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East Harbour Heroes Season 3 Episode 2

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00:00EAST HARBOR HEROES
00:07Previously on EAST HARBOR HEROES
00:09We're going 90 miles south to St. Peter Bank
00:12and we're going to see if we can get some well.
00:14It's peak season in Newfoundland and Labrador
00:17with hundreds of boats on the water,
00:19keeping harbors and rescue operators busy 24-7.
00:23Skipper Daniel Morgan hit a few hurdles
00:26and waves while trying a brand new fishery.
00:29This fleet is not going so good.
00:31Not as good as what we expected.
00:33If it don't get any better, we're going to call it off for the day,
00:36wait for the wind to drop off.
00:38And the community rallied to save seven fishermen
00:41on the North Atlantic.
00:45Never underestimate the ocean.
00:47Be careful now, bud.
00:48You always got to be watching that while you're at.
00:50Tarak S905 is in the climb.
00:52You can always expect that there's something unexpected
00:55that's going to happen.
00:56We got to get a move on.
00:58Okay, we're getting to the ballpark now.
01:00A bit challenging on times, no good but that.
01:02Boats are there and crews are ready and whatever it takes.
01:04These are the East Harbor Heroes.
01:15Four hours north of St. John's in the small fishing village of Valleyfield.
01:19Good morning.
01:22All ready for the excitement?
01:25There's something about the water.
01:26I mean, when you go out sometimes, you want a little break from it.
01:28But I find when I'm in on land for a while, I just need to get back out there.
01:33Watch the paint.
01:35Skipper Eugene Carter is heading back to sea as one of the first mates on his Uncle Glenn's boat.
01:40The perfect choice.
01:41We're putting ice and bait aboard and we're heading out for cad.
01:47Cad fishery was always a part of me and fishing was always a part of me growing up.
01:52I started fishing when I was about 14 years old.
01:55I was still in high school and during the summer, I would take trips with my Uncle Glenn there on his other boat, Samantha Lynette.
02:02And I used to go out as a gutter and he would pay me a small wage of $100 a day.
02:08I thought I was making good money at that time.
02:10Would one tall bear be in the way?
02:13Hey, head down off the credit.
02:16Glenn is actually married to my mom's sister, which is my aunt.
02:19So that's pretty much how I got into the fishery.
02:22Pretty much full swing was because of Glenn.
02:24Watch that one there.
02:25You can go out on chowder day.
02:26Yeah.
02:27I'm taking you out of it.
02:28Chowder day.
02:29A little bit of ice and bait and a couple of chutes.
02:32We've got to pick up a patrol board and then we're ready to hit the water.
02:35Got all my bags, brought aboard.
02:37Get my clothes straight away now before we leave.
02:40Survival suits.
02:42Just in case something bad happens.
02:44As long as everybody knows where their suits is and that their suits fit, right?
02:48It takes something to happen.
02:49Never take nothing for granted.
02:51This is the first long fishing trip for Toby and Eugene since the sinking of the Elite Navigator a few weeks ago.
02:58There was a fire in the locker where the exhaust comes up through.
03:02This fire was out of control and that's when I did make the call to abandon ship.
03:06It's my first big trip back since the whole incident with the Elite Navigator.
03:12Definitely some thoughts and feelings that I'm naturally going to think about but I just need to get back out there and get back at it before it's too late.
03:21I think the worst thing you could probably do was wait later than now because it would probably play on my mind a lot more.
03:28Like my girlfriend and whatnot.
03:30They all have thoughts in their mind and they're always nervous.
03:33Even before the trip with the Elite Navigator, if I was going out at sea, they were always nervous when I go out because they don't know what I could encounter.
03:41But after this incident happened, they're definitely a lot more nervous.
03:45Toby, the youngest of Eugene's crew on the Elite Navigator, is the opposite of nervous.
03:50It was definitely a bit of an eye-opener for sure, for sure, but I don't think I'll ever change my passion for fishing.
03:56I'm excited to get back.
03:59Let's go all the time, buddy.
04:01I said no, Lord Jesus.
04:05Don't worry if you need a valley if you'll hire him, no?
