When the Europeans came to the northeastern part of the US or the New England States region, they came for fishing. The source of their fish for generations was the North Sea but the fish were becoming less and people started travelling further from their homes. News had been reached there was a new and great site, better than the North Sea – the fish were offshore what is now called Georges and Grand Banks. Grand Banks is off the coast of Canada and Georges is off the US. The ocean starts with a beach then goes reasonably shallow for sunlight to get in and then goes deep to what people think of the ocean. Now days, every country has a 200 mile limit around their shores and that is where the fish are larger and grow faster. When people started coming, they were harvesting fish and need the landscape to give them a natural harbor and a place to allow the fish to dry and before being salted to be sent to market in Europe. One such location is Gloucester, Massachusetts which is located northeast of Boston. If you know Cape Cod from the Kennedy’s or the song, go straight as the crow flies across the Bays and you will find Gloucester.

In a book about fishing and the history of Gloucester, Mark Kurlansky titled The Last Fish Tale published by Ballantine Books, NY, 2008 tells the tale of fishing. If you want to see a movie The Perfect Storm with George Clooney gives an idea about fishing and people that go to the sea. It starts with except for the storms – fishing has been a good way to make a living. Fish until the last 30 years were seen as inexhaustible and catches can be made, although the work is and was hard, it was dependable year in and year out. After a couple of years of work, your boat would be paid off and life was seemingly easier as a small business person. From the hard work needed to commercially fish, the way of life was celebrated by those afar and up close. On a clear day, people in Gloucester can see Boston or the towers of the city which makes Gloucester now part of the summer cottage country, but earlier on the attitudes were much different. With their blue collar approach to life and relatively inexpensive real estate artists were attracted to the area and many painters and writers did and still do their work in the Gloucester area.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, the story of Gloucester is the story of fishing from the sending fish to Europe, to people living year around in the community to seemingly improvements in fishing – factory fishing to small business fishing. The issues of sustainable fishing are complex, the costs to fishing rises – boats are more expensive; the season is different; lots of changes happen. In terms of the community of Gloucester it has changed and seemingly adapted to its location but fishing has changed. One can learn much about how communities and industry deal with changes by reading books such as The Last Fish Tale and sometimes your money has to find different alternatives.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.