It was back in the 1960s and 1970s, during my childhood, when Dad served the Fisheries. Now, in the 21st century, so much that started then has grown, matured, evolved and even mutated. Dad was in the midst of it all at the inception. I can’t give a definitive and complete reckoning of the genesis of everything that started in that era or of everyone’s contributions. I don’t even know the names of all the players. I was only a kid. But I realize that my memories of those dozen years and the hundreds of hours of dinner time conversations that I absorbed have made me into something of a “slice of life time capsule.”

Written by:

Karen Favazza Spencer

October 2009

Sam Favazza

My father, Salvatore J. “Sam” Favazza, was first a member and then the Executive Secretary of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission, the only city Fisheries commission in the country, as he was fond of saying. It was a part time position; at first as a volunteer and then with a small stipend. After dad’s retirement due to ill health in 1976, the commission had a hard time filling my Dad’s shoes. They finally made it a full time salaried staff position and changed the title to Director, in an effort to recapture some of the quantity and quality of thoughtful representation that my dad brought to the table. My mother, Mary J. (Aspesi) Favazza, was the recording secretary. That position began for my mother unofficially as a convenience for my dad, but later became an official position, with a tiny stipend, which she often shared with me during my college years. 

Dad loved the Fisheries; it was his passion. Among other things, I think it was an expression of his love for his family. He had fished as a boy and young man with his father Joe Favazza, brothers Frank and Peter Favazza, uncles Leo, Vito, Tony and Frank Favaloro and brother in law Benny Randazza - all captains and boat owners. His family, in particular his brother Peter, supported him in his ambition to go to college - he was the first in that immigrant family to do so. It was because of this support that Dad was able to become a businessman, instead of a fisherman. He did what he did for the Fisheries, because it needed doing and he was able to do it, thanks to the sacrifices and support of his family and the community.

Childhood Memories:

1. Field trips: I believe other families had holidays to amusement parks. We went to wharfs in other towns. I remember visiting Point Judith, RI on a rainy day, I believe to find out about fishing for shrimp, “an underutilized species.” That was one of the big themes of the 1960s and early 70s. Dad was a champion for dogfish, monkfish, skate, whatever. He brought samples home, too, much to the chagrin of my northern Italian mother. Luckily, her sister-in-law, Margaret, was able to advise her.
   

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4. We also visited Blue Hill, Maine, this time on a sunny day. And I remember stopping for lunch in New Bedford at a place near the wharf. I’m not sure if we actually stayed and ate there. I remember it was a bit rough and dingy for a family lunch with children.
   
   

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6. ICNAF: During my childhood I knew all about ICNAF. The International Commission of Northwest Atlantic Fisheries. It rolls off my tongue as easily now as it did then, I heard about it practically daily in the 1960s. ICNAF was about collaboration. It was an international effort to equitably administer the Fisheries industry for the preservation of the resource and the benefit of the fishermen of the participating countries. It was a United Nations type concept. Dad believed in it, passionately, and traveled internationally, often on his own dime, to make it work.
   

1. Meetings: Dad went to community or Fisheries related meeting sometimes two, three, and four nights a week. He came home at five, and had supper with us, but he was out the door at 7:15 many evenings. I remember his photo, and name, were in the newspaper a lot. My mother grumbled about it, because as a Rotarian, every time his photo was in the paper, he had to make a donation to the Gloucester Rotary Club. She told him, “Stay away from the photographer, Sam. When you see Charlie coming, get out of his way!” Unfortunately, the scrapbook where she proudly preserved all those clippings was lost. There was a lot of Fisheries history in that book.
   

My father’s intense involvement all came about because of the Foreign Factory Fleets. Uncle Peter said the first time he saw the foreign fleet was when he was awoken from a sound sleep in the dark of night. When he stumbled on deck, all the lights and noise of those towering vessels made him think he had somehow sailed into Boston harbor. The fishermen knew these fleets spelled the demise of the fish off our coasts and their livelihoods.

1. The Russian Factory Ships, 400 foot long with close to 200 workers on board, accompanied by their half dozen “catcher boats” invaded Georges Banks in 1965. They practiced “pulse fishing.” Pulse fishing concentrated on single species fishing until catches were no longer economically feasible. The fish was packaged and frozen aboard, in a deadly efficient assembly line operation. The Russians were quickly joined by the East Germans, Japanese and Polish fleets.
   

2. •In 1970, the Japanese took 4 billion tons of fish from Alaskan waters.
   

