New Bedford, MassachusettsAt the heart of Fishing Vessel William Lee is a miniscule area to share meals. Crew members pack around a table just a few inches from an electric stove, which is outfitted with metal guards to stop piping-hot cookware from sliding onto them as the boat rocks on the Atlantic Ocean. About seven people will spend anywhere from 10 to 12 days at a time sharing these close quarters as they search for scallops, a famously lucrative and sustainable New England fishery.

In New Bedford, Massachusetts, where the William Lee docks, scalloping season begins in April. But in 2020, that aligned tragically with something else arriving on U.S. shores: a deadly pandemic.

Roughly 390 million pounds of seafood a year come through