Waterfront Conversations, Chapter 3

We are excited to share the third chapter of our new Waterfront Conversations series, highlighting the voices of the fishermen we collaborate with at sea. Here, we hear from Shawn Hunt, of FV Tom Slaughter.

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Ask Shawn Hunt his favorite part of the job, and the answer comes easy: some of the best sunrises and sunsets you'll ever see. But he's quick to add that fishing isn't always what people think it is.

Shawn came to the water the way many fishermen do — through family. With a mom and dad who both fished, he started young. When he was seven, his parents moved from longline fishing to gillnetting, and he gillnetted alongside them until he was fifteen. His path to his current boat, though, came down to chance. While his mom was working at a seafood dock, Shawn met someone selling clams who needed a deckhand. He spent the next year clamming on a day boat — until the boat broke down and was towed up to Gloucester, where it docked right next to the FV Tom Slaughter. The two captains got to talking, and it turned out the Tom Slaughter needed help. Thirteen years later, Shawn is still working on the same boat.

Those thirteen years have included weeks that most people would struggle to imagine. Fishing is a job where the hours are guaranteed but the paycheck isn't.

That uncertainty extends beyond money. Fishing is unpredictable by nature, and anything can happen in the blink of an eye. Shawn has faced his share of emergencies at sea. Aboard the FV Tom Slaughter II, in seas with swells reaching 40 feet, an electrical fire broke out under the dash. Shawn put it out with an aerosol fire extinguisher — and then had to keep the boat moving.

For all its risks, the work has also made Shawn a close observer of the ocean itself — part of what makes the captains and crew of the FV Tom Slaughter valued research partners. He enjoys learning about what sediments surf clams prefer to live in and what affects their catchability, including how the tide plays a role. One thing he's noticed over his years of fishing is how much the bottom changes. The ocean never stops moving, and with it, neither does the ocean floor. Using the boat's Furuno WASSP multibeam sonar, he can watch those changes unfold over time.

But the part of the job that weighs heaviest isn't the weather or the paycheck — it's time. Spending four to five days a week at sea doesn't just affect the fishermen; it takes a toll on their families, especially the kids.

Understanding the fishing industry means understanding more than gear and landings — it means understanding the working lives, risks, and families behind them. 

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Waterfront Conversations is a series of conversations from the water—with the people behind the work. Follow along as we highlight an industry partner monthly.