August 17, 2017 — To Angela Sanfilippo, the glass is never half empty. Or half full. To Sanfillippo, the glass is always full. As president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association for the past 40 years, her unbounded optimism and energy has lit the way through the most troubled waters ever seen by the fishing industry of Gloucester and all of New England.
In 2012, during some of the darkest of those very dark days, she told a local audience, “We have 250 boats in our harbor and 198 of them are commercial fishing boats … and just last year when everyone thought the fishing industry was dead, what they brought into this port, into dock, was $60 million … people want us to think that the fishing industry is dead … the fishing industry is not dead.”
The feisty Sanfilippo — who noted in the same speech that Gloucester is the city of “Captains Courageous” — is widely considered to be the region’s most effective long-term advocate for commercial fishermen, and for this she will be honored at a dinner on Thursday, Aug. 24, at the Mile Marker One Restaurant & Bar.
The gala benefit, billed as the Sea to Supper Celebration, is one of three gala fundraisers commemorating the 20th anniversary of Fishing Partnership Support Services, a nonprofit Sanfilippo helped found in the late 1990s and on whose board she still serves.