Page 88 - George Leonard & the Fish Business

ISSUE : Issue 69

Published by Ronald Caplan on 1995/8/1

for those things. And we never wanted to see them, nobody wanted to catch them. And the fishermen would get them by mistake on their swordfish trawls. They'd be fishing swordfish and they'd catch the odd tuna. Well, they didn't want to throw it away, just haul it aboard. Bring it in--horse mackerel. Bloody things. Time you had to get rid of some of that stuff. Nobody wanted it. Now they're $20 a pound! Laughs. Or more! But I'm quite convinced that it was just man's greed that screwed the whole thing up. That was it, the bottom line. (But where do you lay the blame? Do you lay it on your father and his generation?) No, no, no, no, no. I don't blame it on any generation. I blame it on ignorance. And I blame it on poor management, from the point of view of the scientists involved. Which leads you into Department of Fisher? ies, which leads you into government, and politics. You know, all of these people-- put them out of work--so on and so forth.... (But do you think--supposing there were no government and there were no scientists-- there were just the fish buyers and the fishermen--do you think that they would have held back, and not used the new equipment?) No. It's human greed. They'd take every blessed fish, completely. There wouldn't be one, to breed. That's human nature, you know. You'd be naive to think otherwise. Indians seem to have the best-- the native people, if you like--seem to have the better philosophy. As I read them. Makes a lot more sense. When you talk about salmon fishing in some of these rivers, and so on and so forth. They seem to want to work with the so-called white people, and whatnot else, on a conserva? tion system. Photos of the fish plant fire In North Sydney, and workers in the fish plant • Abbass Studio, Beaton Institute collection. A Commitment to Cape Breton Cape Bretones Largest Full-Service Garden Centre MABOU GARDENS Grand Lake Road SYDNEY • 562-6000 • Locally Owned, and • OPEN 12 MONTHS A YEAR! Buy All Your Garden & Gift Needs • Weddings Hospitals • • Anniversaries Balloons • • Fruit Baskets Artificials • • Green & Potted Plants • We grow and supply bedding plants, trees, shrubs, etc. Complete Flower Shop & Wire Service Keep Cape Breton Growing . . . Buy Cape Breton Grown! Inverness Isle Scarlet Ribbons Central Avenue, Inverness • 258-2231 MAIL ORDERS & INQUIRIES: 1-800-565-4998 Stop in and see our selection of Local Handcrafts Quilts Souvenirs We feature our own shop-designed T-SHIRTS of CAPE BRETON and the surrounding areas PORT HOOD, MABOU, INVERNESS & MARGAREE Local and Imported Dried Flowers Driftwood Art TOURIST INFORMATION CENTRE We are so glad you are here, and we hope you enjoy your stayi

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