Against all odds: A couple’s triumphant journey into North Carolina seafood
The story of Herman and Quinnetta Manley, better known as Fishman and Mermaid Q, is a testament to the human spirit's incredible resilience.
Facing fierce competition and the sting of discrimination after relocating from Norfolk, Va., to Hertford, N.C., this remarkable couple has not only carved a successful niche for themselves in the North Carolina seafood industry, but they are also working to combat food deserts and inspire the next generation of commercial fishers.
When Quinnetta moved from Ohio, where she worked as a nurse, to Virginia 20 years ago, she met Herman. His family was already deeply rooted in the seafood industry, operating beloved restaurants and seafood markets in Virginia's Tidewater region. “I'm going to say seafood royalty,” Quinnetta recalls.
“One day, we were in the office, and he looked at me and was like, ‘I think we should become commercial fishermen,’ … We didn't even know what we were doing. We just knew that we had to leave Virginia and come here. I had a calling to the water, and he had a calling to the water. So we just did it.”
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This story is part of NC Catch’s “Recognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry” project. North Carolina’s Black seafood business community has partnered with researchers in this historic project conceived by NC Catch to build understanding of the vital role African Americans and people of color play in the state’s seafood industry. Narratives, video and oral histories tell the stories of Black fishers, wholesalers, chefs and others working in seafood. A N.C. Sea Grant 2024 Community Collaborative Research Grant has helped fund the project.
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Throughout their struggles, the Manleys worked calmly and tirelessly toward their goals, supplementing their income with other jobs while diligently building their business. They maintained impeccable records and spoke from the heart to fishery regulators. They prioritized strong professional relationships, treating fellow commercial fishers with respect and encouraging them to unite for common causes like pricing and input regarding fishery regulations.
These values and guiding principles, combined with their unwavering determination, proved instrumental in their success. “Everything I sell I touch with my two hands,” Herman said. “I want you to have the best…the cleanest, tastiest, fish and crabs.”
Today, the couple proudly harvests seafood off both Virginia and North Carolina. The couple also runs their Crackn’ Crab food truck in an underserved Norfolk neighborhood. “We standing tall,” Mermaid Q says.
The Manleys shared their story during a 2024 interview with NC Catch’s “Recognizing African American Participation in the North Carolina Seafood Industry” project team. The following excerpts have been edited for length and clarity.
When you started commercial fishing in North Carolina, was it hard because you were new in town, new on the water?
Quinnetta: We didn't have a mentor. We didn't have no one to teach us. We didn't even know what we were doing…We literally packed up, moved here (Hertford, N.C.) with our now son, who is 15, about to be 16, and got our license and got into the water.
What really pushed us to be commercial fishermen is because there were no Black commercial fishermen to deal with (when we were in the restaurant business). (Seafood wholesalers) would give us dead crabs. They would tell us they would have our order, and then they would pull out. They would raise the prices on us, not knowing that we call around and we investigate, because part of this business is having a black book and talking to each other. Our main push was we needed to become commercial fishermen, even if we were the first, second, third or fourth, we needed to be in this industry to help others who have seafood restaurants, because we're all experiencing the same thing.
Even when we came here (to Hertford) and we got on the water, we were the only Black people in the water, and they knew it. They hazed us real bad. They cut our pots, and then they eventually sunk our boat. They told all the other crabbers, do not sell to us. And if they do, they won't buy their product. They won't give them bait. And we looked at each other again. That was the first time, in a long time I seen you (Herman Manley) cry. We had one buyer tell one of the other crabbers right here; this was after he had sank my boat. ‘Well, you tell Herman, look, I’ll buy his crabs, but he can't bring then up here. Someone else has to bring them.
Herman: He said, ‘I don't want to disrupt the camaraderie of my other crabbers.”
It wasn't even just the buyers and the crabbers. Marine patrol — once I went and got my dealer's license — man, (N.C. Marine Patrol) came down on me hard, really, hard. Because I had a buyer's license and had a couple of guys around here that were willing to sell me crabs. We were still running crabs to Richmond, Va., Washington D.C, Eastern Shore, Maryland. And they didn't want that. They didn't want me to disrupt, I guess, the flow of crabs in this area. So, they came at me extra hard. They wrote me tickets. One guy down here was stealing crabs, and he said he was selling to some guy in town, and they coerced him to put my name on the paperwork. The guy didn't know me. I didn't know him, but they, sure enough, coerced him to put my name on the paperwork saying he was selling me illegal crabs. I got that straight.
I wound up going to talk to the lieutenant. I took him three pages (of a report) that I typed up, told him ‘I want you to read that before we have a conversation,’ and he read it and said, ‘Mr. Manly, I ain't heard about none of this.’ I said, ‘Well, that's what I'm going through.’ I said, ‘I don't mind that a marine patrol officer is doing his job, but ask him not to make me his job because right now he's doing a lot to disrupt what I'm trying to do.’ I said, ‘I’ve got a wife and kids.’ Just me and him talked and sat in my front yard. He had a wife, daughter, about to have a son. I said, ‘Look, if he (marine patrol officer) catches me doing something wrong, I'll pay my ticket, but tell him stop…He's trying to put me out of business for some reason.’ He (Lieutenant) said, ‘You will never have another problem out of him.’ I didn't see that guy for four years after that.
So it paid to go over his head and talk to somebody about that problem.
Quinnetta: It pays to have your paperwork in order. It pays to have your license. It pays to have your heart and your mind in the right place. It pays that my husband has a cool head. He came in calm, and he came in with paperwork, because he knew that my first strike is being a Black man. My second strike is being a Black man. Those are just the two.
