Angela Sanfilippo, who comes from seven generations of commercial fishermen and is a tireless advocate for fishermen in Gloucester and throughout Massachusetts, says fishing is “in her blood.”
“I grew up near the water, in a little village in Sicily [Italy]. Fishing was the whole town’s [livelihood],” Sanfilippo said.
Sanfilippo, 66, has come a long way since then. At the Boston Seafood Festival on 7 August, the Boston Fisheries Foundation announced that it was inducting Sanfilippo into the Boston Seafood Hall of Fame because of her work as a “tireless protector of the oceans and the fishing communities” in Gloucester and other areas.
Sanfilippo has served as president of the Gloucester Fishermen’s Wives Association (GFWA) for 39 years, and is also executive director of the Massachusetts Fishermen’s Partnership and director of Support Services for the Fishing Partnership Support Services Organization. She also serves as a board member for several commercial fishing organizations.
One of Sanfilippo’s many accomplishments was getting Stellwagen Bank to be declared a Marine Sanctuary.
“She taught that marine sanctuaries can still be an active fishing area, within a specific rule set, as opposed to being a museum where you can look but not touch,” said Richard Stavis, CEO of Stavis Seafoods in Boston. “It really opened people’s eyes to the value of a marine sanctuary.”
Sanfilippo also worked tirelessly to stop oil drilling on Georges Bank, as well as ocean dumping and sand and gravel mining on Stellwagen Bank.
“I grew up near the ocean and I really care. If we don’t’ have a clean ocean, we cannot fish and we cannot feed our families,” Sanfilippo said.
Sanfilippo was also instrumental in establishing the Fishing Partnership Health Plan, which is the only health insurance program for fishermen in the U.S., she said.
Despite all that Sanfilippo has accomplished over the past 40 years, she believes there is much more to be done.
“We need to make fishing regulations fairer for the fishermen. When you say, ‘You can fish this year but not next year,’ younger people and family people don’t stick around. Eventually people are going to throw in the towel,” she said.
In addition, Americans and Massachusetts residents need to eat more local, “healthy” seafood. Sanfilippo said it’s a shame that fish like whiting are in abundance and in season now, but supermarket and foodservice buyers are not willing to buy it or pay a fair price.
“We are in the richest fishing ground in the world [in Massachusetts], yet fishermen can only get 10 cents a pound for underutilized species,” Sanfilippo said. “Whiting is a smaller fish…but it’s great and it’s sustainable. But for all the work fishermen do, they get nothing.”
Retailers need to carry all types of local seafood, and Americans need to be educated on the health benefits of seafood, Sanfilippo said.
“At the Boston Seafood Festival, the question we received over and over is, ‘Why can’t we get this quality seafood when we go to our supermarkets?’” she said. “Why are we getting salmon from fish farms and wild salmon from Alaska, for example, and not local seafood?”
Stavis said Sanfilippo’s hall of fame induction was well-deserved.
“I admire the energy she has and the fact that she is so invested in preservation of the fishing way of life and the preservation of [ocean] habitat, which allows that fishing life to continue,” Stavis said.
