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In fishing, hauling back is the process of retrieving fishing gear from the water after it is deployed. And just as fishermen haul back their nets to bring in the catch, so too do fishing families pull knowledge and skills from the past to share with future generations.
While many of the families featured in this project are not located in New Bedford, all of the families share a connection to the commercial fishing industry and the working waterfront. Those waterfront legacies are still alive to this day.
The Eastern Fisheries Group was founded in 1978 as a partnership between the O’Hara Corporation and Nordic Fisheries. Headquartered in New Bedford, Eastern Fisheries owns one of the world’s largest scallop fleets, and has subsidiaries in three continents. Though Eastern is the largest business we are exploring as part of the Hauling Back project, both Nordic Fisheries and O’Hara Corporation are multi-generational, family-owned businesses, and can trace their waterfront origins to two Massachusetts fishing families: the O’Haras of Boston and the Enoksens of New Bedford.
ABOVE: Roy Enoksen, founder of Nordic Fisheries, immigrated to the United States in 1946 from Røst, a small island off the coast of Norway. He and his father fished in Fairhaven, Roy taking his first trip when he was only 11 years old. Today, Roy’s son Ronald serves as President of the company, while his son-in-law Peter acts as Treasurer. Photo courtesy of Roy Enoksen.
BELOW: Following the founding of Eastern Fisheries in 1978, the company began the construction of a new vessel, F/V Friendship to symbolize the new partnership between O’Hara and Nordic. The Friendship was constructed at the Harvey Gamage Shipyard in Maine and is still in use today. Photo courtesy of O’Hara Corporation.
1907
Francis J. O’Hara founded the Atlantic & Pacific Seafood Company in Boston. In 1921, the company was renamed F.J. O’Hara & Sons. The company expanded out of Massachusetts in the late 1930s, first to Portland, Maine, and then to Rockland, Maine where their headquarters is still located today.
1968
Nordic Fisheries is founded in New Bedford by Roy Enoksen, as a scalloping company Nordic purchases its first scalloper, F/V Sea Trek, that same year.
1978
Eastern Fisheries founded, co-owned by O’Hara and Nordic. In 1982, Eastern’s first scallop processing plant opened in New Bedford.
2002 – Present
Eastern Fisheries continues to expand under the partnership between O’Hara Corporation and Nordic Industries. By 2017, Eastern has operations in the United States, East Asia, and Europe.
More from the Eastern Fisheries Vault:
Turk’s Seafood in Mattapoisett was established as Big Turk’s Seafood Market in 1983 by Richard “Turk” Pasquill, his wife Judith, and his son Richie. In 1989, Turk’s moved to its current location on Route 6 in Mattapoisett. Since then, the business has continued to grow from a small, family-owned seafood counter into a full-fledged seafood market, restaurant, and sushi bar with a staff of 80. Richie is in the process of passing the business and its traditions to the next generation, his cousin Kaylen and her husband Aaron.
Over the years, Turk’s has never forgotten its ties to the New Bedford waterfront. Both Richard and his son Richie worked on the docks, unloading fishing vessels when they returned to port. Richie carries on the tradition today, traveling to New Bedford’s seafood auction several times a week in order to provide fresh, locally caught product for his customers.
Turk’s founder Richard “Turk” Pasquill (pictured left) worked on the New Bedford waterfront as a lumper, unloading fishing vessels of their cargo when they returned to port and filling their fish pens with ice.
Turk’s remains proudly family owned. Richie’s cousin Kaylen and her husband Aaron both work at Turk’s and are primed to take over the business when Richie retires.
More from the Turk’s Vault:
More Family stories coming soon!
