The Maine fishing industry lost a guiding light when Susan Jones passed away in early September in Stonington at the age of 78. Her leadership shaped the fishermen’s newspaper, Commercial Fisheries News (CFN), for 40 years, from the early 1980s until her retirement in 2014, during which it was the paper of record for the New England fishing industry.
When Susan was named editor of CFN in 1988, I wrote an editorial noting that she had already improved the paper’s look and readability, tightened its content, and added features such as market reports and profiles of fishermen.
“Throughout, her accuracy and fairness have been evident. Commercial Fisheries News can only get better under her direction.”
They were young when they started and remember how Susan’s patience, kindness, and high standards nurtured and inspired their development.
Indeed, accuracy and fairness were the hallmark of her work. CFN is a trade publication with a very targeted audience. But Susan’s work ethic, her incisive questions, and her attention to detail would have been valued at any major publication.
Susan and I first met in 1972 when I interviewed her about clamming for the local Stonington paper. That interview was the start of our friendship. That story was also the start of CFN.
Listening to what clam diggers knew about the flats and their frustration with state management was one of the sparks for CFN: a place to share fishermen’s knowledge, and that of scientists and agency people, so that Maine fishermen could fish forever.
From then on, Susan and I were friends and shared our belief in CFN. Indeed, her talents and our shared purpose made it possible for me to leave the paper and pursue other ways to bring that vision for Maine’s fisheries to reality.
Susan built a team of writers, particularly Lorelei Stevens and Janice Plante. They were young when they started and remember how Susan’s patience, kindness, and high standards nurtured and inspired their development.
Plante, who went on to be the public information officer for the New England Fishery Management Council, remembers working with Susan after the U.S./Canada Hague Line decision in 1984. Susan was wrestling with CFN’s coverage of the monumental decision’s impacts, as they related to Gulf of Maine groundfish fishermen and those who fished on Georges Bank.
Plante said that late-night session epitomized who Susan was, how much she cared about fishermen and their families, and how much she wanted fishing communities to thrive.
It takes more than writers and graphics to make a newspaper, and Susan understood the need for advertising. She knew many of the advertisers and saw them as part of the community that made CFN. She nurtured the creativity and hard work of a young Brian Robbins—something readers have felt directly since he took on the editorial role at CFN (as well as everything else) in the last 12 years.
Before CFN, Susan was secretary of the Maine Lobstermen’s Association (MLA) and worked with then-MLA President Ed Blackmore on the Sternman Project, helping pass a 1976 federal law that exempts fishermen from paying employment taxes for their sternmen. She also worked with him to secure the Stonington Fish Pier.
All the while, Susan was a fisherman’s wife, a mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother. She and her husband, Donald, were a team throughout.
Susan was my dear friend. For 50 years we shared a vision for Maine’s fisheries as a place where regular people can make a good living, using their smarts, using the ocean so that generations to come can still fish from their harbors. She carried CFN for years and brought its mission to life.
Those who knew and worked with Susan are filled with gratitude for this kind, smart, principled, and strong woman who has made such a difference for fishing on the Maine coast and in our lives.
Robin Alden is founder and former editor and publisher of Commercial Fisheries News. She was commissioner of Marine Resources in the Gov. Angus King administration. She is collecting memories of Susan to share with her family. Please send them to robin.alden3@gmail.com.
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