Nicole Saunders
Young Fishermen in the Northeast United States
Interviews with 39 fishers between the ages of 18-35, located along the US East Coast from Maine to North Carolina. Collectively, they represent a wide variety of gear types and fisheries. All had been fishing full-time for at least two years and wanted to make fishing their career. They describe motivations for choosing a fishing career, strategies used, barriers encountered, and facilitating factors that have enabled interviewees to defy the graying trend to become successful fishermen.
Please visit the Voices SoundCloud page to explore clips and stories that relate to this collection.
Sarah Schumann
Nicole Saunders, 20 years old at the time of the interview, oysters and charter fishes with her father in Weems, VA. With the exception of a semester of college, which didn't captivate her attention, Nicole has spent her entire life around the water. Nicole's family has a long history in the waterman profession, with her dad and his grandfather being watermen.
Scope and Content Note
In her interivew, Nicole talks about how she obtained her waterman's card and oyster license, the various ways that she and her dad harvest oysters (hand scrape, dredge, and patent tongs), and trends in the Chesapeake Bay oyster population. She explains the different gear types used in oystering and the restrictions placed on the watermen.
There are few watermen in her generation, Nicole says: "All my friends are either in college or doing other jobs. I don’t know anybody my age... [I]t’s a family thing, and that’s the problem. Nobody wants to step up and fill daddy and granddaddy’s shoes. Everybody wants to go off and do something else, because this is hard work and they can go do something else. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with going to college and getting a high-paying job indoors and all, but there’s got to be something. You’re not given an option. You either learn it from your family or not at all."
Please Note: The oral histories in this collection are protected by copyright and have been created for educational, research and personal use as described by the Fair Use Doctrine in the U.S. Copyright law. Please reach out Voices@noaa.gov to let us know how these interviews are being used in your research, project, exhibit, etc. The Voices staff can help provide other useful resources related to your inquiry.
The NOAA mission is to understand and predict changes in climate, weather, oceans, and coasts, to share that knowledge and information with others, and to conserve and manage coastal and marine ecosystems and resources. The Voices Oral History Archives offers public access to a wide range of accounts, including historical materials that are products of their particular times, and may contain offensive language or negative stereotypes.
Voices Oral History Archives does not verify the accuracy of materials submitted to us. The opinions expressed in the interviews are those of the interviewee only. The interviews here have been made available to the public only after the interviewer has confirmed that they have obtained consent.