Earl Dotter is the recipient of the Josephine Patterson Albright Fellowship in Photography for the year 2000 from The Alicia Patterson Foundation. His fellowship project title is: "COMMERCIAL FISHING, Our Most Perilous Trade." The grant will provide support to document the hazards faced by commercial fishermen far offshore in the North Atlantic as well as in the hand harvesting fisheries along the New England Coast.

Earl Dotter on his current project documenting the lives and work of America's commercial fishermen:

Working independently and far into the ocean, commercial fishermen practice their rigorous trade without much understanding from the public that hungers for fresh lobster, swordfish, shrimp, sea urchins or shellfish. Sebastian Junger's book, The Perfect Storm, and The Hungry Ocean by Linda Greenlaw have painted powerful portraits of the tragedy, demands and rewards of this perilous business. I feel my own working history as a photojournalist specializing in dangerous occupations has well prepared me to bring the compellingly visual side of this important story to light. There are important benefits to the fishermen and the public that can result from accomplishing this most important photographic essay.

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