3. •In 1972, the Gloucester dragger F/V Roseanne Marie was rammed and sunk off the Isle of Shoals by an East German trawler.
   

4. •In 1973, scientists warned that haddock was near extinction, and herring was not far behind.
   

- Gloucester Daily Times article by Ernie Tucker, July 28, 1973

Tell the Story - The Wives & the 200 Mile Limit

Dad was a smart salesman. Once, before either an ICNAF or other meeting with a number of regional representatives was to begin in Boston, news photographers from the TV station were allowed to pan the members as they sat at the table. Nothing was happening; the men just sat and stared. Later at the dinner table, Dad told us that it occurred to him that the station would show only an interesting shot on TV. So he timed it. He took out a cigar and with a great deal of flourish, lit it as the camera reached him. Sure enough, the meeting made the news, and while the reporter described the purpose of the meeting, they showed Dad lighting his cigar.

Dad had great hopes for ICNAF - but when it didn’t work, he decided the only way to save the American Fisheries was the establishment of a U.S. 200 mile limit. So Dad, in his role as Executive Secretary of the Gloucester Fisheries Commission, became a de facto lobbyist for the Fisheries on a regional and national level.  He worked very closely with Congressman Gerry Studds, one of the bill’s sponsor. There were lots of phone calls and meetings. He also worked with Senator Ted Kennedy and other Congressmen from other states. These were names I heard at dinner regularly. These were people who called the house, often during the dinner hour. But Dad knew it took more. He knew the Fisheries needed to make an impression, like he did with the cigar. And he knew it was going to take more than lighting a cigar; it was going to take lots of people and a good story. An insurmountable problem seemed to be the unavailability of the fishermen - the people who really should be telling the story.

This was all happening during the the feminist era of the late 1960s and early ‘70s. I want to say it was my mom’s idea, I can hear her saying it in my head, but I really don’t remember the context exactly. It may have arisen simultaneously in several Gloucester households, as good ideas whose time has come often do. New Bedford already had a wives’ group. But one day at dinner, the discussion between my parents shifted to talking about the fishermen’s wives. There was a lot of excitement at that meal. Margaret Favazza, Lena Novello, Grace Moceri, Gerri Lovasco and Peggy Sibley, were among the first approached about becoming a political force while cooking. Although there was immediate interest, there were also concerns, lots of things were discussed. I remember the hesitant looks on the faces of some of the fishing couples in our living room as Dad made the first pitches. But the concept took.

My father’s agenda was two prong -  providing a spotlight on the Fisheries to gather political support for a 200 Mile Limit, and continuing the long term viability of the Fisheries by creating a market for species other than ground fish, so to allow stock recovery. Dad encouraged the Wives to give cooking demonstrations, especially to promote underutilized species. What politician could dismiss a bunch of wives sharing recipes and offering tasty food to the people? The media loved it and it got everyone involved. It wasn’t just Dad’s voice on behalf of the Fisheries, all the  Gloucester fishermen were involved through their wives - everyone finally had a voice that could be heard and an image. The Wives were a great boost. The sail down the Potomac was one of the events that arose because of this collaboration. He called the 200 Mile Limit a Dream, and I believe, sometimes he identified with Don Quixote tilting at windmills (the play, the Impossible Dream, was a hit in the late 1960s). The Wives were his allies, his Sancho Panza. Getting the 200 Mile Limit passed, protecting the Fisheries, it was a puzzle. What next? How do we make it happen? How do we focus attention? How do we exert effective political pressure? There had to be a good resolution. Failure or quitting were never an option.

Dad loved the Wives, and was always there for them, as were they for him. His mission became a lot more more fun with the Wives involved. Dad was one of their mentors in the early years.

During Gloucester’s 350th Anniversary Celebration in 1973, Dad served as one of the Directors. Dad believed that we needed a Fisheries Museum in Gloucester, something more than the art we had at the Historical Association. So for the 350th, he got a small rectangular shed with a wide covered porch built and installed down the Boulevard. Capt. Carlo Sinagra painted three large murals each showing two of the six types of fishing done in Gloucester, gill-netting, purse seining, otter trawling (dragging), long-line trawling, sword-fishing and lobstering. They filled the back wall. They were raffled off at the end of the summer. The St. Peter’s Club owns one of them, today.

