A Week in Newfoundland
14 July 2010
Since leaving Rocky Harbour last Wednesday, Trish, Caitlin, Stefan, Curtis, and I have traveled through several coastal towns on the south shore of Newfoundland with the aim of engaging fishermen in our Marine Species at Risk observer program. Along the way, Trish has demonstrated how to go about talking with fishermen and explaining our organization. When arriving in a new town, we first talk to people Trish already knows there, or at least the owners of the B&B we are staying at, to find out where and when we should look for fishermen. Then, we head down to the dock with observer kits in hand and introduce ourselves. The first step in the conversation is to pull out our whale, shark, dolphin, and turtle identification charts and go through asking about each species individually. Us interns work with Trish to find out not only what species have been seen, but where, when, and under what conditions. Other information is crucial as well, such as what exactly the fishermen are fishing, what times of the year they are going out, and how far out to sea they travel. By interviewing the full range of fishermen, from inshore lobster boats to crews traveling 200 miles to the international waters boundary, we are able to complete a thorough survey. Once we go through the charts, and can detect at least some level of interest from the fishermen, we introduce our observer program and go through the contents of the kit. The kits we put together include a newsletter, charts, species fact sheets, a logbook, instruction manual, and a disposable camera, along with gifts like magnets and keychains.
Some of the fishermen we talk to tell us that, for whatever reason, they are are not interested in being an observer. Many times, they are fishing by themselves, have small boats, or simply aren't interested. Of course, we would much rather hear this than have them take the kit and then not use it. However, we still consider our conversation with them time well spent because of the data they can provide about what they have seen in the past.
It's definitely exciting to talk to fishermen who are enthusiastic about our work and rewarding to be able to walk away knowing that what we have learned will meaningfully contribute to the research that QLF is compiling. When the fishermen send in their logbooks, the information is added to a database from all 150 or so of our observers and will eventually be published in a species at risk atlas for the area. Pictures of whale flukes (tails) and the pink spot on the necks of leatherback turtles are also valuable because these serve as "fingerprints" for these species and can help with tracking and identification.
From our first night in Rocky Harbour, we drove to Harbour Breton, located on the Connaigre Peninsula. There, we went down to the wharf, met our first two fishermen, and were successful in that they both agreed to be observers. On Wednesday morning, we headed to a different wharf in town and talked with two more fishing crews, both of whom joined the observer program. One of the fishermen had just brought in a forty pound halibut! (photo) Our day was spent driving from Harbour Breton to Garnish. Although the towns are only 25 miles apart by ferry, the boat is passenger-only, so we had to make the seven hour drive back up to the Trans-Canada Highway and then down the Burin Peninsula to Garnish. We went out to the wharf in the morning, and although there weren’t many boats, we still signed two more observers to our program and I really enjoyed my conversations both about fishing and just getting to know these fishermen and what life is like for them.
Our next stop was Grand Bank, which is one of the larger towns in the area as well as a tourist destination. We learned about the history of the town as a center of trade in the 19th century and saw several old, beautiful homes that were built by merchants. As I am writing this, it has been exactly a week since we started our trip, and the only sun we have seen so far was for the few hours that we were in Grand Bank. Otherwise, it has been 50 degrees and foggy. We were able to catch a fishing crew as they were loading up their boat for a week long excursion and learned more about offshore species. One of the fishermen had previously worked commercially fishing sharks for a large Nova Scotian company, and told us how they would catch up to 25,000 pounds of porbeagle and mako shark a day, hauling in their 200,000 pound quota in two weeks.
