How many fishermen have left the business is difficult to say. Reliable figures are hard to come by. But there were 42,000 fewer commercial boats in 2007 than the 120,000 in 1996, according to the Coast Guard.
"Fishermen don’t want to see their kids on the boats," says Angela Sanfilippo, president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association. "There is no future for them in the business."
The sentiment is similar in other U.S. ports. The nation’s commercial fishermen have been hit by limits on their catches, lower prices for their haul and higher prices for fuel. Combined with a recession and the danger of working in the country’s least-safe industry, the situation is prompting more fishermen, most of whom are small, independent operators, to hang up their nets.
"It’s definitely a watershed moment in the fishing industry," says Jerry Fraser, editor in chief of National Fisherman magazine, which covers the industry.
Almost perversely, the fishermen’s problems come when the time might be ripe to cash in. Nutritional experts are touting the health benefits of seafood, and many consumers are casting a wary eye on the quality of imported fish, which represents more than 80% of the seafood consumed by Americans. There’s also a move during the current recession to buy U.S. products.