#1125 - The Captains Roundtable

0:00This is Brett Weinstein. This is Tom Lomago. This is Bruce Party. This is Alex Kranner. Hey, this is Brad Wall. This is Dr. Pierre Corey. Hi, this is Frank Paredi. This is Danielle Smith. This is James Lindsay. This is Vance Crowe and you're listening to the Sean Newman podcast. Welcome to the podcast. Folks, happy Wednesday. How's everybody doing today? Oh my goodness. The sun is out. Might be briefly, but the sun is out. We made it to Cape Britain. And today we hop on the ferry to head to Newfoundland. And if you haven't been paying attention to anything on the East Coast, where we were in PEI, got somewhere between, I don't know, it's three to six inches, depending on where you were. Parts of Nova Scotia and Cape Britain got eight inches. So this is it. It's pretty wet. And it had been a few days since we'd seen the sun. And then it just came out as I started recording this. It's sitting on my back right now. And it is glorious. So happy Wednesday. Happy Wednesday, everybody.

1:00Happy hump day. OK, the first two companies, you already know what I'm going to say, but in case you're new to the show, Bo Valley Credit Union Silver Gold Bowl, they're helping to make the Cornerstone Forum return May 15th, 2027 to Calgary. They're the title sponsors of the Cornerstone Forum, which is, I don't know, the crown jewel of the Sean Newman podcast, is that fair to say? It's the annual event that I put on. And this will be the third year for it in Calgary. So oh, how time flies. Now, when it comes to precious metals and everything to do with it, I point you to Silver Gold Bowl. Of course, you can go to silvergoldbowl.ca, whether it's questions around buying, selling, storing, precious metals, they can answer those down in the show notes. You can text or email Graham for details. If you can't find his number, you can also text me. And if you can't find my number, well, that's because you're not looking that hard, because it's honestly pretty much everywhere. Regardless, if you're on Spotify, Apple, those services, that's where you're going to find my number, other places, YouTube, et cetera.

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3:03there are full service, wealth management firm that actually manages money, watching client portfolios daily and making real-time adjustments when markets change. They see the same things you and I see. Massive government spending, rising instability, a lot of risk in government debt. So they use tools like precious metals and commodities to help protect your purchasing power. Most importantly, they work with people who share their values, family, community, hard work, living within your means, and personal freedom. If that sounds like you go check them out at i-wealth.ca. And if you like a guy named Martin Armstrong, they follow him pretty closely, and you can find these guys at i-wealth.ca. Okay, that's integrated wealth management. There you go, that's a, that's a spiel. Back home in my home territory, Lloyd Minster, Diamond Seven Meets. They've got over 27 years of service, offering more than just retail cuts. They produce livestock processing for farmers and ranchers and Saskatchewan and Alberta, including custom sausage making for both domestic and wild game. And if you don't catch your own animals, that's totally cool. They can hook you up with producers offering

4:05sides, quarters of beef, pork, and lamb, and their experience staff are located on Highway 17 and 67th Street North, or you can give Diamond Seven Meets a call today, 306-825-9718. That's back in my home, stomping grounds of Lloyd Minster, right? The road trip has been powered by Zebes. They're at a Chestermare Alberta, that's Zane and his dad, Brian. It Zebes performance restorations, they deliver expert classic car restoration, custom exhaust, and performance upgrades. They also can dial in your fuel efficiency. So if you got a gas-fighter vehicle and you're looking at the, I don't know, what is the fuel back in Alberta right now? Be curious. It hit $2.04 on the island. That was a kick in the teeth. And here in Nova Scotia, I saw as low as a buck 78, and I can't believe it was welcome sight as like, oh my goodness, a buck 78. Needless to say, gas prices in Canada not doing the greatest. And if you're looking to find clever ways

5:05to get a little more out of your buck, maybe a Zebes can help you out there. That's zebes.ca, okay? Now, if you're listening or watching on Spotify, Apple YouTube, Rumble, X Facebook, Substack, all the things, if you like, you should make a little jingle there. Regardless, make sure to subscribe, make sure to leave a review. If you're new to the show, well, and you're enjoying it, share with a friend, okay? So how we get out, past all the things, share, share, share, if you're enjoying what we're doing here. And, Substack, if you haven't subscribed there, you really should. That's where we got the master class with Tanner in a day, right? Talking about the life of Paul, we're working on a couple more coming that way. Most episodes today is an exception. We have bonus questions with every guest. That goes on Substack as well. And then every Sunday we got the week and review. So we got a bunch of stuff that only you can find on Substack. So make sure you subscribe there. All right, that's what I got for you today.

6:06We, as of recording this, we're sitting in Cape Britain, getting ready to hop on a ferry. And that's where we're gonna be over the course of this podcast. So, wish us luck as we head to the rock. Hope everybody out west is doing well. And if you haven't checked it out, Allison Inquiry, now going. So, I know Carla Treadway's out there covering that. Probably a few others. And that's been interesting to watch for my end. I'm sure it's nothing new on your end if you're tuning into this show, but maybe you haven't heard any of those. You should share that out as well. And let some of those fine folks who are sharing their stories and get it out to a bigger audience. It's much needed to open up some conversations on what went on during COVID. Okay, that's what I got for you today. Happy Wednesday folks. Let's get on to that tail of the tape. Gapthens of the Sea. I'm talking about Patrick Eastman, John McFee,

7:06Colin Levine, and Gerard McCormick. So buckle up. Here we go. Now welcome to the show. I'm a podcast today. I'm joined by Patrick Eastman, John McFee, Colin Levine, Gerard McCormick. I didn't ask Patrick. What's Patrick's nickname? Patrick, you got a nickname? None that I know of. None that I know of. But I probably don't. John the Baptist, the hawk, and G's don't want to know. So, gentlemen, thanks for doing this. This is nobody can see me on the screens, which is perfectly fine. I appreciate you guys doing this. But before I just let you guys go free and talk about lots of different things, if you all wouldn't mind, just state in your name and then a little bit about yourself. But probably from this side of things, how many years you've been fishing, what year you started,

8:07and how about the biggest change since you started today? Is that straightaway? Yeah. John, we'll start with you. All right, John McFee, the Baptist. I guess I started fishing with 1979. I started on my own in 1983. And the biggest changes today would be the boats and the gear, the electronics. We literally started with nothing. I started with a CB radio in a compass. So the boats are well equipped today with radars, plodders, GPS, sanders, colored sanders, by the way, telephones. That was just a joke one time, a telephone in a boat. I remember talking about that different times to be running the telephone lines out here, but it wasn't telephone lines. And I guess I'm fishing ever since. So I've got 43 years on my own. I don't know if I'm going to make 46.

9:0945, I think. 45, is that so? Colin? Colin Levy, I started fishing very young as a helper aboard my father's fishing dragger. I was probably 12 years old in my first trip out. And the changes today are, as John says, the boats, the electronics, the gear, the knowledge. There's big changes in the fishery today. It's expensive fishery today. And yeah, I started on my own in 1994. I bought my fishing fleet in 1994. And in 1994, the target put the process today to back then, but in 1994, I paid 135,000 from my fleet. And the follow-up bottle off George Roach, he wanted 165, and he couldn't get it.

