Wild Caught: The Life and Struggles of an American Fishing Town

The Dock-U-Mentaries Film Series continues Friday, June 15th at 7 PM with Wild Caught: The Life and Struggles of an American Fishing Town a feature-length documentary that explores the lives of small-scale commercial fishermen living in Snead’s Ferry, North Carolina. Film makers Matt and Cornelia Barr will lead a post film discussion. Dock-U-Mentaries is a co-production of New Bedford Whaling National Historical Park and the Working Waterfront Festival. Films about the working waterfront are screened on the third Friday of each month beginning at 7:00 PM in the theater of the Corson Maritime Learning Center, located at 33 William Street in downtown New Bedford. All programs are open to the public and presented free of charge.

For over 300 years the fishermen have made a precarious living catching shrimp, clams and fin-fish; now, the forces of globalization, imports, rising fuel prices and explosive coastal growth are threatening this hard-fought and deeply ingrained way of life. They don’t do it for the money—they fish because they have to, because they love the freedom. They are some of the last true independent spirits left in America, and their struggles to keep afloat in Snead’s Ferry is symbolic of what is going on around the country, and around the planet.

The Working Waterfront Festival is a project of the Community Economic Development Center of Southeastern MA, a non-profit organization. The free festival, a family friendly, educational celebration of New England’s commercial fishing industry, features live maritime and ethnic music, fishermen’s contests, fresh seafood, vessel tours, author readings, cooking demonstrations, kid’s activities and more. It all takes place on working piers and waterfront parks in New Bedford, MA, America’s #1 fishing port, on the last full weekend in September, this year on September 29 and 30. www.workingwaterfrontfestival.org.

Wild Caught: The Life and Struggles of an American Fishing Town Trailer