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Photo: Leia Onofrey
“85-95% of the Vietnamese dads in this community scallop. I was actually thinking about scalloping because the money paid really well. Then I started thinking about college . . . and I ended up at NORPEL as a cost accountant.”
Anthony Nguyễn
Anthony is a second-generation Vietnamese- and Filipino-American Assistant Manager Cost Accountant at NORPEL – a pet food manufacturer headquartered in New Bedford, MA. In this excerpt, he speaks about scalloping with his dad and how his role at NORPEL, which turns seafood, red meat, and poultry into pet food, has allowed him to remain connected to the commercial fishing industry. He describes the way NORPEL globalized and grew during the Covid-19 pandemic and the way his job at NORPEL has provided him with the financial stability to be able to support himself and his sister.
This interview was originally conducted in English.
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Background Information:
Anthony is part of a small community of second-generation Vietnamese-Americans living in New Bedford whose parents escaped their home country at the end of the Vietnam War. This generation was eventually given refugee status and settled in other countries, like the United States. Many people who came from Phú Quý, an island in Southeast Vietnam, grew up fishing and now make a living scalloping. Anthony mentions that the company he works for grew during the COVID-19 pandemic, but that was not the norm for the industry. When restaurants shuttered and supply chains were disrupted, the commercial fishing industry suffered tremendously.