We returned to Garnish for Friday night before heading to Fortune on Saturday to catch the St. Pierre et Miquelon ferry. An hour and a half off the coast of Newfoundland, St. Pierre et Miquelon is a French territory comprised of three islands, two of which are inhabited. We only went to the town of St. Pierre, on the southernmost island, although the one other town, Miquelon, is on the northernmost island. Although it is so close to Newfoundland, St. Pierre et Miquelon share no resemblance to their Canadian neighbor. Most of the 6000 residents speak little English and it is essentially like traveling to France. All of their products, including food, clothing, and cars, are imported and the euro is used for currency. In the afternoon, we met with three naturalists from a local conservation group, one of whom also works for the French government, and their intern from Paris to discuss future collaboration and possible data exchange. They were essentially fluent in English but would switch back and forth. Our visit lasted several hours, but was incredibly productive, and it was so interesting to see their home and learn about their work and life on St. Pierre.
On, Friday evening, we had an amazing dinner in a tiny restaurant where I tried escargot for the first time. I have to say it is one of my new favorite foods. Afterwards, we walked around and watched some live musicians before heading back to the B&B. In the morning, we met with two fishermen who had loads of great information about marine ecology of the area and the fishing community of St. Pierre. There are only ten to fifteen fishermen left on the island, so we were lucky to be able to get two more observers. Stefan and Caitlin, our sole francophones, did the talking, translating for the rest of us, and note taking. Our return ferry was delayed by three hours because of a broken water pump, but, despite the constant rain and fog, we didn’t mind the extra time in such a spectacular place. Once onboard, we saw White Beaked dolphins characteristically following the boat just off the starboard side, but no whales.
We visited both the Placentia and St. Bride’s wharfs Monday morning and found a couple more observers. After lunch, we spent the afternoon at Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Preserve, famous for its seabird population. After touring the museum and meeting with the park rangers, we hiked out to the nesting sites on the cliffs. At last count, there were 27,000 pairs of birds, 20,000 pairs of which are gannets. These cliffs were probably a hundred feet high and absolutely covered in gannets, terns, murres, and seagulls. The smell was pretty overwhelming since we were only twenty feet or so from the birds, but it was amazing to see so many in one place, and I’m sure the view would have been spectacular had we been able to see anything through the fog.
We drove to Trespassy to spend the night, and then Tuesday morning, went to the Fermeuse wharf. There, we met a fishing captain who operates the biggest boat we have seen to date. Having just come back from a week long crab fishing expedition, the 60,000 pounds of crab were being offloaded and the carapaces individually measured. Seeing this in progress was really interesting, as was our tour of the boat. The captain explained the navigational, communication, and safety equipment that they keep on board and told us about life while out at sea (photo). They keep a crew of six men, and have a full sized galley, dining area, and bunk room. I know that the tour was definitely a highlight for me, especially since no other fisherman has invited us to look around their boat. After lunch, we visited some of the nearby whale watch companies to show them our materials and talk about how they run their tours.
Finally, we got to get out on one of the tours ourselves! Despite having talked and written about whales for the past two weeks, the closet we’ve gotten to whales is seeing a little blip far away in the ocean. Just outside Fermeuse Bay, we drifted next to four humpbacks for half an hour. It was incredible to be so close to these whales and gave us a new appreciation for their size. Having never seen a puffin, I was happy to have the tour finish by showing us an island with 60,000 nesting pairs of puffins.
Yesterday evening, we drove up to St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the only city that I have seen since flying out of Boston. It’s small, but is home to Memorial University, and we are all excited for the chance to have food other than from sandwiches, seafood, and french fries. We spent the night with one of Trish’s friends from QLF, and today we have an eight hour drive to Corner Brook, back on the western coast of Newfoundland. Corner Brook is the go to place for Coasters (residents of the Lower North Shore) to do their shopping. Beyond groceries and hardware, there aren’t many places to shop along the Lower North Shore, so they make the ferry trip and four hour drive several times a year to stock up on whatever is needed.
This is pretty much it for the Newfoundland trip, since we are heading back to Blanc Sablon on the last ferry tomorrow! I’m definitely excited to get back, but this tour of Newfoundland has been eye opening in so many different ways and given me a much better feel for how important the work of the QLF is to the future of these fishing communities.
