| Full Moon at Rushbrook, just about dead centre in the picture. Our arrival coincided with a gillnet closing (the end of a State-licensed fishing period), so the gillnetters were streaming in and rafting up three deep. As each boat arrived (gillnetters fish solo) the skipper would tie up, draw the curtains, and disappear into his bunk to sleep off two, three, maybe four days with little or no sleep. Here they will wait for the next opening, which will be announced by DFO on short notice; as soon as the word is out, the whole fleet will roar off to the next fishing locale and do it all again. (I cannot help musing on the role of cheap fossil fuel in creating this craziness, and wondering what will happen when it isn't cheap any more.) As crowding on the docks intensified, a gillnetter rafted up to us. As a fleet they have a reputation for slovenliness, rowdiness and bad manners -- so I was a little anxious -- but this skipper was polite and his boat clean and well kept. Moreover, there was a personal connection: his boat was built by our friend Barrie Farrell from Nanaimo -- it's a small maritime world. |
