Tag Archives: Nfld. & Labrador
From Doryman to Trawlerman: Maurice Kearley reflects on “the days of wooden ships and iron men.”
He started cod fishing with his father at age eight and then lobster fishing with his brother, Art, at age 12, when he earned enough money to buy his first suit of clothes. Maurice Kearley was 16 when he first went fishing on the Grand Banks in 1944,,, During the next 36 years, until he retired from the sea to work on land at age 52, he fished on vessels that evolved from the wooden schooners to steel-side trawlers and then to steel-stern trawlers. At 16, he signed on as a doryman, onboard the 12-dory schooner Tweedsmuir, owned by the Warehams of Harbour Buffett, with his father, Thomas, as 
his dorymate. He spent nine years as a doryman,,, The late 1940s and early 1950s saw a major shift in the offshore fishery with the building of fresh-fish filleting plants around the island, ushering in the end of the schooner salt-fishery and the arrival of steel side-trawlers.,, The introduction of stern trawlers in the mid-1960s was a real game-changer for the men who had previously manned the smaller side trawlers in the 1940s and ’50s. >click to read< 08:42
One of the last great Gloucester schooners: The L.A. Dunton of Grand Bank celebrates 100 years – One of the last great Gloucester schooners: The L.A. Dunton of Grand Bank celebrates 100 years – She was a 10-dory schooner, with two men to a dory while fishing a crew of 22 men, including captain and cook, who lived in very cramped quarters. >click to read<
1 dead, 1 found alive after fishing vessel goes missing near Gros Morne
One man is dead, while another has been found alive in the waters off Sally’s Cove, after a fishing boat was due back the day before, the Canadian Coast Guard confirmed in a statement Wednesday afternoon. The coast guard said a man was rescued from the water at about 10:30 Wednesday morning. Shortly after, the second man was located, but he was found unresponsive. The men were commercial fish harvesters, and they were expected to return to their home community of Sally’s Cove by 2 p.m. Tuesday. The Bonne Bay RCMP said they received a report Tuesday at 10 p.m. that the 21-foot open-boat fishing vessel was overdue. Search and rescue personnel organized immediately and a mayday alert was sent. >click to read< 16:24
UPDATED- Search Underway. Breaking: 1 body found, 3 still missing in search for commercial fishermen near St. Lawrence
The Canadian Coast Guard has recovered the body of a fisherman off the coast of St. Lawrence, and crews are still searching for three other missing men. The four men went missing in the mouth of Placentia Bay, after leaving from St. Lawrence shortly after midnight to fish crab, and were due back before 8 p.m. Monday evening, but did not arrive. “We found some debris in the water, and obviously the crew member, so we know whatever happened is tragic and probably happened quickly,” said Mark Gould, the regional supervisor at the Maritime Rescue Sub Centre in St. John’s. “But, y’know, we’re still searching. We’ll search until we’ve exhausted all measures and possibilities.” >click to read< 09:58
Three others still missing, search and rescue efforts underway – “We’re in complete shock,” St. Lawrence’s assistant town clerk Eileen Norman,,, Her brother-in-law, Ed Norman, 67, went out in a 36-foot fishing boat with his son, Scott Norman, 35, and nephew, Jody Norman, 42. The other man, Isaac Kettle, is a friend in his early 30s, she said. >click to read<
Nfld. & Labrador: Can you fish safely in a pandemic? Seafood industry facing hard Coronavirus questions
All commercial inshore fisheries are delayed until at least May 1,, as the department (DFO) and industry players work out protocols for safer operation of vessels and processing plants. According to Keith Sullivan, the president of the Fish, Food and Allied Workers union, plant workers and fish harvesters have many questions about how they are supposed to keep themselves and their families safe. “The vast majority of the input and the feedback and everything we’re hearing from members is that right now, with all of the advice that we have, they certainly don’t feel safe,”,,, Brenda Greenslade, physical distancing, “A harvester told me the other day, their accommodations when they sleep, their heads are so close together, they share the same dream,” she said. She’s hearing some suggestions that harvesters should be told to bring less crew out to sea, where possible. >click to read< 08:43