10:10So, and I had a hard job getting 135,094. And so yeah, there's big changes today. You're talking anywhere from 1 million to 3 million for an off-the-flake today, but, and I always say to the kids, get me into it. If you want to be into it, you've got to pay the price. I always wanted to get it into it, into it earlier. And I could never afford to get into it, but when 94, I paid 135, they thought I was 40, standing, and I would make it go off. So yeah, if the kids want to get into it today, you've got to pay them one. Sure. Sure I'm a farmer. I started in 62 or 63. Not sure what was, but I went with George Roach, but anyway, in 69, I got my own. And like John said, there there wasn't too much.

11:11Besides that, no alarm clock in the, in the dashroom, the time yourself, the fog here, with that, for to go west there. And then, you know, the price, I paid a big price back then, rate, 3500, I paid for, if it wasn't, all that. But that's what they go, and the thing was, I got to true the packer, right? The packer, sure. Back in the end rate. But there wasn't lobsters like serious today, neither, right? The thing was, we would be in the rush to get the same side here, whenever the saying stuff was all on the go already. But there's equipment. We had no equipment back then, like I said,

12:13the alarm clock. Our PMG, we had an our PMG to make sure we just set the same thing there, if it was blind dick of all of them, right? Other than that, there's a lot of difference. I remember, Daniel still opposite fish. Back then, the lobster wasn't too painful. So we kind of gave up the lobster, and that's when he started into the drape fish. Yeah. But one time too, we get into a thick of fog. We knew where the gear was. We knew where every number was, every trial, where you put it, you can steam to it. Today, you took the platters of the boats, every time to go ashore, and I'm not joking. You're just looking at a screen, you throw a trial off now, and you last what number it was. You don't have to remember. You last the crew, what number was that? So I can punch it in.

13:14It was foggy. You just go out with it, every trial, you know where they were, on the water. And they don't have fog with that anymore. Like we used that. I've seen three and four days in a row, right? And you go on with that, and I'm clocking. Yeah. And our PM gauge treat. Gentlemen, are you saying that back in the day, the fog was so foggy, you just knew where to go because you knew the water that well. And today, fishermen stare at their screens too long, and they don't know the numbers, and they don't know the distance, and they'd run into the beach if they were in that type of fog. Yeah, everything went well. With all say, anyway, it was either time, it was either time or compass. Or depth water too. Yeah. Water depth. Well, I took one of the escolops and myself, skip it. And I didn't know how to run the plotter

14:14because he didn't have to, I was always in the stern of the boat. And what he would do is set a buoy for me in this end, and set a buoy for me in this end. And he used to tow back and forth, and I didn't know the tides or anything. And the first time I took the boat out myself, and I used to move the buoy out of my way of time. He called me up for radio and give me a blast and I was moving the buoy and getting off the tow. I didn't, that's how you learned though, you learned. That's how you learned. And that's how I tell the kids today, like you learned from me mistakes. Patrick, I should let you say something too. I went through the three old boys, and you're sitting there as well. So let the audience know who you are, how many years you've been fishing. And whether you think you'd run into the shore and fog. I probably would. Patrick, he's been, I started, I started fishing back in the summers in high school, to intuition with my one my uncles. That'd be probably 95, 96. And I bought my own license in, I started in 2008.

15:18So 17 years. And probably the biggest change that I see, and I guess my short career, would be conservation and government interference, let's say. You can't do anything without filling out, how much paperwork and print no licenses that are an inch deck and dealing with this regulation, that regulation, being tall, windy, can you go fishing, stuff like that now is even in my short time, it's a huge difference. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, when we started, we used to pay $40 for the year. And if any of these labs turned, you had five or six things you'd go to. You didn't need all the paperwork, it cut down four trees to send you papers for conditions and regulations. And it just, I do agree with you on that. And the conservation area got much bigger too, especially the lobster fishery, which is all a good thing.

16:20Yeah, absolutely, much needed. But yeah, they put the fishery where it is today. Yeah. In a lot of areas, some areas are still pretty slow, but they'll come. And see, that's a thing too, and it's very can tell you. And I've seen it too, like even when lobster was over, you always had something to fall back on. You had your ground fish, you had your cod fish, you had your, you know, your hair and fishery, you had your skull up fishery, you had your McQuill fishery, and hair and fishery. And even before lobster, we started, we started scalding an April and finished in December. Now it goes six weeks of the year. Yeah, six weeks in the summer in the north side. That's it. Well, you see even when I started, it was too rough. I think you'd be a boy, see, you can't do that anymore. I, even in my, my time, I see me landing here and go scoffing some time. Then the scoffing, then lobster here. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, I used to go travel with no buddy of mine.

17:21There he's gone now, and George Rokes there in the summer time, but we used to get cod fish just biggest of the tool to take it in today. Oh god, yeah. Like there were 120 pounds, 130 pounds. Amazing, there. Yeah, yeah. That stuff's all gone. We used to get literally half boat modes and boat modes. Yeah. But that's 40 years ago. Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Yeah. The fishing was better 40 years ago? The ground fishery, not the lobster. Ground fishery. Yeah. The ground fishery. And that's your hake, your cod, your flounder, black bags, stuff like that. Like back in the day when there was a ground fishery, if the head of everybody thought it was going to be no into it, right? The fishery just coming to shore. And we had it looked after it. Like we look after our lobster fishing today. We probably still have a fishery. And do I can answer, talk a lot about the red fishery that was here? He's spent a lot of time on the offshore dragons. Before we get to a red fishery, to a dummy like me, wide ground fishery when aren't

18:26lobsters on the ground. And why would they call that ground fishery and lobsters something different? Well, lobsters. Lobsters. Lobsters are actually a trap. Yeah. Yeah. Ground fishery, you told, you drag a net. You drag a net. You drag on the muddy bottom. Lobsters were mostly on the hard bottom. Okay. And ground fisher were on the muddy softer bottom where you could drag nets with a, tore up all the time or put in big rocks down through. And back when you guys first started, if you were dragging nets, they were full. Five, two, three, four. Sometimes they were. Sometimes they weren't. Yeah. Yeah, I see. We'd have to leave school. We would be just fishing it up. Surrey here from the buoy to the base of the head. And they would make two chips a day. And he'd come in. We'd have to leave school and go down and go to fish for it. Take the guts out of the fish for it. So you could get back out and finish today. I see. That's making two trips. Yeah. 200,000 in a day, right?

