Matthew Peabody, 30 years old at the time of the interview, is a scallop boat captain out of Newport News, VA. He's the fourth generation in his family to work on the water. Matthew's family sold their fleet of scallop boats to Blue Harvest, a company that has expanded into a larger fleet. He now operates two scallop boats for that company, the Blue Canyon and the Blue Cove.

Scope and Content Note

In this interview, Matthew Peabody discusses his life and experiences as a commercial fisherman. He shares how the fishing industry has evolved, especially with regard to regulations that were put in place to prevent overfishing and protect the fishery.  Matthew mentions that the fishery is now more limited in terms of days, which makes it harder for newcomers to gain experience, and emphasizes the importance of hands-on learning and working with experienced crew members. He discusses how the fishing community is well-connected, despite being spread out along the coast, and emphasizes the camaraderie and social networks that form among fishermen.

He says that his family lineage helped pave the way for a career that he values and enjoys: “First time I went as boat captain, I was twenty-three. Started running mate at twenty. It’s been real good to me... My dad’s done maintenance on the whole fleet, so he had a lot to teach. I would just stick around and watch. With eight boats, you see all kinds of different breakdowns and how to fix things. I don’t know, that just kind of opened the door to an earlier career running boats…. This has been really good to me so far. Got lucky. Got real lucky. Not everybody can get that lucky. Usually it takes people a lot more years than what it took for me. I got my foot in the door early.”