04:07It does take a special kind of person to go out there and you've got lots of challenges.
04:10You've got to deal with the weather, you've got to deal with the mindset of you're offshore,
04:14you're on the Atlantic Ocean.
04:16If you don't have all those qualities, you're not going to do much good on the water.
04:24So right now we're going to be heading over to a fleet and you can see that this fleet here goes right over this bit.
04:31And I'm hoping that this here is where we're going to get to Welk.
04:34About 90 miles off the south coast of the island, skipper Daniel Morgan and his crew are on the hunt for Welk.
04:40So if we grind it out for the next couple of days and just howls, keeps howling, we should put our trip aboard.
04:46And then I'll be able to get home and see my girlfriend for her birthday.
04:50Basically since I got the boat, in the past six months I might have spent like three weeks home.
04:54After battling fierce wind and swells for 36 hours, Daniel and his crew found calmer seas and the Welk.
05:02But they still have almost 30,000 pounds to catch before they can head back to port.
05:06I see them now.
05:11I can see the two buoys.
05:14I got them!
05:15Those two little buoys are pretty hard to see in the night.
05:19They're tied on?
05:20Yeah.
05:21Oh God.
05:22Thank you son.
05:23Tries to get them as close as we can so it's not so far of a trail for the hook.
05:40Nice and clean.
05:41No barnacles.
05:42Lots of life into him.
05:44He's coming out there now for a look at you.
05:46Like right now this is good fishing.
05:47This is good!
05:48Oh yeah!
05:49Yeah!
05:50Yeah!
05:51Building a modern fishing enterprise means taking risks on new species and strategies to
05:59stay afloat.
06:00We're trying to stay as busy as we can doing different fisheries because the more stuff
06:04we get at the better it is for the boat and the company.
06:07There's a lot of money coming in but there's also a lot going out.
06:09I like when I got to help Danny howl the patch in over the rail.
06:16You know this is good fishing then.
06:17I can't really describe the smell.
06:18Smells like money to me.
06:19Oh yeah!
06:20Good job.
06:21Basically what fishing it is all trial and error.
06:22You're always trying different bait.
06:23You're changing your gear around.
06:24Different fish hangs out in different places and you just got to be there at the right time
06:29and have the right gear.
06:30You're always trying different bait.
06:31You're changing your gear around.
06:33Different fish hangs out in different places and you just got to be there at the right time
06:38and have the right gear and fill the boat, hopefully.
06:47400 miles northeast of Daniel, the perfect choice has arrived at their fishing grounds.
06:52We're going to need more magazines, right?
06:54We're going to need more magazines.
06:55Yeah.
06:56How many is there now so far?
06:57Three racks.
06:58Three racks?
06:59The moron's gone out.
07:00The gravel just went.
07:01So following the gravel now, our hooks are going right.
07:04The boat is going to be feeding the baiter.
07:06It's going to be automatically baiting our hooks that's going out.
07:09Each one of those racks sold is about 200 hooks.
07:14The auto line system Glenn installed on the perfect choice conveyed thousands of hooks
07:19and after a few hours of soaking, the machine hauls the fish up.
07:23And fish caught on hooks fetch over double the price of net caught product.
07:40Get it over and get some fish.
07:41Like every time those hooks or those nets or whatever it is is going over that boat,
07:45it's just like Christmas Eve to me.
07:46The red sky up morning means, Obey.
07:47I know what it means.
07:48So we'll move against this one out now.
07:49We'll turn it around and go back and hook the first one we shot.
07:53Thousands of islanders moved away when the cod fishery shut down in 1993.
08:06What for a lot of them, the dream was always to fish.
08:22I went and started to become an electrician and got my journeyman to net.
08:26I worked at that for almost 10 years.
08:28Met the skipper's daughter.
08:30Moved back home.
08:31And here I am now.
08:34Yeah.
08:35Yeah.
08:36Finally doing what I wanted to do.
08:37But here I know I actually wakes up in the morning and enjoys going to work.
08:41Well, first thing is the job is staying up.
08:44Boom!
08:45It makes everything difficult.
08:47You've got to hold on.
08:54Despite their good start, the wind and currents remind them who's in charge out here.
