May 5, 2026 — I’m a field scientist for the Cooperative Research Branch and come from a long line of Gloucester fishermen, although no one in my immediate family took up the trade. My favorite aspect of my job is working collaboratively with fishermen. My second favorite thing is listening to their stories.
I’ve sailed often aboard the F/V Miss Trish II to update the conversion factors for groundfish species. On my most recent trip, I asked the crew, “How did you start out fishing and what keeps you coming back time and time again?” Here’s what they had to say.
Lenny, Captain
Lenny Russo is the captain of the F/V Miss Trish II out of Gloucester, Massachusetts. It’s a family owned and operated vessel—a rarity among large commercial trawlers these days. His very first trip was during the summer when he was just 13 years old. At the time, his father was harder on him because he was his kid and he didn’t want the rest of the crew to think he was getting special treatment. After completing a construction management associates degree, a recession led him to take up fishing on the family boat. In his first trip he made $5,000 in 5 days and never looked back. For a young 22 year old, that was a lot of money, especially when jobs out of college were only offering him $30,000 a year. But, fishing isn’t always a lucrative business. During his second year he brought home far less than the first. It made him realize you have to really save for those rainy days or years due to the inconsistency of fishing.
After 7 years in the fish hold he was ready for more and left to become first mate aboard the F/V Theresa Marie IV out of Portland, Maine. He ended up in Alaska for a year as a deckhand where he bought a boat and permit for the salmon fishery there. During the off season, he came back East. He first worked out of Boston, Massachusetts, and later captained the F/V Harmony out of New Bedford, Massachusetts, for a few years.
“I wanted to learn from a bunch of people. In Gloucester, we do it differently than people in Boston and they do it differently from the Mainers.”
Since his father’s retirement, Lenny now captains the family boat full time. After many years of doing the grunt work, his favorite aspect of being captain is being able to wear his flip flops in the dead of winter.