19:28Yeah. 200,000 in the cod, right? That's all bottom troll too, right? Yeah. The dragons, like, I was on the dragons, right? That would be the wooden 65 footers. No, then remember the 92 footers. Oh, yeah. Yeah. That was the red fishery. Hi. The red fishery? No. No, the cod fishery. Yeah. And the spring of the year, that's for the... When they go up by the spring of the year, here, they come back down with the fall, right? Right. That's when we get them again, right? They're the heads of the holes. We'd be red fishing in the Gulf and coming down with the bird rock edge, we'd put trell. Follow all of the 85 feet and all looking for sound direct, right? Fish marks, right? And we know, we know, first of all, to over, that time to get to Jesus said to the Gulf because it was dirty weather and we'd get one good day and then you get four bad ones,

20:31right? Yeah. When we see the marks there, we just shift the gear, put the big, big mesh gear on, right? Mm-hmm. Head for the bird rock edge, right? And then they'd be all, break up, shed a camp and all the way up along there, three miles off the point, we was told down to, three miles off the point here. And then turn around. Remember, one of the evens you've rolled, the toned-shelled water, or recent, called salt water. And John went down, John County went down for supper and he said, back around, I started back in her round, right? Side trowler. And Jesus didn't knock herself out, right? There's a ton block, you told the thing in. She knocked herself out, but the time I got the blades, I figured she cut the warps off her. But she would see the bronze in the, in the, in the, in the, but that lent the, lent

21:36the main warp, right? She didn't cut her off, she knocked her out, but she would down, she'd into the blades and she would chop her off the blades and she'd be sculling into there. That's how close she was to cutting the thing off, right? You were supposed to get in the blast, weren't you? Well, it wasn't my fault she knocked herself out. I was just backing her in. When did you start on the draggers? I was in the first one of them. That was in 60, 4, 63, 64, right? And then I went, there I went, but Jerry on the 80, we ended up, we used to, we lucky to get in here, everything used to freeze up around here, that hard right? We were saying hope, we hope we get in for the Christmas trip, right?

22:38And a lot of, a lot of the times we could have to win North Sydney, right? Because the ice was firmed up, you mean? Yeah. Because the ice was firmed up here, it would be a problem. So you go, you go out at Christmas time? Before Christmas. Before Christmas. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. The boats used to ice up and you'd have to pound the ice off of the boat from the spray coming over. You'd have to pound the ice coming off on both the ice mallets so you wouldn't capsize. Yeah. They need to cable would go like that. Yeah. For mice. Stay in the water. Stay in water, pulling up around there. You couldn't put your arms around the ice, right? Then, then, then, I'm only that round. Remember one time when the loose draggers would come around and break water, they couldn't get in the harbor. Remember the crew walked the shore? Yeah. They walked the shore out on the break water, yeah. They walked onto the break water together, offer. Cross the ice. Cross the ice? Okay.

23:38Couldn't get it in. However. Yeah. And the boats looked like an iceberg. Yeah. Of them. Yeah. Yeah. That was too much. Yeah. So anybody who won't ever see us, that's the blue, blue mist, right? She would come in, the lowest part, were in the lowest part, right? And that's what it looked like coming up the harbor. You can come in the next morning, and after we come in the night before. And we had no clear view, right? There's no lazy struggle over around, right? And she had heated wires up and down in between the glass, right? That's what... Okay. And once she thought so far, the ice kept making on the outside of her. Then we had to get up, rope on us, tied on us, and trying to beat the ice off the front of the things that we could see. The radar, right? Yeah. Oh yeah, it was not all sunshine. No, I told you that. Everybody did that with her fishery ice.

24:40My ice. The ice up too bad that they'd roll over. Just top heavy, right? So, yeah, that's why you had to beat the ice off. Yeah. I was down. I paid your all in the boys' get lost that time. Yes. Which boat was that? The ice place. The ice one? I knew most of them were... Yeah. Or most of them around my age, right? Yeah. Tony was the year two older and Thomas. The year two older. Albert and I used to jump around. Three. That's all what happened to them? The ice stop? No. No. What was that? It was in the storm. Lost the power. I guess. All of you guys know somebody who went down in the water at different times? Yeah. Yeah. That's kind of a cost of doing business or the danger of doing business. That's the danger of doing business, yeah? It doesn't happen very often anymore of us. Is it? And that is just the weather reports, like compared to back in the days,

25:43weather reports and safety now. There's a lot of safety on the boats today. Which is a good thing today. Yeah. Weather forecasting now. Weather forecast. So accurate this. Yeah. But you still get a surprise. With the safety equipment they had today. Yeah. It's better to the good. Yeah. When you talk about safety equipment, though, Hawk, like is there like one thing you're like, oh, back in the day, we used to do X and now they would never do that or the boat. Back in the day, you took a frugran out, right? Like, you know, now they have... Boy, for X and 5 or so. Boy, for X and survival suits and it's, you know, a mandatory now. And it's, you know. We'd leave. We wouldn't even light-check in the boat sometimes. You just took a frugran. You had about a rumble. Wrong. What? Yeah. And that is the big change today. There was a lot of liquor around the harbors one time. Like I used to say one time. You saw somebody around the world, it's Saturday afternoon, so,

26:44where you'd say, what's wrong with them? Sick man. Yeah. And obviously, something drunk. You'd say, what's wrong with them? And that's true. Like it... It's total opposite to that. It turned into a good thing. It's a good thing. Yeah. But there was a lot of liquor around one time, too. A loss. Yeah. On a fun and laps, I had to. Well, yes. But the fun and laps turned to misery, too. Yeah. They will. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you pull up anywhere. Have a beer or a drink with any boat doll or be three or four of us tied together. But you never see a boat tied with another boat now. Like it's... It's been a strictly vise. Yeah. No, we want to say what the have in their boats or for catch, you know. Was that different back in the day? Oh, yes. Yeah, we're a little more open. We didn't care. Everybody was basically the same. There wasn't a lot of fish to share. We've looked for pound the trap. Pound the trap was a good day. So we 300 traps, 300 pounds was a good day. But you started the death on that today.

27:44You literally started. You wouldn't pay your expenses for the day. You might. Well, it's the cost today, right? Yeah. I bought a boat in 86 and a boat. I think I borrowed $50,000. And the interest rate was 22% at that time, too. So we still a lot of money in the day, especially the interest rate. Sold it for more than you bought it for. Yeah, I did. How many years later? 30. Yeah. 33. You got us? But I put a lot of money into the boat to keep it going, too. We're 33 years. Yeah. Well, it's like, like, to our generation. Our generation, like to our generation, our generation, the change, right? Yeah. And then the generation after us, we see the change. Yeah. You know, it's just snowball effect. Well, the change is in the sea. Oh, yeah. Oh, we had a lot of fun at what we done there one time, too. We had a lot of fun, man.

28:44But there's no better way to make a living. No. No better way, man. You're your own boss. Yeah, your own boss. No better life style. Is that the deal you put the bread in the table? No better lifestyle than being an fisherman? No. No, you're having a lot of fun. All you guys are originally from PEA, yes? Yes. Did you go and try different things before you came to fisherman? Did you travel outside PEA, I guess, what a mask. I went down Berda for a couple of years there. Okay. My father had a business here. He was a store man, but that wasn't for me. So last time I got fired, I stayed fired. And I had my fish in. So I always figured I'd build for him doors, more than the indoors. I didn't like indoor work. I liked indoor work. That's right. I liked the challenge, the weather. And we all saw weather. Every one of us saw lots of weather over our careers. And we had, it wasn't all bad weather.

29:44We had beautiful days too, nice days. Yes. Back in the day when bad weather came, did you fish it? Yeah. See what you had to see. You had payments and your family, the pressure was on. It's the pressure. And that's why you fished the bad days. You had to do it, you had to make it go up. And you only had two months to do it. Yeah. In a little false courage, you times. Sure. If we don't, probably not. Well, if I know this is a poor, very poor analogy, but like back as a kid, you went to school, and I don't know, minus 30 or something, right? But eventually hit a, even back in the day, hit a point where you're like, probably just shouldn't be going and they'd hold you home. And fishing was a point back in the day, you're like, this is just a bit too much. And even you guys would stand. Or you went out pretty much everything. We pretty well does. Everybody took chances.

