At its peak, Wanchese Harbor was the busiest port on the Eastern Seaboard. The many fish houses packed millions of pounds of seafood annually and were crowded with commercial fishing boats unloading their hauls. Today, it’s a ghost of what it used to be.
Over half of the commercial fisherman have left the business and the eight fish houses are now three. “A lot of people that fish now that don’t make much money,” says Mark Vrablic, manager of Etheridge Seafood Co., “They make a living, but they can’t afford to go to meetings and pay their politicians all this money.”
Vrablic attributes the decline in the commercial fishing business as a result of state government regulations. “It’s bad to be in an industry [where] you know the government don’t like you,” Vrablic says.
“I still go to a lot of meetings, … and they don’t even like to see me because I remember … the way of life.”
Vrablic hopes to one day revive the harbor and the commercial fishing business. “I feel like we’re been in a war with these people for the last 40 years,” “They don’t want us to make it, they want us to give up, … and I’m not giving up until good Lord takes me.”
