Last of its kind, fishery faces reckoning in Chesapeake Bay
For a guy who left school after 11th grade, George Ball figures he has the best-paying job available on this rural stretch of Chesapeake Bay shoreline.
He catches a fish called Atlantic menhaden, used to make fish oil pills and farm-raised salmon feed, and earns about $50,000 a season, as much money as some college graduates.
"There ain't a whole lot of jobs around here for a person like myself, except for landscaping or something like that," said Ball, who comes from a long line of black fishermen. "Starting over would be treacherous."
