Watermen's Training Program Launched
15 men and 5 women make up the first group of watermen to begin training in the Watermen's Heritage Tourism Training Program, which is designed to give working watermen and family members the knowledge, skills, and connections to participate in heritage and geo-tourism businesses associated with Maryland's history, environment and maritime heritage, especially the Captain John Smith Chesapeake National Historic Trail.
The training, which began today in Deal Island, Md., is organized by the Chesapeake Conservancy and its partners, Coastal Heritage Alliance, Maryland Watermen's Association, and the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum. The program was developed in response to declining fisheries in the Bay.
In May of 2009, the U.S. Secretary of Commerce officially declared the Chesapeake Bay commercial blue crab fishery a failure, and an economic disaster. Funding for the Watermen Heritage Tourism Training Program comes from the federal Blue Crab Fishery Disaster Fund created by Senator Barbara A. Mikulski and distributed by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
The disaster fund was designed to address the immediate and long-term needs of the watermen community in the Chesapeake region. While the crab population appears to have rebounded, the watermen are still in need of economic assistance.
Over a 24-month period, the heritage tourism program will provide tuition and other support to 60 to 100 watermen or their family members to participate in the training. According to the Maryland Department of Business and Economic Development, tourism is one of the state's fastest growing industries and largest economic generators. The watermen's culture, with its authenticity and unique work, has potential to tap into this growing industry.
"This job training program is one way to preserve the lives and livelihoods of Maryland's watermen in this tough economy," said Senator Mikulski, Chairwoman of the Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice and Science that funds the Blue Crab Fishery Disaster Fund. "I promised to stand up for watermen as they face a potential disaster to their way of life, and promises made are promises kept. I will continue to look for opportunities to help these men and women maintain their way of life on the Chesapeake Bay, while providing income and stability for Maryland families."
One of the program participants, David Whitlock, said that the program "has opened my eyes to different possibilities that I didn't even think of before I took the workshop. I didn't think about providing tours or taking people out crabbing or oystering to see what we do for a living. I like sharing what we do. It's another potential way to make money and will help to let the people know we are not out there to catch the last oyster or crab. Most of us watermen are conservationists; we want the fishery and the Bay to be viable today and for future generations."
In addition to the tourism training program, the disaster funds have been used to fund a license buy-back program, stock assessment and cooperative research projects, enforcement, crabmeat quality assurance program, oyster aquaculture and education and infrastructure, and oyster bar habitat rehabilitation projects.
For more information on the program see http://chesapeakeconservancy.org/WHTTP.html .
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