Alumni Spotlight: Cassie Canastra '08

When you’re a woman working in an industry as male-dominated as the fishing industry, you have to know when not to back down.

Cassie Canastra ’08, 2018 Southcoast Woman of the Year, knows this all too well, as the manager of the auctions for the Buyers and Sellers Exchange (BASE) of New England, formerly the Whaling City Public Display Auction. BASE helps sell up to 300,000 pounds of fish and shellfish a day at the largest fishing port in the U.S. Veteran fishermen depend on her company’s system to sell the fruits of their hard labor for a competitive price; the buyers are looking for fair rates as well.

Cassie grew up in the family business, always asking questions of her father and uncle, the BASE New England founders. Passionate about the industry, she wanted to follow in their footsteps, but her family members, wary of the industry’s future, pushed her in other directions and emphasized getting an education.

Her parents sent her to Friends Academy in Dartmouth, and it became her dream to attend Tabor. She enrolled and excelled at basketball here, but went to the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester to throw shot put and discus (“I still hold those records,” she says, laughing.)

After graduating, she returned home and taught at Our Sisters’ School in New Bedford, but soon realized that teaching wasn’t her forte. Eventually, she joined BASE to manage their social media and represent the company at public meetings. She has since become the Director of Marketing and has overseen the implementation of a new software system, which now allows customers to access the auction from an iPad or smart phone. She gets in everyday before 7:00 AM to run the scallop auction, sometimes before 6:00 AM for the start of the fish auction.

Despite the long days, she still finds time to pursue her master’s in fisheries science at UMASS Dartmouth’s School of Marine Science & Technology and serves as the sector manager for a New Bedford groundfish sector, where she helped overturn NOAA’s groundfishing ban.

Her love of learning blossomed at Tabor. She remembers fondly the discussions she had in Mr. Johnson’s English classes, where free and critical thinking were encouraged. She also learned independence and developed a work ethic at Tabor.

“Even as a day student,” she says. “I was there all the time. You’re given more freedom than at most schools, and I learned to manage my time. I also learned to hold myself to a very high standard.”

She relishes being one of only a few females in the entire fishing industry in southeastern Massachusetts. “There is a level of respect you command when you are a woman who has overcome the odds,” she says.

The plan is for her to eventually take over the family business. Her uncle has two daughters, and together they wonder if the business may someday be run entirely by women.