William B. McCloskey (1928–2016)

The tsunami of 1964 caused by the earthquake wiped out a major portion of Kodiak, Alaska, but it vitalized the fishing community which now thrives with canneries for salmon, crabs, halibut, and other seafood caught in the rich waters of the Alaskan shelf. Fishing these waters is extremely dangerous and the towns that support it resemble nothing less than the older frontier.

The book is an interesting combination of fiction and non-fiction alternating chapters as McCloskey follows the career of Hank, college graduate and Vietnam veteran , who falls in love with fishing (for some unfathomable reason) in Alaskan waters for a variety of species. We're treated to a section on each kind of boat and species as Hank learns the skills needed for each finally (after being injured by the smashing force of a Halibut tail --I had no idea...-- they can weigh up to 400 lbs.) as submanager of a cannery, a job that displays all the intricate details of the operation and the vast quantity of material that is processed (millions of cans of salmon during an eight-week season) with the concomitant problems of managing people who don't want to be managed. He ends up as skipper on a boat so we get to see the business from that end as well. (The scenes of the boats icing up are tense and scary.)

Being a bit bizarre myself, I found the mix of technology and culture to be fascinating.

… (mere)

This book is about fishermen. Not casual sportsmen but those who ply the ocean for their daily living. It's also partly about the economics of the industry, the history of various regions and how fisheries are managed. Mostly a close, personal look at the men who catch fish for consumers, and what their daily labor is like.... McCloskey himself really enjoys being on the ocean. He was able to write such detailed, personal depictions of fishermen because he volunteered to go along, pitching his weight with the crew and working alongside them. Thus learning something of the various skills involved (often refrained from, or denied, doing particular tasks aboard that required certain dexterity and practice to avoid spoiling the catch) and earning the respect of the men, who would share stories and explain things to him. He shows the hardships they endure and the freedom they enjoy, and also a bit of local culture, some of which remains unchanged through centuries.

The areas he visited included New Bedford, Gloucester, the Newfoundland Grand Banks, the coast of Labrador, Chesapeake Bay and Norway. He spent time both among permanent residents of isolated fishing communities and also transient folk, who were only there during the main season. He went aboard big ocean trawlers that fished in international waters and smaller boats that stayed closer to shore. He helped place seine nets, longlines and dredging equipment. He went tonging for oysters and even accompanied some men on a sealing hunt- one of the few places where the locals met him with deep suspicion- their livelihood seriously threatened by "save the seals" environmentalists who protest the clubbing of seals as being cruel. But McCloskey shows how efficient their methods were, and also the long-reaching impact when sealing was outlawed in many areas- the resulting population boom of seals then impacted fishermen- starving seals tangled their nets far more often than the fish they wanted to catch. There are other parts of the book that show how regulations made by lawmakers often don't work out the way they're supposed to, how fishing methods can be vilified, how the issues of overfishing pressure on the oceans isn't as simple as it seems...

Probably a lot of this has changed in the decades since the book was written. It felt insightful to read it, though. The author writes well, describing places and people vividly. Some parts about the fishing rights and international treaties and how catches are measured and so on can be a bit dry, but overall a good read.

from the Dogear Diary… (mere)

William McCloskey, has worked as a commercial fisherman in addition to writing numerous articles on fishing and environmental causes. In Fish Decks he writes passionately of a rapidly disappearing life: the individual or small community fishermen of the North Atlantic. We follow the oyster men of Chesapeake Bay (see also William Warner's excellent book [b:Beautiful Swimmers: Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay|368887|Beautiful Swimmers Watermen, Crabs and the Chesapeake Bay|William W. Warner|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1174181512s/368887.jpg|358872] for a more detailed exploration,) to the draggers of Gloucester, to the Inuit Eskimos netting for arctic char, to the various kinds of fishing still practiced by Norwegians along their inhospitable coasts.

McCloskey clearly admires and values what is still a very difficult lifestyle, with very long hours, under cold and wet conditions which most of us would find unbearable for a single day not to mention an entire lifetime. The chapter on sealing is eminently fair; presenting both sides of an emotional controversy~ He reveals how the issue was unethically manipulated most by the producers of the famous movie "Murder Island" which purported to show a harp seal being skinned alive. Only long after the film had achieved its enormous impact was it revealed that the famous scene had been staged and a sealer hired to do what normally was never done. Bystanders identified in the film as sealers were actually part of the film crew. The dispute was fueled by erroneous statistics and spread by people who no doubt had never visited an abattoir before enjoying their pork chops.

The consequence of the campaign was destitution for a large number of fishermen who counted on income from the seal hunt to supplement their dwindling income from fishing as the large trawlers decimated the schools of fish they had relied upon. This is not to say that killing baby seals to wear a fancy coat is justified; but the campaign was orchestrated by persons unwilling to help the fishermen find an alternative.

McCloskey lived with those he writes about and brings a different and valuable.perspective. Another excellent book about fishing in the North Atlantic is William Warner's [b:Distant Water|368889|Distant Water|William W. Warner|http://www.goodreads.com/images/nocover-60x80.jpg|358874]:
The Fate of the North Atlantic Fishermen.… (mere)