We Came to Fish
We Came to Work
Stories of Immigration
The Port of New Bedford has long drawn immigrants from around the world. Despite differences in language and culture, a highly-valued fishing industry developed, drawing on the strengths of immigrants from all over the world including the Cape Verde, Guatemala, Norway, Nova Scotia, Vietnam, and Portugal. This exhibit explores why and how people came to New Bedford and how they became involved in the working waterfront.
The people and stories profiled in this exhibit are a small representation of the many different communities that make up New Bedford’s working waterfront.
Do you have a story of your own?
Lo Van Nguyen
from Phú Quý, Vietnam
Arrived 1979
“Used to be, the first Vietnamese fisherman in New Bedford, was me!”
“They say communists, they don’t treat people too good. That’s why when they came over I ran away. They came looking for me and my family say, ‘well, he left here a long, long time. He don’t live here.’ They keep looking for three years. After the last year, I can’t remember exactly why they found me. And they put me in the jail. But after six months I made a hole in the land. I ran out. Me and a couple guys. That’s why I left.”
“We left Vietnam, we came [to] Malaysia, we stay over here for nine, ten months. And wait for US Consul. They decide where my family can go. We came to America. The first time we came into New York.
“They put me in the newspapers. They need some people’s help who want to sponsor my family. That’s why two Unitarian churches, one in New Bedford, one in Fairhaven, called a meeting together and try to bring me here.”
“Knut Arnsheim said he don’t care how’s my English, he cares about [whether] I know how to cut the fish and do the job on the boat. That’s what he needs. That’s why I get a job.”
Life in Vietnam:
Today…
“I lived on a small island in southeast Vietnam. About 50 miles from the mainland. People that live on the island are all fishermen. Every man is a fisherman. The ladies are farmers. I started fishing with my father when I was a boy, about 6 or 7 years old. “
Lo fishes for scallops on the F/V Hunter and the F/V Kathryn Marie.
Vietnam
Phú Quý
Following the end of the Vietnam War in 1975, communist government policies, economic sanctions, destruction left by the war, and conflicts with neighboring countries led to a humanitarian crisis and displacement of people in Vietnam. Desperate to leave, thousands sought passage on boats to other Southeast Asian countries. Some of these “boat people” were eventually settled in the United States. Since fishing was a common occupation in Vietnam, many Vietnamese refugees found work in the fishing industry upon arriving in the United States.
