Keith Bruno comes from a family of lobster fisherman based out of Long Island. He pursued the trade there himself until an environmental disaster caused by warm waters and ammonium and sulfide pollution in 1999 killed all the lobsters in the Long Island Sound. While working a series of odd jobs and struggling to support his family, he stumbled across an advertisement for some incredibly cheap waterfront property in Pamlico County, North Carolina. Next thing he knew he was leaving New York and setting up shop in the small town of Oriental that sits on the Pamlico Sound, where he raised his two sons with his wife Miriam on the same piece of property that houses their dock and fish house. His wife works in the cafeteria of a local primary school, and they’ve been able to get by between that and the money Bruno makes from selling his catch both in bulk and in smaller retail quantities that various locals come by their home each day for. He pursues the craft not just as a means to an end, but as a passion that he couldn’t imagine life without. As a result of increasingly limiting fishing regulations, however, Bruno is unsure of both the long-term sustainability of his career as well as whether or not his sons will be able to pursue the same craft in the future should they desire to. Here, he stands at the dock with his current deckhand Cody Lazenby in the early hours of the morning before they depart for the day.

Less than 100 yards down the street from Endurance Seafood, a Welcome to Oriental sign stands to greet visitors before they cross the bridge that goes into downtown. “Coming here to raise my family in this community was by far the greatest decision I ever made,” Bruno said.

Bruno looks over the Pamlico Sound as his oyster trawler dredges another load.“I’ve heard a lot of people ask why commercial fishermen couldn’t just find another job if it’s becoming so hard to sustain certain fish populations,” Bruno said. “To me this isn’t just something to pay the bills, this is my way of life.”

Bruno and his deckhand sort through a pile of oysters they dredged for the live ones. Bruno’s had to rely much more on oysters since flounder season was shortened from 11 months to 19 days, and believes that around 90% of the deep water oysters in Pamlico County have died in recent years due to lack of oxygen in the warming waters.

Bruno stands in front of the lobster boat he owned in New York, the Endurance, with his eldest son Zach and his pregnant at the time wife Miriam. He loved the work and the money it made but said it put him in many dangerous situations, including being stuck offshore in the infamous 1991 perfect storm.

Zach Bruno chats with an oyster fisherman that stopped by the Brunos'. While Keith’s younger son Benjamin is stationed with the Coast Guard back in New York, Zack has consistently remained in Oriental to help carry the load around Endurance Seafood. “Since I was diagnosed with heart failure a few years ago, Zachary has really stepped up to help keep things going around here,” Keith said.

Bruno loads a pallet of fresh fish into a truck that will be taken to a different state later that night. “Wholesale keeps my wallet fed, and retail keeps my soul fed,” Bruno said, who lives for the interactions he has with the members of his community that he gets to help feed.

Zack, Keith, and Miriam sit down for dinner in the evening. After getting off from work at Arapahoe Charter School, Miriam comes home to cook dinner before they all go to bed shortly after.

Bruno sets off for another day of oyster fishing in the early hours of the morning, reading by the light of the homemade helm on his skiff that’s now over 20 years old.

Bruno looks over the water at a stormy sky. The future remains uncertain for him and Endurance Seafood, but he holds no intention of finding other work until the state, the ecosystem, or his body forces him to do so.