Dear Friends:

 

On almost exactly this date in December, 2000, I departed on a fishing trawler with a crew of four from Portland, Maine for fishing grounds called "Wrecked Bottom and the Hat," 120 miles to the east in the North Atlantic.  I have attached the resulting photo-essay of those seven days at sea, now the current cover feature article published in "Public Health Reports," the journal of the U.S. Public Health Service.  It is important to mention the article is introduced with the following biographical information: "Earl Dotter is the Josephine Albright Patterson Fellow with the Alicia Patterson foundation, sponsor of his project documenting the hazards of commercial fishing in New England, and a Visiting Scholar at the Harvard School of Public Health."

 

With this article I send my thanks for your interest and support of my occupational photojournalism.  And I also hope the good New England fishermen featured in this article, will remind us of  the benefits we  receive from the many hearty individuals working at this moment in harsh, perilous conditions to provide food for our tables.

 

With my best wishes for a warm and safe holiday and personally rewarding New Year,

 

Earl Dotter