The full title of this book is Sea of Heartbreak: An Extra-ordinary Account of a Newfoundland Fishing Voyage
This grim account of a 1998 turbot (halibut) gillnet fishing trip in northern Canadian waters is a condemnation of the “shocking systematic waste, destruction, and undeniable cruelty” associated with this industry. The author is not of the standard environmentalist profile: he came to his work from a background of seal hunting, and is a lifelong resident of resource-based Newfoundland. This familiarity with the business of animal harvesting strengthens his criticisms, as he speaks as one who recognizes the inherent and often bloody conditions of taking animals for a living, but also faces up to the difficult moral struggle of the unnecessary waste that modern, industrialized, single-market driven fishing can bring, as well as addressing the deeper questions of human relationships to the natural world.
The author chronicles a six-week trip to the harsh but beautiful (and previously unfished) waters in the ice-choked regions of northern Labrador. Between stomach-churning and gear-breaking descriptions of struggling with the late autumn weather, he describes tons of non-targeted fish going back over the side, tubs of slightly damaged turbot being rejected by buyers, immeasurable amounts of rotten fish from leaving the gear too long, and wanton harassing of marine life unrelated to the fishing expedition. In the end, the trip lands only about a tenth of what was brought up, and ends up leaving most of its gillnets on the bottom.
We can only hope that such a book could not be written about fishing voyages in American waters, although bycatch is certainly an issue here as well. In fact, the future of the New England groundfishery is currently up in the air due to an environmental lawsuit that has reducing bycatch as one of its principal aims. In the U.S. alone, it is estimated by some sources that as much as 20 billion pounds a year gets thrown back, a figure larger than the kept catch. These figures are notoriously difficult to quantify, as the vast majority goes right back into the water and is never recorded. However, fishermen and environmentalists alike are addressing this situation, and efforts are being made to tune regulations and gear to reduce this waste. While the situation is undoubtedly improving, it is still shocking to realize that the trip described in this book took place only three years ago.
This book is not a condemnation of commercial fishing, which is the backbone of both the Newfoundland economy as well as its cultural heritage. Instead it presents a picture of the deleterious effects of an industrial approach to resource harvesting, where only the single catch matters, and only in the condition that the international market wants. These effects are shown not only in the excessive waste of product, but also, the author implies, in the degraded moral condition of once noble harvesters of nature’s bounty. The humility and respect for the ocean that the author sees lacking in his mates would perhaps, he suggests, go a long way towards re-establishing a balance of rational and sustainable ocean harvesting in our modern world.
This book can be ordered from Key Porter Books, (416) 862-7777, www.keyporter.com.