30:46Every fisherman takes a chance here or there. Everybody. Some take more than others. We all took our share of chances. So then when you go back and then, what's the worst storm? You were in a grander where you're like, this was probably a bad idea. And you still caught your catch and got back in. We're in a couple of them. I was glad to see you sure. I'll tell you. Yeah. Yeah, it was a couple of chances. I used to call him, maybe, at least point there. And so you got to get out of there. I know one more trial. I can call him and be said, well, it wasn't good. It wouldn't be good down here, and he's point is you. It's a bad section of water. Yeah. We're your tights meat and your waves are big. Yeah. And there's no shelter for many weather. I'm the dragon and some bad ones. Yeah. Well, it's already been 100 miles an hour wind in the Gulf. Yeah. 100 miles an hour. Yeah. Wow. On George's. I got hurt and on George's.

31:46I got air lift as even from there. I like opportunity. George's back. Yeah. Really? Yeah. We're three days laying there, right? We're starving, right? Yeah. And the three days laying. And he decided that even in the same gym, Sam Wright, a skipper's name, right? He's the one of the first fellows that had put doors and stuff over in the maritime, right? Anyway, he decided to put the thing over. So, he was a side-tower. And I took the messenger, started down around back, put her in the scorer and stuff for it. And he started, he run the net off. And he let the bride and the soap, and he let the ground warps out every the out. And then stared around on her right. And when he stared around on her, she was come see in the water. I'll tell you that. Now, I had been two feet further ahead.

32:47She had chopped me right into the door when the baby was going to be in the tube, the door when the door came in, came in and then hit side the boat in, in over the rail, right? And I get up, she hit me, glancing blow. I had been two feet further ahead. She'd chopped me right into the door. And she put me with water back there. Because the hip rubber boots and stuff, it would be nowhere at the top of the pants and everything else. And I only had one arm because I had dislocated one of my shoulders and cracked three ribs and broke three ribs. And I got up, crawled up, and one arm, and got up and boat deck, and they said he's gone. They thought he was gone. I thought it was back at the winch. I thought it was from the winch. And I could, I could, I was that sore. I could hardly roar from the, no, I'm up here. I'm up on the boat deck right on the,

33:49where the thing was. But his boat stuff was, it was up, you know, eight feet higher than the rest of it, right? But the old craister, he wouldn't take me in, right? And the engineer the next morning, every time I was all right, I'm over-towel, right? But whenever we were hauled back, right? Whenever she lay, and she, they'd roll out, and then the doors would roll back, and hit the side of the boat, the chair, the side of the boat, the ribs, or it were the ribs, or cracked and stuff. Anyway, the next morning, Alex was in English when there, he was at the engineering board. He used their make sure I had water and stuff like that for the, for the, because I was getting weak, right?

34:50And he went up to the wheel, I was knee-told, and the old skipper, he said, you don't bother ringing down the engine room, she was in the room control, right? The, the year, year, after I was just telegraphed down, right? Anyway, he said, you didn't bother ringing down anymore, he said, do you do something with that youngful of down there? I was only 20 or 1920s in the Murray. Right. So I guess that's 60 years ago, right? But anyway, they got the helicopter, it took me off. I couldn't get over how small the cable was in the, in the, in the lying, right? And, and they had one arm tied to my side, this arm was all strapped in right, and this one was out, but there's, and there's only a little ring around the, the left right, but that big around them.

35:50They started for sure, and the thing going like this, right? I didn't know which was the worst. They put up with this thing or not. But anyway, I, they landed me in, I'll never forget, there was a dirt, but, full of, run the, the ambulance there, where they landed, they had tick me across, the Victoria, Victoria General there, right? And he was going, and then they, well, they needed, that she gave me in the plane, in the Highly helicopter, then either that she gave me, you know, you started taking a hold, I guess, when it rose. So I got stared to, heating up right. Anyway, I told them you better open the window. So I figured I was going to pass, pass them, for sure. But anyhow, everything came alright. I went back with them right after,

36:50six weeks of evening, maybe take off right. Back then, in order to get compensation, you had to stay in that problem, too, right? Okay. I was coming down the, subside, well, there's three of us coming down one time, it was called fishing. And, Dan Eeler, he had the big dragger there, and Brian McFee and myself. And it was the worst trip, Dan Eeler, so he ever put in, coming down the subside. And he had the big dragger, and when he go down into a sea, you wouldn't see him. But then with the main engine, or the main hose, come off my engine. Raw water hose, and you don't notice until the learn goes off, and then it's blowing, and it's raining. So the pan accepts in. So your fireman pans around trying to get the engine have his offer to find out where the water is coming from, before too much gets in there. So we did figure out where the water is,

37:51how much water in there, and the rakes not away, and water was coming in the scuppers. So we tried to get the scuppers in there then, and then we were short ones copper, couldn't find it. You know, in the panic, it stuck in. So we had to call Brian to get us a scupper, because the water coming in, because the scuppers in here were only inch to the half-holes, but they were four of them. So there was a lot of water coming in. So Brian had to put the scupper in the bag, and he had the fire to be by a rope. And when he got down to sea, and he'd only been, I don't know if that is built in front of me, he wouldn't say it. But he got me this copper, it was not a very nice tripping. And then he had that big dragger. He said it was the worst tripping ever, but he didn't. And I only had 12 foot wide. Kensington, 42 footer. So you talk about a scared boy. Yes, sir. Yeah. You guys mentioned you had to go,

38:52because the pressure was on. Feed your families. So you went and took chances, because you had pretty much had to. You think that's still true today? I don't know. Patrick, you're out there. You think the pressure is still on? Yeah, yeah, absolutely. I think, I think with the cost of things, like the cost of getting into the fisher now, and we're talking millions of dollars, you've got everybody's equity behind it, you know, very young pallet to get in. He's got to put up a lot of money to get in the fishery. And a lot of people that have helped them along, and there's a lot of pressure there to make sure that you're catching the lobsters, you catch them whenever you're at. Yeah. To make sure you pay those bills and pay the bank loan. Well, especially when you go, you know, families, the dollar, you know, whatever they all went in this fleet. Yeah. You know, all the pressure was on.

39:52Think about how you knew about one time for 50, 60, $70,000 or a good homo for 20 or 30. Now you run an 800 to a million plus. Yeah. There is pressure. Yeah. Big pressure. And not only your pressure, like, you've got your mother, your father, you've got your family, you know, who worried about it too? Yeah. And there's lobsters to pay the bills. So, you know, lobsters is too much, too much fishery. So anything you do afterwards, it was always a lot of money that put dragon gear on or skull up gear on or tool the gear or whatever. Yeah. Mostly. Yeah. It's always a lot of money to make the payments too. So, yeah. The rest was a little bonus. Check coming in. Steady bonus or steady income. And sometimes it just made the payments and then you had to go do something else. Yeah. Right? Yeah. Yeah.