Since leaving Rocky Harbour last Wednesday, Trish, Caitlin, Stefan, Curtis, and I have traveled through several coastal towns on the south shore of Newfoundland with the aim of engaging fishermen in our Marine Species at Risk observer program. Along the way, Trish has demonstrated how to go about talking with fishermen and explaining our organization. When arriving in a new town, we first talk to people Trish already knows there, or at least the owners of the B&B we are staying at, to find out where and when we should look for fishermen. Then, we head down to the dock with observer kits in hand and introduce ourselves. The first step in the conversation is to pull out our whale, shark, dolphin, and turtle identification charts and go through asking about each species individually. Us interns work with Trish to find out not only what species have been seen, but where, when, and under what conditions. Other information is crucial as well, such as what exactly the fishermen are fishing, what times of the year they are going out, and how far out to sea they travel. By interviewing the full range of fishermen, from inshore lobster boats to crews traveling 200 miles to the international waters boundary, we are able to complete a thorough survey. Once we go through the charts, and can detect at least some level of interest from the fishermen, we introduce our observer program and go through the contents of the kit. The kits we put together include a newsletter, charts, species fact sheets, a logbook, instruction manual, and a disposable camera, along with gifts like magnets and keychains.
Some of the fishermen we talk to tell us that, for whatever reason, they are are not interested in being an observer. Many times, they are fishing by themselves, have small boats, or simply aren't interested. Of course, we would much rather hear this than have them take the kit and then not use it. However, we still consider our conversation with them time well spent because of the data they can provide about what they have seen in the past.
It's definitely exciting to talk to fishermen who are enthusiastic about our work and rewarding to be able to walk away knowing that what we have learned will meaningfully contribute to the research that QLF is compiling. When the fishermen send in their logbooks, the information is added to a database from all 150 or so of our observers and will eventually be published in a species at risk atlas for the area. Pictures of whale flukes (tails) and the pink spot on the necks of leatherback turtles are also valuable because these serve as "fingerprints" for these species and can help with tracking and identification.
From our first night in Rocky Harbour, we drove to Harbour Breton, located on the Connaigre Peninsula. There, we went down to the wharf, met our first two fishermen, and were successful in that they both agreed to be observers. On Wednesday morning, we headed to a different wharf in town and talked with two more fishing crews, both of whom joined the observer program. One of the fishermen had just brought in a forty pound halibut! (photo) Our day was spent driving from Harbour Breton to Garnish. Although the towns are only 25 miles apart by ferry, the boat is passenger-only, so we had to make the seven hour drive back up to the Trans-Canada Highway and then down the Burin Peninsula to Garnish. We went out to the wharf in the morning, and although there weren’t many boats, we still signed two more observers to our program and I really enjoyed my conversations both about fishing and just getting to know these fishermen and what life is like for them.
Our next stop was Grand Bank, which is one of the larger towns in the area as well as a tourist destination. We learned about the history of the town as a center of trade in the 19th century and saw several old, beautiful homes that were built by merchants. As I am writing this, it has been exactly a week since we started our trip, and the only sun we have seen so far was for the few hours that we were in Grand Bank. Otherwise, it has been 50 degrees and foggy. We were able to catch a fishing crew as they were loading up their boat for a week long excursion and learned more about offshore species. One of the fishermen had previously worked commercially fishing sharks for a large Nova Scotian company, and told us how they would catch up to 25,000 pounds of porbeagle and mako shark a day, hauling in their 200,000 pound quota in two weeks.
