September 29, 2025 — The wind howled as Sonia Brito, clad in a white hard hat and yellow vest, looked out at scallopers, lobster boats, and trawlers crowding the waterfront of New England’s premier fishing port.
Not long ago, the fishing fleet was one of the few sources of good-paying jobs in New Bedford for blue-collar workers such as Brito. But here at the top of a white, 250-foot pillar, Brito had found a different way to earn a living as a millwright: connecting massive blades and tower sections for wind farms off the coast of Massachusetts.
“For kids like myself who went to a vocational school, this is a perfect industry that the United States needs,” said Brito, 22, of New Bedford. “All we really have here is fishing, so you either become a fisherman or leave. This gives people another option.”