40:52That's the way it was when I started. You know, I started at the year you were done. You retired and I started that year. The loss turned right. So that was, yeah, 17 years. But that was my first. Because... Two old thin? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You finished no seven. Yeah. I started no eight. Yeah. But that was my first number of years. It was land gear. Go back out west. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Alberta took a lot of help to a lot of the old bonus here. Yeah. I kept the outfits in their name. There were a lot of people went to Alberta just to make payments on there. The fish and enterprises there so they could keep them and keep on going. Yeah. What is the worst year you had? I'm going to follow it up with what's the best year.

41:53But what is the worst year, you know, like they talk about farming droughts or hail or, I don't know, fire or... Right? Like lots of different ways of crops going down in cattle you got, you know, disease or not enough rain for grass and hay shortages, different things like that. In fishing, when you say lobster pays the bills, I assume a poor lobster year is a rough start. But if you go back through your time, what's the worst year you remember? And Gerard, you being out in the deep sea, was there a time where you remember, you know, like something is off. Well, when the codfish went in the 90s there, 90s, warm, right? That was quite a blow. It was to the plants and everything else that were around the right, because there was no. No, just no work. There was no amount of it.

42:55And there was no reason why there wasn't, you know, because the stocks were... being depleted by ourselves, we were doing it to ourselves, right? The small mesh gear, you know, and we were fishing that God danced small mesh gear and we were putting the same amount of stuff in the official. We were whenever we were taking twice as much aboard the small mesh gear. Forgive me, Jens, small mesh gear, what do you mean? Like, like, it's really tiny. Not really tiny, you know. Three and three quarters and stuff like that. They were going down the slowest that for a redfish, right? And then they'd take and use their redfish gear for the fish codfish, right? And Jesus, the little codfish ported, the codfish coming up. That long, right? And weren't going out for it.

43:56We had the big mesh gear on and there's no two ways to go. The companies were in co-hooks with the government too, because... when you're told to put the liner in the diary, in the morning, before dinner, the official officers are aboard, you know, and they don't look in the diary. What's that got you? See, you have a bigger mesh gear, catch the bigger fish, but you've got to let the smaller ones in. Right. They've got to survive. So what they do is put the liner in to catch the smaller ones too. And once you take them up from that dip, there's the sound and stuff that's busted. They're destroyed anyway. They're destroyed in the out. You know, and the redfish, more of the offshore fleet, but the insured fleet was doing the two. So, yeah, they're only hurting themselves.

44:57But you're docking your good years and bad years there. Well, it's not really won particular year. I know when I started in 1983, the fishing... The lobster fishery was good here. It was just good. Like, about 12 or 15,000 pounds back then, the season was a good season. You could survive on that and do well for make the payments. And it got big. Like the late 80s, early 90s was... We were doubling that and doing better than that for a while. And we didn't think we'd ever end. It didn't crash. There were just no lobsters. There was very few, like, you were back to 10,000 pounds of season. So... Anybody didn't have their ducks in order, were in trouble. Yeah. And then, well, it just took a while. The last 15 years was going down here, too. So, insure here. But it looks good. It looks like it's going to stay.

45:58But next year could be different. I don't know. But we want her came away from destroying it all. Yep. You're worst. What's your best? I see. When I started in 1994, the lobsters were steady. Like, I... For fish wise, I don't think I had a bad year. It was always the price. Yeah. It was the price of it. It was in 2007, was there a big? For price? Yeah. Nine. Nine, was there? Because I started in OE. So I borrowed, thinking on a $5 lobster, and thinking, when I started, we got the $3.53.75. That's spring. And then the next year, that's when all that quota stuff started. Yeah, we went to $2.54. To $2.54?

46:58Yeah. That was... And we came from $7.00, and I was standing at $2.25. Yeah. Yeah. So it was... It was hard to come down. It was a long time to get back to a $7.00 lobster. Yeah. But the expenses... Yeah. I didn't go down. At that time, I said, we'll never fish for $1.00 again. Yeah. But we did. Yeah. And for, it wasn't just one year either. We get $2.25, $2.75, $3.25, $3.75. We eventually made it back up. Yeah. Yeah. So... A $6.00 lobster, $7.00 lobster is no good today either. No. What is a lobster worth today? It varies. Yeah. Various by season. And different parts of the seasons at the fence. Yeah. But we were probably... Every steak 50 last year. And then who sets the price? That's no such thing. Nobody sets the price. That's illegal. But we all end up having the same price.

48:00The exact same price. They do that at the... For the earlier. They have a big powwow there down at the Boston Sea Food Show every year. So the price comes out after the Boston Sea Food Show. Yeah. But the heck is the Boston Sea Food Show? Well, this was... North American Sea Food. That's how long it goes. I suppose. But we always cost the Boston Sea Food Show and it's held annually in March. Right around. It's close to around St. Paddy's Day. That's where all the sales are made for the spring. Yeah. Or for the year. For the buyers. They make their connections and they're overseas buyers. That's always been the way. I've always been the way up. They all get the... But they all fall over there at the same price. But price six in is illegal. So... Yeah. There's four buyers here first and I stare there. Right? There are four buyers. And they go to the mountain first day for a ride. First day for the four buyers to go to the mountain. They have a big conflav over there.

49:00You're paying five cents more this year. You're going to be second in line right now. This year it just goes in the bit. They just take a turn. One for pay five or ten cents more than the other. Right? And the risk of getting myself in trouble. You're saying there's a show in Boston where they're not allowed to set prices. But when the show is done they come out with the price. Who is they? Like are we talking the mob or the government? Like a bunch of just like big restaurants go. This is what we're willing to pay. Mostly the processors. Yeah. Yeah. The processing industry. So it's the big plants that buy about lobster from the... Atty, terrible. And how many would that be Pat? How many of those are there? Well, question. Oh god. Well, there's a... They're getting to be fuel and fuel all the time. Yeah. Because they're... Be a bot.

50:00And three or four plants are... Be a bot up by one group. Smaller guy. Yeah. Yeah. So soon it'll be like three people meeting and they go... Yeah. We're going to set the price at whatever. Which is illegal. I know. Everybody's staring at me. Yeah. So why don't they sit... Oh, because they get it for cheap and then they sell it. And the Chinese... They're getting that pretty hard now too. But the processors get it for cheap and then they turn around and sell it to restaurants and everything, right? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You guys aren't allowed to sell direct to customers. Yes, we are. Oh, we are. Yeah. Oh, yeah. But in the volume that we're catching and... It's just not feasible for everybody. Some guys have done it. Yeah, we set it up. You'd have to. It takes that up through. Yeah, it's pretty expensive. Yeah. Or a deal to get into. Yeah. We just want to go fishing. We'll just go fishing. Well, that's what's in it and it's time. Yeah. You can't put 12 hours on the water and then what are we going to do that every day? No, we're putting another 10 in there.

51:00Yeah. Great. And you'd have to buy too. You'd have to set up and buy. Is there an equivalent in a different industry that sets a price like that? Where the processor buys the thing that they're turning around to sell and they get to set the price. Is there anything similar to that? That's what I know of. Well, the blueberry, blueberry. Yeah. And they were supposed to this year. They were supposed to tell us in the spring early in the spring what the price was going to be this fall. Still no word on the thing. Well, this has been going on for years. Years. Don't sound good in either for this year or this year. And you're almost through the harvest. Yeah. Yeah. They'll have the marketing board for dairy too. All right. But there's probably a set there. But it's agreed by industry also. Yeah. But there's only two or three on buyers from the blueberry industry.

