Commercial fishing is one of America’s most dangerous jobs. In 2019, commercial fishermen suffered work-related deaths at a rate more than 40 times the average worker, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Regionally, the East Coast has a full third of all commercial fishing fatalities in the United States, more than any other region in the nation. Only logging work kills more Americans than commercial fishing annually. Still, the tempestuous North Atlantic, ripe with some of the world’s richest fisheries, beckons one generation of South Forkers after the next out into its waters…
Southforker Stories: Montauk fishermen are the heart of the sea
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Dave Aripotch getting ready for another trek out to sea. (Photo credit: Jeremy Garretson)
Amy Zavatto is the Editor-in-Chief for southforker, northforker and Long Island Wine Press. She's a wine, spirits, and food journalist whose work appears in Wine Enthusiast, InsideHook.com, MarthaStewart.com, the New York Post, Liquor.com, SevenFifty Daily, Imbibe, Men’s Journal and many others. She's the author of The Big Book of Bourbon Cocktails, Prosecco Made Me Do It: 60 Seriously Sparkling Cocktails, Forager’s Cocktails: Botanical Mixology with Fresh, Natural Ingredients, and The Architecture of the Cocktail. She is a respected judge for the American Craft Spirits Association’s annual small-production spirits competition, and has moderated numerous panels on the topics of wine, spirits, cocktails, and regional foodways. She is the former Deputy Editor for the regional celebratory publications, Edible Manhattan and Edible Brooklyn, as well as the former Executive Director of the Long Island Merlot Alliance. She is a member of the New York chapter of the international organization of women leaders in food, wine, and spirits, Les Dames d’Escoffier. The proud daughter of a butcher, Amy is originally from Shelter Island, N.Y., where she developed a deep respect for the East End’s natural beauty and the importance of preserving and celebrating it and its people.
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