Fishermen's Wives of Gloucester (Association)

The Fishermen's Wives of Gloucester (Association), known familiarly as the Gloucester Fishermen's Wives Association (GFWA) is a non-profit organization promoting the New England fishing industry, helping to preserve the Atlantic Ocean as a food supply for the world, and assisting active and retired fishermen and their families to live better lives. Initially called the United Fishermen's Wives Organization of Gloucester, the group formed in 1969; by 1977 it had changed its name to GFWA. Referring to themselves informally as "the Wives," the group of primarily Sicilian-American women, many first-generation immigrants, successfully learned English and assimilated to American culture. With their husbands offshore on fishing trips, often for extended periods of time, the Wives assumed responsibilities that had been traditionally divided according to gender. For instance, they managed households and acted as caregivers while at the same time paid bills, administered finances, and became involved in political affairs at the local level. As foreign, commercial fishing fleets threatened the livelihood of local fishermen, the Wives became advocates for their husbands' rights.

Initially vocalizing concerns of local fishermen, in the late 1970s the GFWA became active at the state, federal, and international levels as well. Among the Wives' first goals were lobbying for the federal government to prohibit oil drilling in Georges Bank and to protect the rights of American fishermen by passing fisheries conservation and management legislation. Members of the GFWA traveled to Washington, D.C., to testify before Congress about the necessity for such protective measures. The Magnuson-Stevens Act (1976) established a 200-mile area from shore in which only American vessels were permitted to fish, and created the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) to manage American fisheries and conserve and protect living marine resources.

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