52:00Yeah. And they got the thing. Sold up. Yeah. It's not uncommon, Sean, for us to fish for the first two weeks of the season and not know what we're getting paid for in the officers. Yeah. That's every year. Yeah. And obviously it's been a. Yeah. Yeah. You don't know until the first check. The odd time of buyer will break rank. You see he needs to let the cattle in the fields. Yeah. Before he can see a see a price. Would you let the cattle out of the field to see a price? Do you like yours out? No. Yeah. Well, I mean, I just like I think about it, right? Like they actually, you know, different farmers have different ways. But they time out when they're buying it for, you know, for buying the lowest selling at the highest. All the different things, right? Yeah. And watching the price. I didn't know that.

53:00I feel like if anything's going to get a black bag put up my head it's talking about price fixing and lobster. We had meetings on that and big meetings and we were talking to take it to car or something. But it was $20 million or something just to touch it, right? Yeah. We were short to $20 million. Yeah. 2021, $20 million. Lawyer fees. Lawyers. Courts. I think everybody's drugging a little. Drag it on. We'd have to match the buyers' 20 million they'd have it probably. Between them all. In theory, if a guy wanted to open a processing plant for lobster, you might end six feet underground. But in fairness, you could also be a disruptor in the conglomerate that is sitting there is what you're saying. You couldn't, anyway, you'd have to buy an existing license process and license from one of the buyers. So they also have the processing license?

54:03Yes. Isn't this the whole reason we don't we have like laws against monopolies? I don't know why it was happening even I'm like I feel like I'm walking into a bee's nest or something right now. A little bit of rushing in Canada too. Yeah. It'd be enough to have 15-20% of your catch for the year ashore in a couple weeks sometimes. And the dollar you're getting from now on. Not knowing what you're getting. So, okay. Then on a different knowing you guys talked about like the bad years and like when the prices went way down. And if you didn't have your ducks in our own. So if you were talking to younger fishermen or somebody just in business maybe in general. When you're talking about having your ducks in our own. What can you do or what have you boys done to ensure that the bad years don't wipe you out? Just have your finances in order before if you can. You know, you just don't spend everything you have.

55:06You gotta set yourself up. Like it's a business. You're running a business. You gotta put so much aside for the business too. I remember when I first was dead. There was probably 13% went to the crew. 13 to the skipper. And then the boat had to get 13% you know percent. He always made sure that the boat had to. Well the boat used to get 50%. 50% wasn't. Or 51 or whatever. But it always went back into the boat. And the banks were leaning through bad years. Like, you know, I'm saying you're interested. They didn't go after you. They were still making money. Everybody was making money. They just wanted your interest paid and your principal could be left for. They're just getting more and more. Yeah, they're just getting more and more stuff. Yeah. Yeah, but it's a business. Back in the day we didn't treat it as a business as they do today.

56:08We were talking bigger numbers today. It's a business today. Well, and a lot of the enterprises in our companies too. We never heard of a company back in the day. It wasn't required. You know, when I guess they're actually companies. Yeah, the registered companies, how you move your license and it will company. The tax purposes. Yeah. Yeah. You know, it's a big business today. Yeah. Expensive business too. Yeah, it doesn't matter what you do today. Yeah. What are your fuel bill being repaired today? Oh my god, loy. Like you want to talk about expenses. Yeah. My fuel bill here was a truss. Doubled from a few years ago. Oh, crazy. The fuel wasn't even in the equation one day. No, you didn't think about it. We were getting fuel for 22 or 25 cents a year. Yeah. So, you know, you know, the fuel bill is a lot more than that. But then, I think that's the wheel to the wheel.

57:08Yeah. So, it wasn't even in the equation really for expenses. Yeah. It is today. Oh, yeah. That's diesel, yeah. diesel, yeah. 25 cents. What's the price of diesel today? Well, it's 250 or something down at the service station. Now, we get a little cheaper, we're going to pay the road tax. So, we're probably doing a border anyway. Yeah. Yeah. They never really run in a 6.7 and 800 horsepower engines. you run? I have a well I'm just putting a 700 didn't know but what what sorry when you started well how much 25 horsepower 125 horsepower towards Senator yeah and you went out and more stuff than they go today oh no well same stuff same stuff that would you agree with that yeah same the same stuff but probably a little more comfortable in what you have today oh well that's the thing right yeah yeah yeah yeah a lot more comfortable yeah we took some beatings over the years it really lies you can home you'd be able to beat up wonder why he was

58:11just weather and bass like bait now it's we can't catch it ourselves yeah we used to catch out our own bait one time too right you used to catch all your own bait yes so you used to drag for that as well we'd have net set net set for hair and guest bro mostly hair yeah and the response is dragon or do yeah yeah and you can hook you can hook you can hook a line macro or yeah you know I went just when I started I can put away all my natural yeah the next year all my days you know but we yeah we'd be our next percent in the spring like during obviously it's all your next after your off-seer you have to update for the next day most times sometimes you run short sometimes you have too much so you can sell the extra or you guys are well in that's here in the south side for yeah our options kind of went really bad here for a few years but we fished hair and loss in the spring of the year and we it cooked

59:12up us through man it's played a check every week and pretty good one going back to bait for a second so you used to catch all your bait pat you can't do that anymore no they shut the they shut the commercial macro fishery down here about four or five years ago yeah no so it was completely closed for a couple years and now they re-opened it small the small quota and it's it goes pretty quick like I think the second open in the fishery we just had here in last three days yeah and the spring hair that was shut down also yeah so I think you can set a net net for gas per hour something plus yeah three nets or string I don't know what this is and there was a lot more around than the gas tool like going back to small mesh gear and stuff a lot of you said it hair net sir a lot of fish got cleaned up and it's harder to get we start any April trying

1:00:14to get some base her the end April and the hair and kind of stopped it went to the first of May it seemed to jump every two every few years then it was the middle of May before you had any hair and show up then it was the end of May and now we get into the end of June or the middle of June before you see any hair in the towel so we just it's just a species you can't catch toys either yeah we catch it once and we had a problem here with hair in here a few years back to we'd sanners in here that really flattened what was left the card of the hall like this is the offshore sanners the big boats getting for about a hundred thousand pounds a night so million million pounds yeah yeah no these boats then there was a couple of the boats I was out there so we had quite a big demonstration here in quite a show we had RCMP officers here in ride cops and dogs with teeth

1:01:17in both ends and we had the whole whole shoot match here on the north we were protested of course of course we lost it you you guys were protesting that big boats were were from where you're brunzling brunzling they came in here to unload but I was all excited here one time I said you know the hair and fish we back does another generation hair and hair for the own father's fish you know like the way we did but they pretty well wiped their out it's coming back a little bit but nothing near it used to be not even close take years and years and years all of herring used to be down on our side all the way like down to track we cold heads yeah no you were down there for staring in summer that's all nothing left down there now well you there's a hair and bank down here we call the fish miss bank I fish there jewellery fish there column fish there but there was over 200 boats down there every night they're back in the I guess the 90s yeah and this year's a

