3 minute read
Editor’s Log
Editor’s Log Meet the Highliners
Kirk Moore
Associate editor, kmoore@divcom.com
F
or close to half a century now, National Fisherman has honored outstanding shermen from every corner of the U.S. coastline.
They work across the vast spectrum of the U.S. industry, from the decks of small boats working lobster and crab pots and gillnets, to dredges and trawlers and longliners.
The title of Highliner recognizes their success at the day-to-day business of shing, and the respect that brings within their communities. But the editors of National Fisherman have always looked closely too at how nominees contribute to the greater good of making sure those communities — and the sheries resources they depend on — thrive into the future.
During my years of reporting I’ve interviewed and gotten to know some Highliners well. I’ve always heard from them the belief that they are blessed to be in a profession that they love.
They also have a strong protective sense of its potential fragility — if policymakers, shermen and managers make wrong decisions. Highliners are out there on the front line of management debates, pushing to do what is right for the resource, all sheries users and the U.S. public.
That role is as critical as ever, with the challenges now facing the shing industry and the environment it is working in. A changing climate is scrambling the ocean environment, with warming waters in the Northeast and North Paci c pushing sh stocks in dramatic new directions. How U.S. policymakers respond to those trends — from turning o stressed Bering Sea crab sheries, to forging ahead on developing o shore wind power — is already having profound e ects on longestablished shing communities.
It’s a stressful time for an industry that proved its ingenuity and resiliency during the covid-19 pandemic, doing its part for public health and the nation’s food supply, and coming out better on the other side.
Always there have been shermen who step forward to do the right thing — and most importantly, to keep doing it year after year, building con dence and credibility in the process. So here’s to the 2022 Highliners starting on page 8: Chris Brown, Mimi Sta ord, Terry Alexander and Jerry Sansom, the latest in a long tradition of the best.
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On the cover
Fishing during opilio season this year on the F/V Brenna A. are Will Jennings (left) and Cody Lipse. Jeff Ryan / @jarpictures photo.
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