Making a go of it

By Aaron Beswick

FOR THE SOU’WESTER

He is rare.

A 28-year-old small-boat fisherman with a wife and two children, content to spend his life on the water.

And they’re proud of him. Talk to any Flowers Cove, N.L. area small-boat fisherman and they’ll tell you about Michael Walsh.

With decreased quotas, low fish prices and the lure of western dollars, the small-boat fisherman has gone from the backbone of rural Newfoundland to an endangered species in one generation. Those that remain are aging and not being replaced.

“As long as it stays as it is now, it’s just as good as going away,” said Walsh while working on his pile of 300 lobster pots. “No good to down yourself when you get a bad year. If you want to be at it, you got to keep at it – you need plenty of nerve for this stuff.”

Memorial University researcher Barbara Neis was shocked to hear of Walsh.

“In the fishery, there’s very few people under 45. As things stand now, in 10 years, most of the small-boat sector could be gone simply through retirement.”

Dr. Neis is a sociologist studying the affects and consequences of the aging fisherman population on Newfoundland’s west coast.

“What we want to do is see if there’s a way to draw young people into it now while there are experienced on-the-water fishermen to mentor them in,” said Neis. “You just don’t learn that in a book – you learn it on the water from people who know how to do it.”

That’s how Walsh learned – on the water.

“I’ve been at this since I was big enough to get in a boat.”

Walsh started fishing with his father, Bryant Walsh, and took over his father’s licence when he died.

Lobster, cod, herring, mackerel, lump roe...Walsh chants through the past season, when he and five other area fishermen travel the coast in pickups hauling their three speedboats.

For the six-week summer lobster fishery they head to a cabin in Barr’d Harbour, leaving their wives home. If the weather’s good, they’re on the go by 4:30 a.m. and back by 2 p.m. daily.

Walsh refers to ‘our crew’ whenever he discusses fishing. Small-boat fishermen work in groups for safety, cost savings and camaraderie.

“That’s what I like about this – I’m my own boss. If I want a day off, I’m gonna have it,” said Walsh.

As for whether he’ll encourage either of his young sons to become fishermen, he says, “It’s up to themselves, I suppose. By that time the bottom could be out of her, or, you never know, she could go boom.”



(Aaron Beswick is a journalist with Transcontinental Media’s Northern Pen newspaper and a contributor to the Sou’Wester.)