1:02:17big year this I think there's 50 boats geared up but there's gonna be a lot of people where they were here and I think it's gonna be a lot of messes there's just it's gonna be one little area of the fish are in then everybody's gonna try and get peace the pie so but we were down there was well 200 255 boats everybody got fish but we were catching spawners too but we didn't fish on weekends you know there was we had a bag limit on it too 15 000 and I didn't get headed to the home but we did a little destruction ourselves all right but uh not like the seniors they come out they're not they're way out everything every every every size there's no there's nothing like them a bit of a sander yeah you're running the gillness you know you're getting the certain size fish yeah you start running seniors you're cleaning the wipe out entire school of it yeah and they used to saying the daytime I had no sander cap and tell me the same story at night time you said if you take a dip in your hair and your smile and you want to release them they'll probably all live in the daytime they beat the scales off each other and they just go to the bottom and die so they ruled a lot too yeah I must be dense so I'm gonna ask it a different

1:03:31so what giant boats came in from New Brunswick and had some sort of what what did we call on these guys sander sander yeah and sander's of the company no no sander's the the gear type the gear type yeah yeah and they dragged and they were getting a hundred thousand no a million a million pounds of fish a million pounds there's there's two of them here that the JP Nickers and the air de Evans and then there was one came from the west coast the Canadian club the name well that was in the 70s the first time yeah yeah when they came here but that's for them them their boats that hold a million pounds a million pounds yeah why didn't that happen every year why did it happen that time like was this something they allowed that time around or were they just being raising a little bit bold and coming here they built a build a heron plant down here that was

1:04:33in the 70s that was in the 70s but this was so it's happened a few times yeah 90s but it was never science it was always political science and we don't have political clout here in PEI we got four members here and they don't get one rat's ass of a PEI nobody ever did in the fishery we got crumbs when the other problems is got crab myses and then we know we had tunic order here one time the Gulf tunic order they just chipped away and took it away and they just PEI is an easy target yeah PEI is over 50% of the tunic license and can and I guess less than 30% of all yeah you look at different issues and like DFO always preaches a J-sensee and all this stuff but everything's right here in our doorstep and yeah we don't get near the share a crab pole to snow crab pole to that that came back your early brothers the crab fishermen they have in the Gulf here now started as a three PEI yeah that's right and it just went

1:05:38it wasn't feasible even to catch them at that time so the brothers did start off again but their government was really generous to the boats and kept it going till they got a fishery established but then when they were divvying quotas we got they were back as far as I think was 72 with that time that was the last time PEI fish was 72 so the game is nothing no what's the biggest threat to the PEI fishermen politicians careful you're starting to sound like an albert it always was it's yeah it's government it's government regulations yeah the fishery was mismanaged for years and years that's why we have shut down that's why there's no hair and that's why we have a mackerel shut down back in that heron protest by the way I do know this you know it wasn't a whole lot it there were supposed to be a line out in the

1:06:42Gulf there where the sanners couldn't come in but all of a sudden there was a fire in Halifax Alpha Spawn time and now that information abirt but it did show up but anyway they did put the line back in but when they put the line back in they also made a deal with the sanners from macro because there's all kinds of mackerel so they just kind of shifted operations from hair to macro and now we have none of either so we're all shut down so they did the same with every fishery it was just political pressure political science not science and it'll never change yeah they put a line back in that was never taken ever mm hmm and it was the same with the redfish the same the same as the same as the

1:07:44I can see they're sitting there thinking yeah it was the same as the redfish same thing happened yeah when the redfish went the plant went they took the quota with us with them well not we're not only that and the fish was caught here in Georgetown George said a big plant fish were caught in the Gulf the redfish were caught in the Gulf yeah and hailed in the Sydney Boit and then down yes cancel great right because we seen them in there as we had a little old bottom trial there were every two hours we'd hauled back we'd have eight thousand right he'd hauled back when I was idea there and he'd have eighty thousand think thing from here to the road if they're the cotton behind the things right not and it wouldn't not a beep and the radio wouldn't talk to nobody and you only stay in there for the one one or two rips direct all you needed me go back and stagger the rest of the trip back and believe that's where they were coming there were a left one trip in the Gulf at that time one one trip a month right and and they were coming in they

1:08:53did two or three tons that 160,000 or 200,000 and then they go back in but they wouldn't talk to nobody on the radio so that was three so then that quota got recorded is landed in Nova Scotia land landed in Sydney Boit for cancel great it must have been the end of the month and then they started to get it the first one yeah once we're ready gone damn thick yeah and once for days they were you know they were getting the stuff that was up in the water red red fish are sunny day fish and the sunny up right the sun year it is better than the fish overcast day this borrower either for red fish okay and it'll go to the bottom right I'm told that out on the water fishermen don't need police officers that trip you can't

1:10:02police each other you mean the boats among themselves yeah I think they can control their their own destiny right yeah we're pretty good at that yeah we're pretty good at looking after yeah so I was somebody who crossed the line or tried to but it's looked after yeah yeah you're told right yeah we don't have to call them the law for everything there's an edicus yes and it's followed and if it's not followed it's that's right you buy an outfit a lobster outfit you fish it in the same area of bodies pretty well like I bought my 45 years ago when I fished in the same area pretty well it's the place I bought it he's just an unwritten law we just do just that's why he's done it's pretty well self-police yeah if you move ahead of boundaries you're going to get

1:11:07you're going to find yourself with a sterile in trouble I'm somebody who might say you're probably you're probably gonna lose some gear that's the place done in the East End area yeah it's different everywhere it's different some some law sherrys there's three drones every watch they can nobody want yeah you mentioned it parents painters back in the 70s in a plant here how big was that herently pretty well the same what we had it was six or seven most were seven seven seven yeah that's grown in potato wears at the loft they're now yeah I'm still for hair wasn't yeah okay that's all here and they fish right in the back oh yeah yep right in the back right in the back in the break water down there yeah yeah yeah right go to the hospital yeah we're we're we're we're piercing right they went through that time Jesus Christ had to

1:12:12stagger your way of trudin there they'll hold back their right right at the end of the thing they're pumping pump in the lower right yes they're in blow the hot towards blow the hospital try to pray in the break water just off the hard bottom yeah yep yeah so a lot of changes over the years even since I started yeah and there was no these legends from George started he was a sales so I had a spaker I had a spaker on time yeah I was going to be on the other one say on that what was the same jurors used to say wooden boats and steel men and then it went to steel boats and wooden men yeah yeah yes or Jesus it's he's a change

1:13:14where do you see the future of the fisheries going with especially the climate right now you got a different tariff talk and price wars I guess price fixing setting price getting that price in the doeries yeah not diverse the words yeah price setting price what do you call it fixing yeah all spades babies got ledger yeah I don't know I think it's fairly stable ground alright yeah the fishery right now depends which column fishery it's a lobster fishery mostly now pretty well just a lobster fishery which has changed dramatically from a lot of species over over my time the lobsters are definitely more playful yeah how big were the lot what was the gauge size for you starting I got I got pants a bunch of

