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Come aboard a fishing boat with Paste BN

Nicole Fallert   Paste BN

It never occurred to Trevor Hughes that he might get seasick while standing on a fishing boat for a Paste BN reporting trip. In June, Hughes joined a vessel taking off from Kodiak Island in Alaska, where the water can be very rough. Knowing how important it was to begin fishing the moment the season began, Hughes ran from his flight to the fishing boat right away. But once he was on board, the noxious feeling couldn't be ignored.

He was sick the whole first day, taking notes in between bouts of illness. The strong waves, relentless hours of physical work, the smell of bait: He learned quickly what it means to be a fisher in America today. The toiling work offers little immediate reward and has been complicated by a convergence of political, economic and climate-driven challenges.

👋 Nicole Fallert here and welcome to Your Week, our newsletter exclusively for Paste BN subscribers (that's you!). This week, we talk with Hughes about his exclusive series for Paste BN, with support from the Pulitzer Center, telling the stories of four fishers from around the United States. 

But first, don't miss these stories made possible by your Paste BN subscription (and keep scrolling for more must-reads from our newsroom):

A firsthand look at how America's warming waters are changing

The men and women who fish commercially off the shores of the United States have long battled the ocean, unexpected storms and the fickle nature of a quarry that can simply swim away. But scientists say climate change is rapidly complicating those existing challenges. It helps supercharge storms, heats the water, kills some species and prompts others to flee to colder waters.

The idea for Paste BN's Warming Waters series came after last fall's shocking collapse of the snow crab fishery in Alaska. The industry fallout inspired Hughes to investigate the aftermath of rapidly changing conditions for fishers across four corners of America.

"I wanted to highlight not only climate change but all the other challenges facing fishers," he said. "Why do they do it? It's a physically demanding job under terrible hours, under terrible conditions. I wanted to bring people that feeling of being there."

Hughes says that his upbringing in rural Vermont shapes his reporting approach to the series, which follows the impacts of climate change on an industry already struggling with the high cost of diesel fuel and the wildly fluctuating prices they get for their catch.

Something that surprised him over the course of his field reporting was how although some of America's seafood is some of the most sustainable in the world, price often keeps consumers from eating it.

In one case, he walked to a restaurant in Ft. Meyers Beach, Florida, near a boat they had just disembarked. When he asked if the business sold the shrimp the boat sourced, the owners said no – it's easier to buy large quantities of frozen farmed shrimp from distributors (which are often aboard) rather than go down the dock.

He said he wouldn't be able to capture these kinds of contradictions and nuance without riding on the boats, meeting fishers and asking them about their lives.

"What I came away with is that in this country right now, it's very easy to be the kind of person who does or doesn't believe in climate change," he said. "But (these fishers' stories) give not only a better understanding of how climate change is affecting the oceans but also the other compounding things happening. It's really important not to fall into black-and-white perspectives."

Read the Warming Waters series from Paste BN

Thank you

A tried and true paradigm of journalism is to get out there and meet your sources. Trevor's work proves the value of meeting the people we write about. Thank you for supporting our journalism with your subscription. Our work wouldn't be possible without you. 

Best wishes, 

Nicole Fallert

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