BoatBanter.com - View Single Post

Harryk

On 12/30/10 11:46 AM, wrote:
On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 22:34:06 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 29 Dec 2010 18:55:18 -0800 (PST),
wrote:

I'm having a hard
time either realizing or at least figureing out how 'tens of
thousands' of jobs were lost in the fishing industry in the bay
area....

The Chesapeake is a vast body of water with many bays, tributaries and
neighboring towns. Also bear in mind that there is more to the
commercial fishing industry than the guys who go out in boats. For
every man on a boat there are probably 2 or 3 more working shoreside
in some capacity or other. Just for the sake of discussion lets
assume that there are at least 100 towns that border the Chesapeake,
and that every town had at least 100 people involved in the industry.
That works out to 10,000 jobs, and I have no doubt that the
assumptions are on the low side for both towns and people.

I suppose it depends on how you define "fishing industry" but if you
include the people who serve the recreational fishing industry
(guides, bait shops etc) it is a conservative estimate but some of
that is also the economy. There are fewer people who have several
hundred bucks for a charter.

I have been away from it for a while but my mother's family were all
watermen (and water women) living on an island on the southern bay
since colonial times. That was tonging oysters in the winter, crabs in
the summer and fish all year long. Their business was already in
decline by the 70s and most were moving away or getting into the
charter business.

A goodly percentage of those who work at boat dealerships are there
because of the commercial and recreational fishing industry.