A waterman is someone whose life and livelihood revolve around the water, but the term carries two distinct meanings depending on where you are. In the Chesapeake Bay region, a waterman is a commercial harvester who makes a living pulling crabs, oysters, and fish from the bay. In Hawaiian and broader surf culture, a waterman is someone who has mastered multiple ocean disciplines, from surfing to swimming to paddling to diving. Both definitions share a core idea: deep, practical knowledge of the water earned through years of daily experience.
The Chesapeake Bay Waterman
Along the coasts of Maryland and Virginia, “waterman” is a specific professional title for someone who commercially harvests seafood from the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The blue crab is the species of primary importance, but watermen also harvest oysters, striped bass (locally called rockfish), clams, and other species depending on the season. The work follows a natural rhythm: crabbing dominates the warmer months, oystering takes over in winter, and various fin fish fill the gaps between.
What sets a waterman apart from a recreational fisherman or even a typical commercial fisher is the range of skills required. A waterman doesn’t specialize in one catch. Instead, they shift between species, gear types, and techniques throughout the year, reading the bay’s conditions to know where to go and what to target. This demands intimate knowledge of tides, bottom terrain, water temperature, weather patterns, and the behavior of dozens of species across their life cycles.
In Virginia, over 11,000 commercial fishing licenses have been issued, but only about 1,528 watermen reported production exceeding $1,000 in a recent survey year, the threshold for being considered an active commercial waterman. That gap between license holders and working professionals reflects a hard truth: making a full-time living on the water has become increasingly difficult.
Boats That Define the Trade
The vessels watermen use are as iconic as the profession itself. The skipjack, which originated on Maryland’s Eastern Shore in the 1890s, is the last working sailboat class in the United States. Ranging from 25 to 50 feet long with a shallow draft, centerboard, and a single-mast sloop rig, skipjacks were designed to dredge oysters from the bay floor under sail power. Maryland designated the skipjack as the official state boat in 1985, but by that point fewer than three dozen licensed and working skipjacks remained. The Chesapeake Bay Skipjack Fleet has since been recognized as a national treasure in danger of extinction.
The deadrise is the other signature waterman vessel. Named for the angle of its V-shaped hull, the deadrise is a motorized workboat built for stability in the bay’s shallow, choppy waters. Most working watermen today rely on deadrise-style boats, which can be rigged for crabbing, oystering, or fishing depending on the season.
A Culture Built Over Centuries
The waterman tradition on the Chesapeake stretches back centuries. By the 1790s, after the tobacco market collapsed from overplanting, many communities along the bay turned to the water for survival. African Americans played a significant role in shaping this culture, working on ships throughout the bay and, by the mid-twentieth century, operating as independent watermen harvesting oysters from their own boats. Others hauled menhaden into massive nets for commercial ships, singing work chanteys as they pulled.
Watermen have historically been fiercely independent, often working alone or with a single mate, owning their own boats, and answering to the rhythms of the bay rather than an employer. That independence is central to the identity. Communities on Smith Island, Tangier Island, and along the Eastern Shore have passed the trade down through families for generations, creating tight-knit cultures where nearly everyone’s livelihood connects to the water in some way.
Modern Pressures on the Profession
Today’s watermen operate under a web of conservation regulations designed to prevent overfishing and protect essential fish habitat. Federal and state rules set annual catch limits, accountability measures, and specific criteria for determining whether fish and shellfish populations are healthy or overfished. Watermen must navigate seasonal closures, size limits, gear restrictions, and licensing requirements that have grown more complex over the decades.
The ecological health of the bay directly shapes their income. NOAA-funded research has shown that oyster reef restoration in the Chesapeake could boost blue crab harvests by 25 percent and add $700,000 annually to regional economies if reefs continue to grow. If nearby eelgrass beds also recover, that increase could reach 122 percent, worth $3.1 million a year. On the flip side, losing restored reefs would cut the blue crab harvest by 13 percent. For watermen, environmental restoration isn’t abstract. It’s the difference between a viable season and a devastating one.
The Hawaiian Waterman Tradition
In Hawaiian culture, “waterman” means something different but equally respected. A waterman is someone who excels across multiple ocean disciplines: surfing, swimming, outrigger canoe paddling, diving, bodysurfing, and open-water endurance. The term implies not just athletic skill but a deep spiritual and practical relationship with the ocean, someone who is equally at home in any conditions the sea presents.
Duke Kahanamoku is the person most responsible for defining what a modern waterman looks like. Born in Honolulu, Kahanamoku won Olympic gold in the 100-meter freestyle in 1912 at Stockholm, took gold again in both the 100 meters and the relay at the 1920 Olympics in Antwerp, and earned silver behind Johnny Weissmuller at the 1924 Paris Games. He also served as an alternate on the U.S. water polo team at the 1932 Olympics, qualifying for four consecutive Games. He holds the record for the longest surfboard ride in history, across the currents of Kalehuawehe in Waikīkī, and became known as the “father of modern surfing” for popularizing the sport internationally. He was the first person inducted into both the Swimming Hall of Fame and the Surfing Hall of Fame.
Kahanamoku’s waterman skills weren’t just athletic. In 1925, when a vessel capsized in heavy surf at Corona del Mar, he and other surfers paddled out on their surfboards to rescue passengers. That incident led to lifeguards across the United States adopting surfboards as standard rescue equipment.
How the Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame Defines It
The Hawaii Waterman Hall of Fame formalizes the concept with specific induction criteria. Honorees must demonstrate sustained outstanding contribution to ocean sports and the community, with international, national, and local accomplishment and recognition. There’s also a cultural requirement described in Hawaiian as “keiki o ka ʻāina, keiki o ke kai,” meaning a child of the land and sea. The criteria reflect the Hawaiian understanding that being a waterman isn’t just about winning competitions. It’s about embodying a relationship with the ocean that serves and uplifts the broader community.
Two Traditions, One Idea
Whether you’re talking about a Maryland crabber pulling pots at dawn or a Hawaiian surfer navigating 20-foot swells, the word “waterman” points to the same underlying concept: mastery born from a life spent on the water. It’s not a title you earn through a single skill or a single season. It describes someone whose identity, livelihood, and knowledge are inseparable from the body of water they call home.