1:14:21gauges out there but that big yeah from from when we started coming up all up right well I started to use the tool in half inches so I know what it is that would that be a millimeter so it was a small lobster yeah definitely yeah yeah yeah it would that would like 63 or something forget what it was yeah they've shifted the age a lot of times a lot a lot of conservation work done yeah you know them there skate patches and stuff and that was going on yeah I was going on I got down middle-round yeah plastic plastic things yeah I don't know what we thought we were doing there we put them in just that didn't you know having toys is big yeah it might have done something spread their back right and one time there was no trap limit either like it was before my time did you fish on that to where like you some trap fish that my fish would right there for yeah four years over there some fell six twelve hundred traps five thousand traps would they fish

1:15:25fifteen hundred yeah yeah yeah then they put a four hundred trap four hundred traps no four four went four hundred then we would have the three hundred and now well in the straight here we fish 272 so it's it was a lot of conservation we need to talk so and went to three hundred of them license freeze comment was that same time around the same time around the same time yes early seventies well he had to buy back in the seventies there and that I think that's been a three hundred cop limit to me right well first the future of the fish fish goes fish we should be around a long time and of course the water is getting warmer there's a lot of things going to take effect but oh you know we can figure out a lobster there'd be no lobster exactly they have a figure of that so it's hard to predict what the future is going to be like you know or the lobster's moving north from the states

1:16:29that I've ever seen them more playful up here is you know as the states lobster down a southwest novel lobster are down are they moving north how long will the takedown could buy us and keep going north I mean we catch a lot of fish in deep water now and that was kind of my toss yeah is the fish that's moving from Maine it southwest know that our past and buys in the deep water like going north I don't know now we can figure that out or is it food I don't know but there's something going on when they're we're they're catching the officers where they never dreamed of fishing lobster before all right the best host new from land there they're they're getting haven't seen like they wouldn't believe right yeah and that there was no lobster's absolutely no lobster yeah 20 years ago right yeah there were starting up around steam then there's some cuba was there because I used to be down there move something right yeah so I think it's

1:17:30hard to predict there'll be a fishery here for a few years I do move out yeah there's a there's area south was here that's drop them like southwest know that yeah yeah they claim the U.S. but their numbers are always fairly high that's a year round yeah and a fish year round yeah yeah so was that fish coming north because of the warm water it's yeah I don't know I think it'll be good in my mind I've got a lot of time left I hope you're right so I think I think it's hard to predict yeah what we saw about Hurricane Piona just that one hurricane what that did down on the north side in the middle of the island to strike the damage it did that next spring they never came back yet it's yeah yeah it was the next spring the

1:18:34lobsters that were you know missing claws and legs and arms and half cracked open and even it was down 50 what 40 50 percent in place it's probably even out here yes like our outside edge here is 90 feet that and what I'm saying that that's what heard bottom ends and it's mud out there but our outside edge is rock it's still muddy my tracks come up still mud on the seals from afterfeel yeah still muddy to this day so there's it's covered it's shows heard bottom but it's covered over with mud too when you first started fishing what's one thing you didn't think you'd understand about the ocean that you understand now water temperature we never back and we never took any passing water temperature like no do today yeah the fish were down you know

1:19:37right it's the wind or what's it yeah now it's it's all water temperature it's up you hear water temperature that's funny because now my doc technology I have a I have a water temperature sensor that I started using this here and it's Bluetooth and so every time I pick up that troll every day press the button on the sensor it prints it sends it to my phone it shows me a graph what the water temperature didn't last 24 hours since it looked at the troughs yeah yeah they check it every day see that just it's and it's it's amazing to see how much it changes in 24 hours like because used to look at the thermometer and it was 42 yesterday and oh well it's down to back down to 39 today or something yeah it took a drop but a lot of days it probably went up to and down five and it's it's fascinating how much it changes I just saw that this year but when I bought my outfit the old fella I bought it from as he told me he said you better respect for the ocean he said because it is none for you yeah respect the old one it's one thing I never forgot either and it

1:20:41is true but we ignore that respect sometimes at times too and another thing is like well I can never tell him like we never fished off our bottom you know we always fished our bottom yeah yeah they're fished in places like the mud it's never even thought of going the further up to go the better like we always stayed in shore not rock we tried it yeah we tried it there was just nothing there nothing there the biomass has grown that much that it's expanded territory yeah so that's a big difference oh yeah jeepers yeah fish are coming in shore whatever they didn't this year whatever it's called later let's call it yeah it didn't this year didn't move in yes I say water temperature yeah yeah yeah we never thought we'd put our gear in there way for them yeah yeah the trunks today it's just yeah back to what you were saying earlier there like like you said like you used to be able to you you guys used to fish a string of gear you know if you

1:21:46got there with a watch in a compass or whatever now it's six traps over there and a trowel over here and a trowel over there and that's where we always say some we always eat that in sorry yeah all over the place we were never too much strings we didn't have the bottom to do no we're all strips more or less right yeah if you got six in the string you were doing well yeah what I mean yeah yeah you know yeah spread all over the place now miles miles miles the further right to do it gets better up here yeah you've all never ever saw going up there over there the George's side George was the odd doggie because he fished deep water there before a lot of them on the other side yeah yeah he always did as George said I had to wait two days he got the crabs and the conks and then they cleaned them up and the logs just started but you see a lot of them orange will as they look like each hook break yeah yeah you know they're common then not far away but yeah there's a body of fish there for sure especially these plants yeah oh yeah yeah

1:22:54especially these five prisoners are right are you should say I can't get to you she said beyond twelve five I'm pretty I said Jesus you got to try you got to give it up he'd he'd be scared going to lose one day right in back inside again he come out dump dump three or four turtles there wouldn't say yeah you were ahead of your time you were west west do you when you come out though you were a deep water fellow before you were a deep water starter yeah what took you drove what took you to deep water when John saying you're different why why aren't you similar to these get what why did you go deep water I never seen him coming down at the woods yet watch us gotta come somewhere right same for a fish and sand and they got a little cross to sand they got dust in the wrong yeah yeah so but but back in the day we always waited for them right

1:23:57now the fishermen are not waiting for their own can't afford to wait can't afford to wait no one's time to go you couldn't go to deep water there was every the narricks at lobster they were there was cocks and there was crabs and there was spider crabs and there was jumping to our finger today were little earlier there's a couple of days in that junk and then the lobster was started to kind of clean it up have them there's no cocks anymore there's a few years there Jesus Christ will they say that especially yeah I'll give you something to help the traps and meet that full of them right the square traps right have to dump them right that's yes yeah no very very few years right then you skip the ones who are going to find off shore so three four miles yeah there's the first I went was these points was three miles out another lost it eight miles after it was called fish 16 miles off he's fine they're just going going going that seems to sand out there in the scott over the scott over there used to be right

1:25:03and we got and then drug all over to go out there in place hadn't been drug cleaned down when he hit his plane and he and scoffers with big bellies yes donnie ain't here to do defense that's for me donnie yeah we've tortured this Northside scott over zero one year ago it stays there oh yeah donnie we wrote rubbed his rubs in the river there collins that then fill us in the north side with the big bellies they were catching all the loxers and come though we haven't catch a nervous coax yeah damn Northsideers hey yeah but yeah well she's a big business today sure it's Sean if you if no more questions we'll call it a wrap right sure no I just need to make bad any other questions you know no appreciate you boys doing it thank you see we're in a good tier now snowdraight you had a good story big too bunchy stumbling that off camera i enjoyed that