Toby Lees
The Working Waterfront Festival Community Documentation Project
The Working Waterfront Festival Community Documentation Project is an ongoing oral history project documenting the history and culture of the commercial fishing industry and other port trades. The project was begun in 2004 in conjunction with the Working Waterfront Festival, an annual, education 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/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.
Tove E. Bendiksen
Toby Lees is a fisherman from New Bedford, Massachusetts. He was born in 1951 in Worcester, Massachusetts, but his family has ancestry in New Bedford dating back to the whaling days. He started fishing in 1970 after being placed on a boat as part of his Commercial Fisheries and Marine Technology course at the University of Rhode Island. Lees has been a full-time fisherman since graduating in 1971. He has a young family with two daughters and a wife.
Scope and Content Note
Toby talks about the expenses of fishing and the technology used today compared to when he first started, as well as his experience with hurricanes and the impacts of the job on his family. Lees also discusses working his way up in the industry and the different positions on a boat. He mentions his record catch in 1984 and gives advice for someone starting out in the industry. Lees traces changes in fishing technology and its evolution over time, such as fishing nets and how they have evolved from cotton and sisal nets to stronger synthetic materials. The fishing boats now use hydraulic drums and remote controls, and they have computers, emailers, boat track devices, satellite radios, and even internet connections through satellite telephones. They use this technology to access weather and map information, track fish prices on government websites, and follow fish auctions in different regions. Lees feels the new technology is for the better but sometimes too much information can be an interference. He also mentions that there is still a lot of educational guessing involved in finding fish and that it takes a cumulative knowledge that is handed down through generations. He says fishermen have a feel for where to catch a certain type of fish and that they watch for hurricanes and other severe weather. Lees recalls getting caught in the Blizzard of '78, which was severe and unexpected, and how they rode it out on an old wooden side trawler. Lees discusses his crew and explains that he has a crew with different specialties and balances tasks accordingly. He also talks about how net-mending has changed due to new materials that are lighter and stronger. Lees mentions that the size of his net has increased due to technological advancements and the need for efficiency. When asked about the romance of fishing, the captain explains that it's more about the living than the romanticized view from the outside. Fishing is the only job that Lees has had. He admits that the job is hard, but he will keep doing it as long as he can. When he is away fishing, he communicates with his family via email. He takes a month off in May to do repairs on the boat. He says that the pay scale is tough because he has to make enough money for the boat and the crew, or he won't get any good help.
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