We returned to Garnish for Friday night before heading to Fortune on Saturday to catch the St. Pierre et Miquelon ferry. An hour and a half off the coast of Newfoundland, St. Pierre et Miquelon is a French territory comprised of three islands, two of which are inhabited. We only went to the town of St. Pierre, on the southernmost island, although the one other town, Miquelon, is on the northernmost island. Although it is so close to Newfoundland, St. Pierre et Miquelon share no resemblance to their Canadian neighbor. Most of the 6000 residents speak little English and it is essentially like traveling to France. All of their products, including food, clothing, and cars, are imported and the euro is used for currency. In the afternoon, we met with three naturalists from a local conservation group, one of whom also works for the French government, and their intern from Paris to discuss future collaboration and possible data exchange. They were essentially fluent in English but would switch back and forth. Our visit lasted several hours, but was incredibly productive, and it was so interesting to see their home and learn about their work and life on St. Pierre.
On, Friday evening, we had an amazing dinner in a tiny restaurant where I tried escargot for the first time. I have to say it is one of my new favorite foods. Afterwards, we walked around and watched some live musicians before heading back to the B&B. In the morning, we met with two fishermen who had loads of great information about marine ecology of the area and the fishing community of St. Pierre. There are only ten to fifteen fishermen left on the island, so we were lucky to be able to get two more observers. Stefan and Caitlin, our sole francophones, did the talking, translating for the rest of us, and note taking. Our return ferry was delayed by three hours because of a broken water pump, but, despite the constant rain and fog, we didn’t mind the extra time in such a spectacular place. Once onboard, we saw White Beaked dolphins characteristically following the boat just off the starboard side, but no whales.
We visited both the Placentia and St. Bride’s wharfs Monday morning and found a couple more observers. After lunch, we spent the afternoon at Cape St. Mary’s Ecological Preserve, famous for its seabird population. After touring the museum and meeting with the park rangers, we hiked out to the nesting sites on the cliffs. At last count, there were 27,000 pairs of birds, 20,000 pairs of which are gannets. These cliffs were probably a hundred feet high and absolutely covered in gannets, terns, murres, and seagulls. The smell was pretty overwhelming since we were only twenty feet or so from the birds, but it was amazing to see so many in one place, and I’m sure the view would have been spectacular had we been able to see anything through the fog.
We drove to Trespassy to spend the night, and then Tuesday morning, went to the Fermeuse wharf. There, we met a fishing captain who operates the biggest boat we have seen to date. Having just come back from a week long crab fishing expedition, the 60,000 pounds of crab were being offloaded and the carapaces individually measured. Seeing this in progress was really interesting, as was our tour of the boat. The captain explained the navigational, communication, and safety equipment that they keep on board and told us about life while out at sea (photo). They keep a crew of six men, and have a full sized galley, dining area, and bunk room. I know that the tour was definitely a highlight for me, especially since no other fisherman has invited us to look around their boat. After lunch, we visited some of the nearby whale watch companies to show them our materials and talk about how they run their tours.
Finally, we got to get out on one of the tours ourselves! Despite having talked and written about whales for the past two weeks, the closet we’ve gotten to whales is seeing a little blip far away in the ocean. Just outside Fermeuse Bay, we drifted next to four humpbacks for half an hour. It was incredible to be so close to these whales and gave us a new appreciation for their size. Having never seen a puffin, I was happy to have the tour finish by showing us an island with 60,000 nesting pairs of puffins.
Yesterday evening, we drove up to St. John’s, the capital of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the only city that I have seen since flying out of Boston. It’s small, but is home to Memorial University, and we are all excited for the chance to have food other than from sandwiches, seafood, and french fries. We spent the night with one of Trish’s friends from QLF, and today we have an eight hour drive to Corner Brook, back on the western coast of Newfoundland. Corner Brook is the go to place for Coasters (residents of the Lower North Shore) to do their shopping. Beyond groceries and hardware, there aren’t many places to shop along the Lower North Shore, so they make the ferry trip and four hour drive several times a year to stock up on whatever is needed.
This is pretty much it for the Newfoundland trip, since we are heading back to Blanc Sablon on the last ferry tomorrow! I’m definitely excited to get back, but this tour of Newfoundland has been eye opening in so many different ways and given me a much better feel for how important the work of the QLF is to the future of these fishing communities.
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