Staying Afloat: One NH Fisherman’s Struggle To Keep Fishing
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- Ed Eastman (L) and Jim Pasnar (R) study a map to determine where they will drop the net for a three-mile trawl.
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- Jim Pasnar guides the 100-foot net onto its spool. Jim is attentive as he works in order to avoid entangling himself in the gear.
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- A mediocre catch of 150 pounds of shrimp pour onto the deck of the Sweet Carolyn. Eastman and Pasnar say it’s difficult to predict how good a trawl will be.
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- Pasnar spends about an hour on his knees sorting herring from shrimp. The sorting is all done by hand.
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- Ed Eastman pours shrimp into 100-pound buckets as Jim Pasnar shovels the catch off the deck. On a good day, they would pull in 12 to 15 buckets. This day only yields six buckets. Eastman needs to fill three buckets just to pay for the day’s fuel. Jim’s salary is 20 percent of the catch.
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- Ed Eastman speaks to his wife, Carolyn, on his cell phone while Pasnar minds the high-tension cables.
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- Eastman and Pasnar take a break. There is little downtime in their 14-hour work day.
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- Always working in tandem, Eastman and Pasnar fill buckets to sell to three locals who meet the boat at day’s end. Selling directly to customers earns Eastman 60 percent more per pound.
This week, commercial fishermen began trawling the seafloor off New Hampshire for cod and other signature New England catches. But Ed Eastman, who has been groundfishing off the coast for 31 years, was not among them. Regulations governing groundfishing became too burdensome, he says, and he could no longer earn a living wage. Last year, Eastman sold his groundfishing permit and moved on to other fisheries, like shrimping.
It was a decision years in the making. Continue Reading