Back to 1973. Dad convinced Margaret Favazza and Lena Novello to have Friday lunch time fish demonstrations at the mini-museum on the Boulevard. Lena and Margaret were reluctant at first; they came down to view the site when I was there, but Dad convinced them; he charmed them. They alternated weeks and brought helpers. This was the first time the Wives cooked for the public and the emphasis was on underutilized species. In reminiscing with my Aunt Margaret, if not the catalyst for the organization - it was what made it jell and take off. I remember the first couple of lunches. People were bringing everything from home, and discovering either they didn’t have the right equipment or they forgot something, there was a lot of scurrying and phone calls. But it was a huge, delicious hit! And the wives loved it. I don’t remember when the cookbook came out, but the idea for it really started with the planning of the menu for those Friday fish lunches on the Boulevard in the summer of 1973. People were asking for their recipes and telling them they should write a cookbook. I asked for the recipes. So did my mother. And we were all furiously scribbling them down.

I remember Dad invited a woman connected with the federal government to one of those 1973 lunches. We were passing out some government brochures with recipes for species like pollack and redfish. There was federal grant money available for the Wives to do more cooking demonstrations of these underutilized species. Aunt Margaret remembers that the Wives applied for and received one or more grants to promote underutilized species. They traveled to various New England supermarkets to cook and to charm the shoppers. It became a small cottage industry for the Wives. The rest is history. The Wives gained confidence, established their agenda and found wonderful leadership within their own ranks. See Fishermen’s Wives.

History & the Future

Additionally, Dad and the fishermen realized the risk in giving the government ownership rights out 200 miles from shore. It was discussed, then - concerns over the possibility of the US government regulations of the Fisheries. But doing nothing and allowing the foreign fleets  to continue to vacuum up the fish off our coast while intimidating our fishing fleet was untenable. Dad’s next platform was that the fishermen had to self govern the industry and take a lead in husbanding the resource. He started working with officials at National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He regarded NOAA with a jaundiced eye. He saw them as a potential ally, but didn’t trust them for leadership. He said that the fishermen had to always have a strong voice at the table - that you couldn’t leave it to the government. He warned, if the fishermen didn’t take the lead in policing themselves, the government would do it for them. He was already into the research on that subject.

Dad understood the lessons of history. He loved history. He knew that the government introduced dragging over the objections of the fishermen who felt it would damage the environment. He was an environmentalist. He knew the history of Gloucester and of the Fisheries going back to the days of the John Smith, John Cabot and even the Basques who fished New England cod before Columbus arrived. He also knew about what was happening to North Sea cod and the Iceland Fisheries because of overfishing. These were all dinner time conversation material. He understood and he discussed it with my mother, who was a wonderful partner to him. But the first step had to be the 200 mile limit that would kick out the foreign fleets. The next step was intelligent resource management. I am convinced the Fisheries and the world would be a different place if he had lived.

He researched all about the Gloucester fishermen, the early settlers, Novies, Newfies, Portuguese, all of them. He enjoyed the friendship not only of the fishermen, but also of local writers and historians, like Joe Garland, Gordon Thomas and Peter Anastas whose books were part of the Gloucester 350th Anniversary Celebration. At one time, I knew all that history too, from listening to him and reading the books he brought home. Dad most of all admired Captain Solomon “Sol” Jacobs, “King of the Mackerel Killers,” who was not only an adventurous High Liner, but also the first Gloucester fisherman to add an engine to his schooner. He kept saying there should be some sort of memorial in Gloucester to this man. One day, my mom said, “Well if you feel so strongly about it Sam, do something about it....”

More field trips. I remember going with the family down the Fort and then later to a trashy area by the Railways, near Sooky Sawyer’s fish business one wintry day. Dad like the Harbor Loop location. The “Old Stone Jug” was spruced up, thanks to Urban Renewal. The new Coast Guard station was next door. Dad looked around and said this is a spot that could develop into a little historical district for Gloucester. He did it. It was his idea and his effort, with Mom, and I believe Sooky Sawyer, supporting him.

The creation of the Solomon Jacobs Park at Harbor Loop was the last act of service he completed for the city. Mom died suddenly in Feb 1975, and Dad, his voice choked with emotion, dedicated the park that summer. He had already been diagnosed with the terminal cancer which killed him in November of 1976. However, before he died, he saw the 200 mile limit signed into law in April 1976. Dad was presented with the pen President Ford “begrudgingly” used to sign the law. In accepting the pen, Dad said, “This is just the beginning! Now we need to continue to work together to ensure that the Fisheries is protected so there will be fish for all the generations to come!”  The pen is now a permanent exhibit at the Cape Ann Historical Museum.

