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| CURRENT STORIES IN PRINT EDITION |
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Seining the Fundy
By Jim Wellman
The Bay of Fundy has a long history of herring seining. The number of seiners has diminished in recent years but for the Doucette family, the tradition goes on. One of the most famous of the old -time captains was Vincent Doucette who fished for years out of Grand Manan and Blacks Harbour, New Brusnwick.
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Vincent passed on a few years ago but his legacy as a seining "highliner" continues as his son Delma and Delma's son Jeremy still sail out of Blacks Harbour, home to the largest sardine factory in the world.
Captain Delma Doucette was honoured in March this year as one of the Navigator Magazine-Master Promotions Achievement Award winners at the Fish Canada-Workboat Canada Trade Show in Moncton. In several conversations during and after that show, Delma, one of the last, if not THE last, independent owner-operator in the southeast New Brunswick seining fleet, invited me to join them on a seining trip. It was an offer I couldn't refuse so on July 28-29, I took him up on his invitation and joined the seiner Margaret Elizabeth in Blacks Harbour.
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Ruisseau Oysters; Some Good, Me Sons
By Alain Meuse
I knew that Nolan d'Eon was growing oysters in Eel Lake. I first read about his oyster farm on a flight to Ontario a few years ago when his operation was featured in the magazine they stuff in the slot in front of your seat.
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When the company where I worked for decades changed hands, a Mr. Ouellette said he was tired of fish being served every night at the inn he stayed at. He professed a taste for oysters and mused about where he might get some.
I talked to advertising representative Ron Surette about the Eel Lake operation. He lives next door to the d'Eons.
"No problem," he said.
He took Ouelette to the site and he purchased a few dozen of the plump delicacies for a party he was planning for his home in Quebec just north of Ottawa.
A month or so later he returned to Yarmouth and he was beaming about the Ruisseau oysters.
"I'm buying a few dozen and these are for moi, nobody else!" he proclaimed.
The operation is almost next door to my sister and brother in law's abode. I don't know why, but I had it in my head that he was selling Russian Oysters. Why in hell would he be importing oyster spat from Russia, I mused.
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Cod Liver Oil Memories
By Nathan Kettle
My dearly beloved mother, Ester, a kind and caring woman, went about her daily work attending to her 10 children singing the traditional cod liver song. Not only did she sing it, she made sure each one of us received a soupspoon of it every morning before we went to school. This she followed with a soupspoon of syrup to help the medicine go down.
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Little did I realize that by the time I got to high school, I would be very much involved in the making of cod liver oil.
Grand Bay, my hometown [on Newfoundland's southwest corner], had a very productive cod fishery in the 1940's. The markets were good. The fishermen were dealing in fresh fish and received four cents per pound for their catch - gutted and head on. However, there was an additional profit to be made - if only the fishermen could sell the cod fish livers.
Munn & Co. of St. John's heard about the productive cod fishery in Grand Bay and they decided to do something about it. In 1942, they inquired about this and finally made an agreement with my grandfather, Captain Wilson Kettle, and my father, Howard. They had good seaside property and agreed to erect a cod liver factory about 25 feet by 40 feet adjacent to their fishing stage. Thus began a new industry for the town.
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