The Slow Destruction of a Working City

For decades, the fishing industry in Gloucester was not destroyed by the ocean. It was dismantled by government, year by year. Regulations piled up. Fishing grounds were closed. Seasons were compressed.

Fishermen were forced into narrower windows, making one of the most dangerous jobs in America even more dangerous. Boats disappeared. Permits vanished. A working waterfront was hollowed out.

All of this happened in my lifetime. I grew up in Rocky Neck, watching fishing boats come in and out of the harbor. Over the years, there were fewer boats, fewer trips, and less activity on the waterfront. It wasn’t sudden. It was steady. I watched the fishing industry disappear in real time.

The fishing industry was already shrinking before I was born. Every election cycle brought promises from Democratic politicians to protect it. The outcome tells the story.

As Fishing Shrunk, Government Grew

At the center of this story is the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), the federal government agency that regulates commercial fishing through quotas, closures, and rules about when and where fishermen can work.

As Gloucester’s fishing fleet shrank, NOAA expanded. It built a massive federal building in Gloucester, added staff, and grew its budget. It now pays long-term government pensions. The industry declined while the government bureaucracy flourished.

The Local Betrayal

What happened to the fishing industry in Gloucester was not driven only by federal policy. It was enabled locally. Mayors, city councilors, and state representatives supported the political environment that allowed regulation to pile up year after year.

Many of those local officials were Democrats. Many came from fishing families. They understood the docks, the boats, and the risks of the job. Over time, many left that world, entered government and political institutions, and worked against the fishermen they claimed to represent.

Those local Democratic politicians sold a lie. They told fishermen that more regulation meant safety and sustainability, even as the fleet shrank, seasons were compressed, and fishing became more dangerous.

Publicly, they talked about protecting fishermen. In practice, they aligned themselves with federal agencies and political priorities instead of the people who built this city. The industry was dismantled, boat by boat, permit by permit, while local leadership stayed silent or actively supported the process.

That same mindset showed itself clearly in 2020, when the City of Gloucester issued a permit allowing a Black Lives Matter protest at the Fishermen’s Memorial. That decision was approved by local officials who knew exactly what that memorial represents.

The Fishermen’s Memorial exists to honor men lost at sea and to give their families a place to remember them. It is not a general-use space and it is not meant for political events. Allowing a political protest there showed a clear disregard for fishermen and for the families who lost loved ones on the water.

The loss of the fishing vessel Lily Jean and all seven crew members brings that reality into focus. For people who do not live here, the Fishermen’s Memorial may look like a landmark. For Gloucester families, it is personal. It carries names, loss, and history. A younger generation should understand what that memorial means to this community and to the families left behind.

The only local politician I can think of who consistently stood up for the fishing industry was Gus Foote. He opposed the direction things were heading more than forty years ago. He was mocked for his stance, outvoted, and ignored. Looking back, he was right.

The Federal Timeline

This didn’t begin with Barack Obama, but under his administration the mindset became unmistakable.

In 2016, Obama permanently closed a massive offshore area to commercial fishing by creating the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument. It was done without meaningful input from fishermen and reflected a belief that government control mattered more than working people.

Under Donald Trump, that mindset briefly changed. Trump reopened those waters to commercial fishing. It didn’t bring the industry back, but it mattered. It showed a different way of thinking—fishermen as people who work, not problems to be managed.

Then Joe Biden reversed course and reinstated the Obama-era restrictions.

When Trump returned to office in 2025, he reopened the waters again. And just yesterday, President Trump signed a proclamation to unleash commercial fishing in the Atlantic, advancing America First fishing policy by restoring access to 4,900 square miles of the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts National Monument located off the coast of New England.

The timeline is clear. One approach favors government control. The other favors freedom to work.

The Truth

Gloucester fishermen will tell you this now. Even if every restriction were lifted tomorrow, Gloucester no longer has the processing plants, buyers, or supply chain to support a real comeback. Rebuilding would take decades. For people alive today, that era is gone. That is the cost of decades of political decisions.

Seeing It Clearly Now

For a long time, people here were told one story while living another. Regulation was sold as protection. Decline was framed as inevitable.

More people in Gloucester are starting to see that clearly now. Once you see it, it doesn’t go away.

Clarity doesn’t bring back what was lost. But it does change what comes next.