UMass Dartmouth and NOAA to conduct oral history project concerning Portuguese-speaking fishermen

DARTMOUTH — The Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and the National Marine Fisheries Service of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), in collaboration with local organizations tied to the fishing industry and the Portuguese community, will be conducting an oral history project aimed at documenting the experience and contributions of local Portuguese-speaking fishermen.

The study is coordinated by Dr. Gloria de Sá, a professor of sociology at UMD and faculty director of the Ferreira-Mendes Archives, and Dr. Patricia Pinto da Silva, a social scientist with NOAA's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole. Funded by a grant from NOAA's Preserve America Initiative, the study also counts with the support of various individuals associated with New Bedford's United Fishermen's Club, the Voices from the Fisheries Oral History Database, the Working Waterfront Festival, the School for Marine Science and Technology, and the Center for Portuguese Studies and Culture.

Involvement in fishery activities and the presence of a large Portuguese community are two of the most salient cultural characteristics of New Bedford. Three of the area's major tourist attractions, for example, are the Working Waterfront Festival, the Madeira Feast and the Day of Portugal festivities, which bring tens of thousands of visitors to the area. Yet, although the Portuguese and the sea have been paramount in shaping the economy and the culture of this region, the interaction between the two has not been adequately explored and documented.

The Portuguese comprise more than half of the owners and operators of the fishing fleet of New Bedford, the number one fishing port in the U.S. Given that the sector is undergoing rapid transformation, including the retirement of aging fishermen, documenting their experience is an urgent matter. This study seeks to preserve, protect and enhance the understanding of this particular aspect of local and American heritage by recording, transcribing and translating a series of oral histories with representative Portuguese-speaking members of New Bedford's fishing industry; and by collecting photos and other documents related to their activity.

The research will be used to develop a variety of products and activities, such as k-12 teaching materials, exhibits, and publications, aimed at providing and preserving information relevant to the understanding of fisheries management, coastal restoration and the economic vitality of the port of New Bedford. All materials collected and developed through this project will be made available to educators, students, researchers and the general public at UMD's Ferreira-Mendes Portuguese-American Archives and the Voices from the Fisheries Oral History Database.

Oral histories from Portuguese fishermen to be collected

By DON CUDDY
doncuddy@s-t.com
March 06, 2012 12:00 AM
An oral history project designed to document the experience of Portuguese-speaking fishermen has obtained funding from NOAA's Preserve America Initiative and is ready to get under way this week.

"We have compiled a list of more than 20 fishermen we are interested in speaking with," said Dr. Gloria de Sa, a professor of sociology at UMass Dartmouth and faculty director of the Ferreira-Mendes archives there. "We hope that around 15 of them will agree to be interviewed."

The study is being coordinated by de Sa and, a social scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Northeast Fisheries Science Center in Woods Hole.

"I've been wanting to do this for awhile," de Sa said. "This is a population that hasn't been studied yet because of the language barrier. It's important to do it now because a lot of them are aging."

The Portuguese community and the fishing industry have been hugely influential in shaping both the culture and economy of New Bedford, she said, but their interrelationship has not been documented.

Interviews will be taped over the summer, with no time constraint on their duration.

David Martins, a Portuguese speaker, from the university's School for Marine Science and Technology will conduct the sessions. Martins is a familiar figure on the waterfront from his frequent collaborative research trips aboard Portuguese-owned fishing vessels.

"It's important for us to act now and document the history of Portuguese fishermen from our area, in their own words, before the information is forgotten or, worse, lost," Martins said.

The interviews will examine the fishermen's experience prior to coming to New Bedford. Many fished on the Grand Banks as part of the traditional Portuguese cod fleet, de Sa said. "Then we'll look at the immigrant experience here and how they got started fishing out of New Bedford."

All material collected through the project will be made available to researchers and the public from the UMass archive and also from NOAA's Voices from the Fisheries oral history database.