In closing, I was a girl and then a very young woman present at some of the events of the day and many suppertime conversations, which typically lasted between 1 and 2 hours. But I was not present at the meetings. I don’t know everything. This is just my slice of life that I am offering today. But I do know Dad had great respect for all his peers during those years. I couldn’t begin to name them all, the fishermen, the wives, the businessmen and the politicians. They all worked hard as collaborators. It was the sum of all their efforts that saved the Fisheries forty years ago. I want to be sure I leave the right impression... although I am obviously very proud of him, Dad was never about ego, he was all about service. About giving the fishermen a voice at the table and solving the problems they faced.

Still, I am not the only one who thinks Dad’s effort, vision and leadership were key to averting the overfishing crises of that day. The Fisheries is facing another crisis in 2009, not dissimilar to what was faced then, and again, we need that type of herculean response. My hat is off to those of you in the industry who are shouldering that burden. I pray that you have another leader of my dad’s ilk who can help you harness the tremendous potential that is in you all to save the Fisheries.

Dad’s obituary made the front page of the GD Times.

Fisheries Today

1. NOAA Ineptitude & NMFS Malfeasance
   

2. Inspector General Todd Zinser’s scathing 21 Jan 2010 twenty-six page report on NOAA/NMFS validates the industry’s claims of injustice and persecution. The investigation, "found that NOAA leadership has had minimal involvement in setting enforcement priorities, linking enforcement to its fishery management goals, or evaluating enforcement programs." The report continues, “we conclude that ... in the Northeast Region, this has contributed to aggregate fine assessments that are ... five times or more greater than the other four regions.” (GD Times 26 Jan 2010)
   

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4. United We Fish Rally
   

5. In her remarks at the 24 Feb 2010 Washington D.C.  five thousand strong rally on the steps of the Congress, Mayor Carolyn Kirk of Gloucester succinctly illustrates the disconnect between national policy and the reality experienced by the industry.
   (GD Times 27 Feb 2010)
   

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7. Catch Shares: Commodifying a Common Resource
   

8. Scientific review of the controversial Catch Share approach, used to reduce the fleet of a single species collapsing fisheries, finds the method has no merit as a conservation tool. Catch Shares, a business model that concentrates wealth in the hands of a few big players while eliminating the small family boats, is scheduled to become law in the rebounding multi-species New England Fisheries in May 2010. (GD Times 29 April 2010)
   

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10. A Day That Will Live in Infamy
    

11. GD Times Editorial on Catch Share Policy implementation. An incomplete and  flawed plan with irreversible consequences to the industry, some known and some unknown, Catch Shares changes the economy of New England fisheries over the strenuous objections of scores of scientists, congressmen, economists, businessmen, community leaders and fishermen. (GD Times 29 April 2010) Also see my blog on Misalignment of Goals. 
    

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13. NOAA to Fishermen: ‘We’re Sorry’
    

14. Jane Lubchenko, head of NOAA, issued a formal apology for the draconian excesses and wrongful behavior of fisheries enforcement in Gloucester,  returning $649,527 to 11 individuals and businesses as recommended by an investigative special master, Charles Swartwood III. This comes after several Attorney General investigations and independent reports, such as  Judge Swartwood's report that flatly stated that the "systemic failings" were, "the result of conduct enabled and even encouraged by the management and enforcement culture in place at the time." Unfortunately, the refunded money doesn’t even cover the expenses of pursuing justice, let alone make up for lost earnings and irrevocable societal impact. (GD Times 17 May 2011)
    

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17. Actions Ring Hollow for Many
    

18. Sorry isn’t enough for those scores of fishermen driven to bankruptcy and suicide. A New Bedford scalloper was refunded $400,00 of the $430,000 fined. He had to, “sell his vessel and permits, and to satisfy debts, he had to sell the family home his wife's family had had since the 1600s, and leave New Bedford (for Florida) when they put him out of business."
    

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20. “On Page 129 of the 236-page report by Special Master Charles Swartwood III.... (are) five lines at the start of a six-line paragraph that had been completely redacted by lawyers ...Only the last sentence of the paragraph by Swartwood remained unredacted. And in it, the special master wrote: "I find this email to be credible evidence that money was NOAA's motivating objective in this case."....Swartwood's stark conclusion exemplifies a pattern discerned by Inspector General Todd Zinser in a report last year, that NOAA law enforcement accumulated nearly $100 million in fines in an Asset Forfeiture Fund that was then used to purchase excessive numbers of vehicles — more than the agency had agents — a luxury undercover boat and overseas travel to exotic locations.” (GD Times 18 May 2011)
    

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22. Fed IG Auditing NOAA Policies
    

23. Warren Hears Fishermen’s Fears
    

24. The 3 year old Catch Shares program, which began with reports of rebounding stocks, has resulted in collapsing both the Industry and Stocks, including cod.
    

