Herring Fishery in Winter (April 12)

One morning I overheard Mr. Dalton regaling Grandpa with tales of gill-netting wintertime herrings. He and his friends had engaged in the trade during the early 1900s. They used to cut through the ice and suspend nets where fish were known to school. The following day, they would come back to haul up their catch.

“It was amazing how fast they froze. They turned into icicles the second they were out of the water. We hardly had time to untangle them… They got to the market in Toronto ‘way fresher than any sea fish. So they sold out the very first day. I guess they were still frozen when they hit the frying pan.”

But “it was easy to get lost in a snowstorm, especially if night fell before you got back to shore. And there were plenty of traps to watch out for. Cracks could open up where you’d never expect. Or some guy might leave a hole after loading his sled with blocks of ice. They were supposed to put in a marker, usually a spruce bough, but trust me, they didn’t always. You had to keep watching. If not, you’d be a goner by the time you found out they’d let you down.”

Stories like that are a reminder of how much the natural world has declined in relatively recent years. The herring fishery still exists in a few locations yet it has mostly ended. Canada’s celebrated ecological richness and diversity can still be distantly recalled, but so much has been lost!

No doubt at least a few readers have heard such wonderful stories. If you’re one of them, please leave a comment.

(pp. 64-5)

(Illustration generated by AI)