by Carol A. Muratore
The economic impact of Virginia’s seafood industry was reported to be over $1.1 billion dollars in a study conducted by the Virginia Seafood Agriculture Research and Extension Center. Virginia usually ranks in the top three states in the country with regard to total landings. The seafood industry is one of the largest and oldest in the Commonwealth.
However, today there is a severe shortage of young people entering the commercial harvesting profession for a myriad of reasons. The drastic and stark reality is that 25% of commercial watermen are over the age of 60 while only 10% are under the age of 30. This trend is leading to a serious shortage which has been dubbed the “Graying of the Fleet.”
In 2023, Commissioner Jamie Green with the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC) brought an idea to deputy chief of fisheries management Joe Grist that might help assuage the problem. He outlined an apprentice program that would educate, train, and support young people who were serious about entering a career in the commercial fishing industry….
