Who Fishes Matters!

The Northwest Atlantic Marine Alliance (NAMA) has hit the road in New England. The Who Fishes Matters Tour aims to unite fisherfolk to create policies that will “lead toward a healthier ocean, working waterfronts and a thriving food system.” 

Why is this tour important? Niaz Dorry, the Executive Director of NAMA, says we need to protect small-scale fishing in order to ensure fair jobs, good health, strong communities, and sustainable environments.:

“We believe there is a direct link between who fishes and the health of our ocean, marine ecosystem and commercial fisheries. Fisheries managers and policy makers are deciding on the rate and limits to consolidation and accumulation of fishing power within the fishing industry. Considering fishing is done to feed our food systems, we need to apply lessons learned from what happened when consolidation and accumulation of power happened to farmers who bring our land based foods to our table. In the end we realized that who farms matters to the health of our food, biodiversity, economies and communities.”

Shannon Eldridge of Chatham, MA tells her story:

Check out more testimonial videos by fisherfolk here.

Candice Comisi