This scene I understand. It is as known to me as the back of my hand. While I have not done this work, generations of fishing experience anchor my DNA. For three of my four grandparents and generations before them, fishing was a way of life.
Watching the boats and the seagulls on this beautiful spring day, it looks idyllic.
It belies the reality of this dangerous occupation. The changeable weather and the risks associated with working at sea in a small craft are not obvious watching these boats on this day.
While my history is associated with Newfoundland, this island has an agricultural history and a history in the fishery, going back for generations too. Hard work and hard times were a part of life on both islands.
At one time, the men rowed to the fishing grounds and the catch was salted. Today, the boats are bigger and faster, and a fish plant takes the catch. There are quotas, regulations, enforcement,
and standards in the industry, a twenty-first century fishery, very different from the one my ancestors knew.
This day, boats go in and out the inlet, like the ebb and flow of the tide.
Headed to the dock, they keep the green buoys to the port side,
to avoid the shoals. Some of the fishers clean out fish boxes on deck, as the gulls travel alongside,
watch and scramble for their share of the offal. From our place on the beach we can hear their bird excitement as they vie for a morsel, uttering the same sounds known to our ancestors.
The beauty of the scene today is a pleasant reminder of a proud heritage.
24 comments:
Nice exploration of a way of life that still carries on.
It's so beautiful! I wondered why the birds were following the boat, so thanks for explaining. It's a different world today, isn't it? But it's still very beautiful. :-)
Things change and do not change all at the same time.
Good to see them still working. They have all but disappeared here.
If you live on an island you must see a lot of boats!
That really IS a heritage, Marie, as much in your blood as church life and ministry are in mine. It's interesting, isn't it, how these things are in our genes! To be honest, I quite like seeing the ancestries and genes of others...not just my own. Thanks for sharing.
Lovely to see this way of life continues - super photos.
It is different for sure.
Thank you. It continues for now!
True, Debra!
I didn't realize your fishery was so depleted.
I love learning what makes others who they are as well. It would be so dull and boring if we were all the same.
We don't live by the ocean so we don't see them every day.
That way of life is still going on here. Such a variety of seafood is available.
And a wonderful entry...thank you.
Yes, I think fishing must have been, and still is, a very dangerous way of life. But beautiful photos once again!
Fishing and mining are still very dangerous. One is beautiful. The other? Not so much.
Thank you for your visit to my blog, and for the window into your world.
Thanks for visiting, Mage.
So many lives have been lost in pursuit of a livelihood from the sea.
We lived in a mining town when men died in the mine. Fishing is so dangerous too.
I so enjoy reading about things like this. It is partly biographical and partly informative. I had a good time reading this post.
Great, Emma. Thanks for visiting
How did I miss this wonderful entry. The little boats are so special. Beautiful PEI. No wonder Anne loved it so much. Makes me homesick for WI and visits with my Aunt who had a view of Lake MI from her living room window (until the big boys (like Trump) turned all the retired teachers out of their rental flats and "upgraded" the building for out-of-towners who could afford two-three-four places.
As is often the case, the regular person gets squeezed out by money.
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