boat but also fills in on draggers in the wintertime. Shana got her start in fishing as a bait stringer in high school, then worked her way into a crew job and now runs the boat part of the time. Shana hopes that participating in interviews like this one will help show the public and policy makers that the fishing industry is diverse and strongly committed to its future.

James Reilly, 33 years old at the time of the interview, is a captain of a clam vessel based out of Oceanside, NY and Atlantic City, NJ. James grew up on Long Island as the son of a fisherman, and despite discouragement from his mother, he wound up working as crew for his father and then taking over his father's captain job when his father retired. He operates the fishing vessel Ocean Girl, targeting surf clams and ocean quahogs with hydraulic dredges. 

Shawn Goulart, 35 years old at the time of the interview, is a captain and deckhand based in Gloucester, MA. Shawn got into recreational fishing as a hobby in his early teens, and then quickly transitioned to commercial fishing, at a time when opportunities were plentiful in Gloucester. Since that time, he has seen the local groundfish fleet shrink, forcing him to spend months away each year fishing out of other East Coast ports to support his two young daughters.