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There are also cultural differences with how people approach natural resources, lead researcher and Mississippi State University s Human Dimensions professor Kevin Hunt says of his study. White people have this individualistic culture that s so different from African Americans. Black fishermen often make decisions based on what s going to help the group. African American fishers kept more of their catch, they would keep different species, things like that.
The data, however, is both complicated and limited. During his career, Hunt has largely focused on recreational fishing, the entry point for most fishermen. He and other researchers have found sparse opportunities to study race in commercial fishing, including producing data that examines just how many recreational, competitive and commercial Black fishers exist, in large part because of limited funding opportunities from organizations that don t value examining demographic trends.
Ebony Anglers
When the five women making up the Ebony Anglers appear at a competitive fishing event wielding their rods and reels, there’s cause for conversation. Not just because the team including founder Gia Peebles, Lesleigh Mausi, Glenda Turner, Bobbiette Palmer, and Tiana Davis are competing in a sport populated primarily by white men in boats. But because they re dominating it.
Peebles organized the team over the summer of 2020 after visiting a local fishing tournament and realizing no women of color were participating. Peebles, a lifetime competitive athlete with a background in softball, knew her friend Mausi’s father was a professional angler and invited her to join. Turner, Palmer, and Davis followed. At their very first tournament in July 2020, the Carteret Community College Foundation’s Spanish Mackerel and Dolphin Tournament, the Ebony Anglers took first place with a 48-pound king mackerel.