Can New Hampshire’s declining commercial fishing industry be revived or is the business on the verge of extinction?

Groundfish fishermen are retiring. So far, there is no clear path to replacing them with younger people. A new federally funded program aims to solve this problem. In this podcast, Roger Wood interviews a newly retired Hampton fisherman and the director of a new federally funded program to help young people pursue the trade.

David Goethel

David Goethel’s career on the ocean began at age 13 as a mate on a party boat in Seabrook. At 19, he earned his Coast Guard master’s license and began commanding ships while earning a BA in biology, cum laude in 1975, from Boston University. Immediately after college, he worked as a researcher at the New England Aquarium but returned to fishing to support his family. He recently retired as owner/captain of the 44 foot stern trawler, the Ellen Diane. Over the past three decades, his other fishing-related activities include past president of the Tri-Coastal Seafood Co-op, as well as serving on the board of directors of the New Hampshire Commercial Fisherman’s Association, the Northeast Seafood Coalition , the Center for Sustainable Fisheries and the Yankee Fisherman’s Co-op.

Andrea Tomlinson has worked in the field of marine science for over thirty years. A marine biologist by trade and an alumnus of the University of Miami and the University of New Hampshire, she has always had a passion for marine fishing. She began working with the commercial fishing industry in New Hampshire in the mid-1990s while working on a UNH research project to spawn and hatch cod larvae for a potential restocking in the Gulf of Maine. As she worked with commercial fishermen at sea, spawning cod on the back decks of fishing boats, she knew this would be part of her future. After working several years in the aquaculture industry at UNH, then in the first marine food fish hatchery in the United States, Great Bay Aquaculture, and then in a semi-intensive commercial tilapia culture in Jamaica, she returned to the commercial fishing industry as General Manager of New Hampshire Community Seafood in 2015.

While working directly with bottom fishermen in New Hampshire, Tomlinson soon realized that New Hampshire was experiencing a phenomenon called “fleet graying.” Inspired by a young fisherman who bought her own boat, but could not afford a license to use the vessel, she began seeking funds to develop an Alliance of Young Fishermen in northern New -England. After four years of collaboration and grant reviews, she secured funding through the USDA Farmer’s Market Promotion Program to start this organization.

Roger Wood is an award-winning radio, podcast, newspaper and television journalist with over 40 years of media experience. Roger has spent his entire professional career in New Hampshire. Roger is currently Associate Editor and Podcast Producer at InDepthNH.org.

He has produced news and special features for InDepthNH, New Hampshire Public Radio, NPR, and other public and commercial radio stations. He also produced spot news for CBS Radio.

He has produced around fifty audiobooks and written three novels. Roger has also moderated policy forums as well as public policy discussions locally and statewide.

Roger Wood Associate Editor Podcast Producer Indepthnh.org [email protected]