N.H. commercial fishing needs new people to survive
PORTSMOUTH, N.H. — Nicole Fel’Dotto says the ocean saved her life.
Faced with bullying so bad that she skipped her high school graduation, Fel’Dotto took refuge out on the water. She began working on a tour boat in Rye and quickly fell in love with lobstering.
Now, at 29, she’s working to start her own fishing business, but it’s an uphill battle, even as fishing experts acknowledge the industry desperately needs new blood.
Traditionally, a fishing boat and business would be handed down within a family, but this kind of succession rarely happens anymore. That’s led to a “graying of the fleet,” and now the average lobster captain in New England is over 55 years old, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
“I saw more and more veteran captains retiring and no one locally was buying their boat and taking over their business,” said Andrea Tomlinson, the founder of the New England Young Fishermen’s Alliance, a nonprofit aimed at recruiting the next generation of fishermen.
If inheriting a family business isn’t an option, then startup costs are steep. Tomlinson said a used boat for commercial ground fishing runs anywhere from $150,000 to $350,000. The kind of permit an owner-operator needs starts at around $100,000, while a permit to catch more fish can cost $250,000.
Tomlinson said there were 118 ground fishermen who were registered in New Hampshire in 2000, but by 2020, the number had dropped to 18, only three of whom are actively fishing for groundfish, such as cod and haddock, which live near the ocean floor.
Last year, Tomlinson’s organization started a program to teach young people the business skills they need to succeed in the fishing industry. Those who complete the Deckhand to Captain Training Program receive a $5,000 stipend to help start their new business. Four fishermen graduated from the program last year, and six more are currently enrolled.
Fel’Dotto is among them. Although she was immediately drawn to the ocean, getting a job in commercial fishing was a challenge. Fel’Dotto said she struggled to get male lobstermen to take her seriously.
“When I first started working in the harbor, they used to call me Barbie all the time,” she said. “Being a woman in this industry is really, really hard.”
She said some captains would hire her because they wanted to date her, and when they found out she already had a boyfriend they would leave her gear on the dock and end her employment.
Being treated differently made her want to get a boat of her own, where she could be the boss. And during COVID she bought a boat with her partner, Charlie Clews. But Fel’Dotto said she still has a lot to learn about running her own business.
“We were not ready at all to own our own business because I fished, but I’ve never done the business side,” she said. “I didn’t have a business plan.”
While New Hampshire only has 18 miles of coastline, fishing is a big business.
NOAA’s most recent data is from 2020, when the fishing industry generated around $700 million in sales across roughly 5,000 jobs. That includes the sale of imported fish, so it’s not all coming from New Hampshire waters. Around $137 million worth of sales were from New Hampshire fish, accounting for around 2,000 jobs.
There are 741 commercial harvesters, 170 seafood processors and dealers, 66 seafood wholesalers and distributors, and 1,057 people employed in retail. Around 1,360 people work in importing seafood from elsewhere into the state.
Most revenue came from lobster, which generated over $26 million in sales, a significant decline from 2019 when it generated $36 million in sales.
Anthony Smith, 49, is another student enrolled in Tomlinson’s training program. He hopes to start his own fishing business.
“They have to let new people in,” he said. “I want to be able to earn my living on the ocean for myself.”
Smith started working as a commercial fisherman in 1997 on other people’s boats. He worked on big boats, ranging from 100 to 180 feet, that would go out to sea for up to a month at a time.
But in 2011, he got caught in a winch, and couldn’t work on a boat again until 2018. But, he said, the danger doesn’t deter him.
He said being at sea provides peace of mind. “The ocean’s calming, and even though there’s no scenery, there’s plenty of scenery without the obstructions of trees, land, cars, buildings, all of that,” he said. “You get to look at the ocean and the skyline and the clouds and the sunrise and the sunset and moonrise and moonset.
“It’s the best job in the world,” he said.