The only other Black, older fisherman that we knew, they just ran him off the water. Because if you don't have support out here, or you don't have a strong mindset and will, they will run you off, you know what I mean? So, we looked at each other again, and I said, ‘You know what we got to do, right? You go to FedEx and work, and I'm going to Chick-fil-A.’
But on the positive note, we still had other crabbers that were seeing it, and was like, ‘No, no. We see what's going on.’ And they began to support us, and we began to just stay in the community, and we stayed on the water. And I think they were like, they're not going nowhere, so it's either embrace it or just leave them alone.
We were still out a whole year because they sunk our boat. Thank God we're smart enough to have insurance and know about those things, but we worked a job and still built our business, and it pushed us even more to be like we have to not only walk through this door, we have to kick this door down, and when we when we come through, we have to bring change and not focus on the negative, but focus how we can pull together.
Herman: We (commercial fishers) control the market.
Quinnetta: Because we are losing seasons, and people are losing their families, and people are selling off things because they can't make it. I need for us (commercial fishers) to know we control the market. But they (buyers) make us feel like they do. If we all got on the phone, instead of us trying to cut each other down, and we said, ‘Hey, Jim, John, we’re standing tall. Bushels are $110. Anybody you talk to, anybody I talk to, that's our numbers.’ Instead of being like, ‘Oh, I can do it better than...’ instead of the cutthroat.
And Covid was another thing that I felt like, ‘What about us (commercial fishers) on the water that we were just cut off…So, we were thinking outside the box… we can talk to people. Let's get a trailer. We got a trailer. Let's build it out. Let's go to a corner. Let's put on masks. And because our top focus is not just about money. It's not about catching crabs. It's not about the fish. It's about supplying food deserts…not only do we cook on our food truck, but we also promote come get fresh fish, come get fresh shrimp. And we work with other commercial fishermen.
Dollar General is not a grocery store. McDonald's is not real food.
Herman: The nearest grocery store from where we were originally setting up (in Petersburg, Va.), it was about eight miles away…
The one grocery store we went in…it was cigarettes, beer and old meat. Cigarettes, beer and I mean, the meat part, old meat, flies underneath. So, we set up, started selling fresh crabs, fresh fish, shrimp, fruits and vegetables, watermelons…In Virginia, we were selling seafood from three different buildings: restaurant, business, fish market.
That's incredible. When you go up to Norfolk, you set up your crab truck, but you also have fish and stuff?
Herman: Fresh fish, shrimp, scallops...
Do you fish in both Virginia and North Carolina?
Herman: We actually went and bought a Virginia license. Virginia fishing regulations are totally different. We can go up there every day, all day, and fish in Virginia, no regulations other than the size net, and catch rockfish all year long, flounder all year long. That was the reason we bought the Virginia license, just to go fishing. Because the regulations they got down here, they are killing fishermen.
Quinnetta: It’s (commercial fishing) a dying thing. And that's why we keep our 15-year-old in the business, because if you are a fisherman and you don't have a protege or somebody that's under you learning this industry, you won't learn because all the fishermen like to keep everything in close. If we're not spreading that knowledge and that information, I see it slowly dying. So having my son was important on the boat. And to say, you don't have to become a fisherman. You can run a business, but we need to keep this going.
Herman: Everything I sell I touch with my two hands. I'm like, no, no, no, no. I want you to have the best product. The cleanest, most, tastiest, fresh fish, crabs. I refuse to give anybody a bad product. When a lot of fishermen, they don't care, they will put anything in them baskets.
Quinnetta: Keep building relationships. And that's what we're big on. Even before we set up in the community we're in, we're shaking hands. Hi, how are you doing? We’re talking to the neighbors. We asking how we can support. My husband and my son are cutting grass for free. We're saying come and we'll take care of you.
What do you love about commercial fishing?
Herman: The freedom to be on the water, just being outdoors.
Quinnetta: The animals, the fact that God created something that we can pay our bills with.
In addition to harvesting and selling seafood, you also offer fishing charters?
Quinnetta: We take people out for a couple hours of the day, where we do it in the morning. We have snacks and water and things, but we let them fish. We filet on the boat for them. We give them a little breader kit of flour and seasoning for them to take.
If you could change anything about what you're doing now, what would the number one thing be? What would make your jobs easier, your livelihoods easier?
Quinnetta: If I could get more people to come be commercial fishermen. Because no one is being vocal on what it is and how you do it. That’s why I do it on my (social media) page. They don't see fishing as a career. They don't know that commercial fishermen are a $70,000 truck and that they have a $50,000 motor, or that they’re pulling into a quarter-million-dollar house because fishermen are like this. They don't want you to know that it's money, because they don't want you to come in his lane. So, that is why I'm me, and I'm authentically me on my jewelry and everything. But I know I have to show that it's profitable over here. We need more people to come into this industry on all levels. You might be a scientist or whatever, we need it on all levels to come into this industry. And it's worth it.
So where do you see yourselves in, say, five years?
Quinnetta: Having three hubs, one in the Maryland area, one here in this area, and one closer to Georgia, to having a fleet of trucks that's moving delivery and semi to at least be bringing at least two to three new commercial fishermen getting trained up to be on force, To be traveling the world on stages, speaking about the commercial industry.
Herman: Sixty-foot, three-bedroom trawler yacht to go down to the Dominican Republic.
Quinnetta: We’ve got a vision board.
Herman: Keep moving forward.
Quinnetta: I’m going to be in Forbes (magazine) one day in a commercial fisherman overall suit and my Coach boots…to let them know that I kicked the door in.
Journalist Liz Biro wrote this report in 2024 based on a 2024 interview by Barbara Garrity-Blake. Photo by Barbara Garrity-Blake.
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