Sarah Schumann - Commercial Fisherman and Author

Standing Before the Mast

Sarah is a commercial fisherman with a BS in Marine Affairs from the University of Rhode Island; and a MSc in Nature, Society, and Environmental Policy from University of Oxford in England.

Her interest in fishing really began when she was teaching in Valparasio, Chile. Sarah explains how this interest came about and its connection to certain types of fishing here on Narragansett Bay.

Sarah is the author of two books: Rhode Island’s Shellfish Heritage: An Ecological History - published in 2015; and Simmering the Sea: Diversity Cookery to Sustain Our Fisheries - published in 2018, which she co-authored with Kate Masury and Marie-Joelle Rochet. We mention Kate in this podcast as she was a previous guest when I had her on to talk about Eating with The Ecosystem - which was founded by Sarah.

Sarah has also authored and co-authored numerous reports and peer-reviewed articles, as well as had her work appear in 41N Magazine, ECO-RI News, Commercial Fisheries News, Fisherman’s Voice and the Providence Journal. And she’s given a Ted talk presentation.

Beyond her rich academic background, Sarah has fished waters as far away as Alaska to right back here in Rhode Island - both as a deckhand and an owner/operator. She built her own 19’ wooden skiff; has written grants for Rhode Island-based fisheries and science organizations; and is fluent in Spanish having spent five years living in Chile, Honduras and Argentina.

From 2015 to 2018, Sarah coordinated the Resilient Fisheries RI project which began as a climate change adaptation effort and evolved into a full strategic planning initiative for Rhode Island commercial fishermen.

We also talk about the impact the planned offshore wind farms might have on commercial fishing in our waters.

For more information on some of the things we talk about in the podcast, check out:

eatingwiththeecosystem.org and resilientfisheriesri.org

Original music for the podcast composed by Nela Ruiz. @nelamusica on Instagram.

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