Highliners honored in past years
1975
Joe Easley, Spuds Johnson, Nels Otness
1977
1995
Michael McHenry, Dennis Petersen, Gary Slaven
1996
Oral Burch, Adolph Samuelson, Wayne Smith
*Special Award: Lifetime Achievement
Dr. Dayton L. Alverson
William Foster, Robert Smith, Diane Wilson
*Special Award: U.S. Rep. Gerry Studds
1978
Jim Bassett, Mark Lundsten, Pietro Parravano
1997
1998
Dan Arnold, John J. Ross, Larry Simns
1979
Bill Amaru, Felix G. Cox, Gary Nichols
1999
Louis Agard Jr., Bart Eaton, Barry Fisher
1980
Wayne Moody, Jay Stinson, Ray Wadsworth
2000
Kenny Daniels, Joe Novello, Rick Savage
1981
Scott Keefe, Patten D. White, Richard Neilsen Jr.
2001
Gordon Jensen, Ralph Hazard, Konrad Uri
1982
Richard Miller, William Sandefur Jr., Gabe Skaar
1983
Dave Danborn, Bruce Gore, John Maher
1984
Dick Allen, Paul Pence, James Salisbury
1985
Oscar Dyson, Mike McCorkle, Rudy Peterson
1986
Jake Dykstra, Richard McLellan, Bill Moore
1987
Ginny Goblirsch, Jamie Ross, Tim Thomas
2002
George Barisich, Russell Dize, Luis Ribas
2003
Dan Hanson, Chris Miller, Arne Fuglvog
2004
David Goethel, James Ruhle Sr., Tony Iarocci
2005
Wilburn Hall, Bill Webber Sr., Bill Maahs
2006
Vito Giacalone, David Karwacki, Jim Lovgren
2007
Al Burch, Earl Carpenter, Einar Pedersen
*Special Award: U.S. Coast Guard Station Kodiak
1988
Frank Mirarchi, Sonny Morrison, Louis Puskas
1989
Nat Bingham, Pete Knutsen, Francis Miller
Dave Bitts, Eric Jordan, Kaare Ness
2008
Rodney Avila, Tilman Gray, Craig Pendleton
2009
Linda Behnken, Kevin Ganley, Joel Kawahara
2010
1990
Bob Evans, Jim Odlin, David Spencer
Arnold Leo, Fred Mattera, Mark Taylor
1991
Ron Hegge, Rick Steiner, Tony West
Special Award: Lifetime Achievement
Clement V. Tillion
1992
David Cousens, Julius Collins, Jim McCauley
1993
John Bruce, Snooks Moore, Jimmy Smith
1994
Tim Adams, Nelson R. Beideman, Joseph Testaverde
*Special Award: Lifetime Achievement
Angela Sanfilippo
2011
Larry Collins, Dan Falvey, Bill Webber Jr.
2012
Dewey Hemilright, Kevin Wark, Wayne Werner
2013
Robert Heyano, Robert Hezel, Jerry McCune
*Special Award: Lifetime Achievement
Brian Rothschild
2014
Martin Fisher, Ida Hall, Russell Sherman
2015
John F. Gruver, Kathy Hansen, Jeremiah O’Brien
A Special Thank You to Our Sponsor
2014 & 2015
HIGHLINER AWARD WINNERS
National Fisherman began the Highliner Award tradition in 1975.
Each year the magazine and its sponsoring partner Furuno honor three commercial
fishermen who uphold a standard of excellence in their advocacy of the fishing industry.
Tonight we celebrate the winners of the 2014 and 2015 Highliner Awards.
Martin Fisher runs a small fleet out of Madeira Beach, Fla., including the 36-foot
bandit-rigged Rising Sun, which shares a name with his company. He has served on
many Gulf of Mexico council advisory panels and most recently finished his second
three-year term with the Marine Advisory Committee. In 2005, Fisher advocated for
grouper trip limits as director and co-founder of the Gulf Fishermen’s Association.
Ida Hall is a native Virginia waterman who catches blue crab on her unnamed
16-foot skiff. She has fished Chesapeake Bay for 40 years, working gillnets and
growing oysters in cages. Since 2002, she has served on the Potomac River Fisheries
Commission, including her current role as chairwoman. She is also secretary of the Virginia
Watermen’s Association and a volunteer member of the Virginia Blue Crab Industry Panel.
Russell Sherman grew up in Putnam, Conn., and found his way to the
Northeast groundfish fleet by way of Harvard University. He started offshore
lobstering out of Gloucester, Mass., after graduation in 1971 and bought his first boat
— an inshore dragger — in 1984. He soon became an advocate for the industry and
fought the juggernaut that would become catch shares management.
John F. Gruver worked his way up from the deck to the wheelhouse of the
Bering Sea pollock trawler F/V Sea Wolf in the 1980s. He stepped away from the
wheelhouse in 1999 and took up networking — both figuratively, as the CatcherVessel Intercooperative Manager for United Catcher Boats, and literally, as a designer
of the game-changing king salmon excluder net for the Bering Sea pollock fleet.
Kathy Hansen runs the drift gillnetter F/V Ocean Gold out of Juneau, Alaska,
with her husband, Ed, and is the executive director and a founder of the Southeast
Alaska Fishermen’s Alliance. Kathy has worked in many fisheries in Alaska and
Washington, and is known for her efforts to see all sides of fisheries issues and find the
solution that works best for the most users.
Jeremiah O’Brien is a displaced New Englander who trolls for West Coast
albacore on the 48-foot F/V Aguero out of Morro Bay, Calif., which is his version
of retirement after having fished everything from shark to sea bass and even diving
for abalone and urchins. He served 10 years as the president of the Morro Bay
Commercial Fishermen’s Organization and now sits on the board of directors.