Fishing and Farming

I met Jason at the Murray Corner ( New Brunswick ) wharf on Father’s Day. He was pulling a medium-sized boat out of the water and finished the process before he turned off his truck’s motor to answer my questions.

The harbor was full of the typical Cape Islander boats, but they were decorated with large colorful balloon-like objects and had enormous rolls of nets loaded behind their cabins.

“Are those lobster boats?”, I asked. “I’m from Colorado”.

“They are when it’s lobster season”, he answered.

“So what are they doing now?”

“Well”, he said, “ John there ( pointing to a boat - we were the only people on the wharf ) is geared up for mackerel.”

“What’ll he do with them?”, I asked.

“He just came back from P.E.I. ( Prince Edward Island ) - sold the catch over there.

“Mark, (he continued, pointing to another boat ) - the one with the colorful balloons, he’s ready to go out for herring”.

“So what’ll he do with them?”, I asked.

“Sell them for bait for the lobster fishing. It’s lobster season on the Island - so they’ll go over there. Or up to Cap Pele where all the smoke houses are.”

“Me”, he said ( pointing to another boat ), I’m going for herring tomorrow. Those are all small nets on her. Not the big ones for mackerel” Today, though, I’m dragging for oyster - at least I was before I popped a seal on the hitch motor”.

“Oysters, that must be pretty lucrative”, I said.

Big smile from Jason, then a hearty, “Yes, I can’t fill the orders I have.”

“So, you’re a fisherman from around here?”

“Down the road a couple of kilometers”, I’m a fisherman and a farmer”

And so the dialogue continued, me the naive one from Colorado, he, seeming to enjoy supplying the answers.

I found out he farms mink and fox ( keeps him busy in the winter when the boat is out of the water ) that go to Toronto, then to China and Russia. Russian men like male fox fur for their hats and the mink goes to China to make coats.

The whole issue of animals being raised for their fur is unsettling for me, but I had to believe that Jason would at least treat them well while they were in his care. He shared a genuine concern about the local wild fox who, a few years ago, were dying in great numbers from mange. “It’s so sad”, he said. “If we could have caught them and given them just one shot to kill the parasite, they would have all lived” “ But they’re coming back....coming back and looking healthy. The ones who survived the mange are reproducing now.

“When I was out working the oysters, I saw a mother and her three pups playing on the sand bar. So they’re coming back...and they’re looking good.”