Freezing The Watermen Business

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By ALICIA WEBB (OCEAN CITY, MD -- WMDT) 1/30/2005
People who make a living on boats are feeling a freeze on their business.

The 31st Annual East Coast Commercial Fisherman's and Aquaculture Trade Expo is a meeting of the minds for watermen. Organizers say between six and ten thousand people attend the three day event.

Maryland Watermen's Association Administrator Betty Duty says, "It's a service to the watermen, a place for them to come to learn what they need to know about their industry."

She says the industry is changing everyday and for that reason watermen need to come together.

"I think it's getting together to discuss the problems of the industry and coming up with some ideas of how to protect their industry because it's being threatened all the time by water qualities or homeowners who don't want the watermen harvesting anything in their river," says Duty.

Watermen came from far as North Carolina and New York to see what new technology is available to those who spend their lives on the water. For Maryland watermen boats and fishing are their way of life, but with the recent bad weather on Delmarva many of them have been affected in the worst possible way.

Duty says, "It affects them a lot, just like you if your boss tell you well you can't work for the next two weeks. I'm not gonna pay you that's how it affects them."

Larry Simns is the president is the of the Maryland Waterman's Association. He says the snow and ice can be devastating to most watermen.

"If the spell lasts too long then it's hurtful. Most of the time you prepare for that and it makes thing tight. They get through it sometimes, sometimes not real good but they get through it," says Simns.

Simns hopes for watermen like himself that this winter weather will not last much longer.