25. (GD Times Feb 2013)
    

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27. Petition Urges NOAA Gloucester Shut Down
    

28. ”We set the rules and clearly the rules have failed, There’s no other conclusion,”  said NOAA chief regional administrator John Bullard. The “rules” were the making of outgoing NOAA chief Jan Lubchenco. Lubchenco co-authored a since discredited policy paper, Oceans of Abundance, for Obama’s consumption following the 2008 Presidential election. It held catch shares out as a panacea that would restore the ecosystem and make the industry profitable. (GD Times 26 Feb 2013)
    

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30. State Fisheries Chief cites lack of controls under NOAA
    

31. Decline was predictable, due to warming New England waters and sector management. Total Allowable Catch (TAC) which creates massive incentives for efficiency resulted in unsustainable fishing practices and Sectors are biologically unsound economic devices. (GD Times 28 Feb 2013)
    

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    Ongoing Fishing Industry Coverage at Gloucester Daily Times
    

34.     Sadly, with the upgrade of our Gloucester Times, these articles no longer seem to
    

35.     be available.
    

36. November 2014 “Fish Tales” series on the pain and suffering in our community.
    

1. New quotas cut deep for fishing industry
   

2. The divide between what fishermen report from the fishing grounds and the government reports has never been so great. At issue is the sampling method used by the government that trawls for species at levels where those fish do not swim, which results in slashed quotas.  From the fishermen’s perspective, haddock, sole and flounder stocks are in better shape than any time in the past 50 years, yet still the allotments have been slashed. In an interview with Sean Horgan, fisherman Al Cottone predicts the few remaining Gloucester fishermen will be forced to abandon the industry this year. Cottone agrees with manager of Gloucester-based Northeast Fishing Sector 4 and the policy director at the Northeast Seafood Coalition Vito Giacalone who says, “This is just asking for the corporations to step in and buy the fishery for pennies on the dollar.” (GD Times 4 Feb 2016)
   

            A milestone in the war over the true state of cod

1. There is no doubt that the federal sampling methods have been as flawed as their conservation methods that included days at sea quotas that required dumping dead fish back into the sea and Catch Shares which encouraged destructive fishing practices that provided an economic boost at the expense of rebuilding. However, the open question has been what is the true state of cod in New England waters. An independent state effort has confirmed the federal opinion that it is in a very bad state with few juvenile and few large cod, 80% less than a decade ago, i.e. before Catch Shares. However, this is still contrary to what Gloucester fishermen are seeing. Scientists say that the disconnect is because when stocks are low, cod congregate in a few areas, which is where the fishermen are, but beyond those areas they don’t exist. I don’t see any way to resolve this question to everyone’s satisfaction. (Boston Globe 3 April 2017)
   

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4. Letter: We must all work together to preserve fishery industry
   

5. Richard Beal comments on the problems with polarization, polling, and politics that plague current fisheries management in New England waters. The natural evolution of both the biological responses of fish to their changing environment and the changing technology used by fishermen are just two of the realities that are ignored by decision makers who seem more focused on taming the paper tiger than on mitigating the tragedy in our midst.  (GD Times 10 July 2017)
   

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8. State Joins Suit to Block Offshore Drilling
   

9. In a surreal move, the federal government under the Trump administration is promoting a plan to use seismic testing to identify areas in fisheries grounds for fossil fuel drilling. This after decades of  ill conceived and draconian federal regulations that strangled the fishing industry in an attempt to rebuild this major food source. Even if there is never any drilling, the testing will damage or destroy stocks and habitat. (GD Times 21 Dec 2018)
   

written by:

Karen Favazza Spencer

Oct 21, 2009 - April 2017

Photo Credits: A 1974 meeting at Salvatore J. Favazza, Insurance, 119 Main Street, Gloucester, MA. Participants are activist Sam Favazza; writer/historian Joe Garland; Cape Ann Museum Curator Carrie Benham; artist Walker Hancock, and Gloucester Daily Times editor Paul Kenyon.

Courtesy of the Charles A. Lowe  Photography Archives at the Cape Ann Museum.

16 Aug 1973 Gloucester Daily Times photo of Karen Favazza speaking with the Mayor of Gloucester England, Alf H. T. Rich, at the Fisheries Exhibit on Stacy Boulevard. Photo by Charles A. Lowe.