08:58Turn off the water now!
09:01Well, now a tangle is stuck in the boat, I think.
09:06We've got to tangle up real bad.
09:11No way that went out like that.
09:30About 80 miles off the northeast coast of Newfoundland, the crew of the perfect choice are in a race to catch cod.
09:37And their gear is not cooperating.
09:39Adds extra times here today.
09:41Days are long enough actually over there, but even longer now.
09:44But that's it.
09:45You don't want anything to stop with the system.
09:48The worst thing that can happen is that hauler stop.
09:50Because then you're losing time.
09:52The northern ends now so far today seems like they've been the worst.
09:55But usually on a calm day most of the time this wouldn't happen.
09:58A bad day on the water is better than 100 good days on land.
10:02While the perfect choice chased their cod quota, about 100 miles from St. John's on Trinity Bay, scientist Emily Novacek is chasing data on the same species.
10:15Beauty.
10:16So we're measuring the fish.
10:18We're getting a length.
10:19I'm checking their gills for a parasite.
10:21And we're taking down their unique tag number.
10:24We've also got the depth, the water temperature, and the location that we're fishing at.
10:27I'm an aquatic science biologist with Fisheries and Ocean's Newfoundland.
10:30So that's 61 centimeters.
10:33She's going to get a pink tag.
10:35Settle.
10:36Settle.
10:37And when those tags get caught, they get sent in to DFO for a reward.
10:40The pink ones are a $100 reward.
10:43When you get a fish that's just wearing one yellow tag, there'll be a $25 reward.
10:48I started school in philosophy, which was really interesting but really different.
10:51And then I started scuba diving and just loved being under the water.
10:54And then one thing led to another, and I came out to Newfoundland to do a master's degree.
10:58Now I've been here for 10 years.
11:00All of these data will be used in the Northern Cod Stock Assessment Model.
11:04The tagging data is one of the key inputs into that model,
11:07and that model is the main tool used in the assessment of the Northern Cod Stock.
11:12So by tagging fish year over year over year, we get to know how many are caught in the fishery,
11:17how many live, you know, five years after or are caught 10 years after.
11:20That sometimes happens.
11:21It's really cool.
11:22In any given year, between the work by the DFO technicians and our partners at FFAW,
11:27we'll tag between 5,000 and 10,000 fish with those pink and yellow tags.
11:31And away.
11:32So then you can track the same fish for years and years and years.
11:35And that gives you a little bit of finer detailed information about their behavior and their migration patterns.
11:39I know.
11:43What a bad day.
11:44400 miles south of Emily and her research team, in Garnish,
11:52Fishers Tanya and Preston Grande are busy, as always.
11:55But today, it's not with fishing.
11:57Oh!
11:59Here's a business!
12:01Beautiful.
12:02We're going to Brunet Island.
12:05Brunet is where my father was born.
12:09He was one of the last few people who were actually born on Brunet before there was settlement.
12:14It's always been a place that's very near and dear to my heart.
12:17My grandfather owned a shop out there.
12:19The family still owns the family land on Brunet Island.
12:21So it's a place I've been going now ever since I was a little kid.
12:24And I'll probably continue going there as long as I can.
12:27A couple of families have stuck around for as long as they could,
12:30but eventually everybody had to leave the island
12:33and some people left their houses and homes and everything.
12:36That was the main wharf.
12:38Yeah, that was the government wharf.
12:39Modern nature reclaims it all.
12:41It's just in over here. It's not a very fair laugh.
12:45It was really rough back in those days, like so.
12:48I mean, you're stuck out here on the island and anything happens,
12:51like they had no access to doctors or anything.
12:54It was pretty much just trying to deal with whatever you could on your own.
12:57But I know them.
12:58Oh, I guess all of our families is buried,
13:00and now they can't even find them.
13:02It gets harder every time it comes out and sees that what was here
13:05disappears more and more.
13:07That's the sad part.
13:09There used to be a couple of cabins.
13:12And then Pat owned another big piece of land over here,
13:15over where that buckwheat land is too.
13:16See, I could live here with no internet.
13:19Just bring me back to puzzles, that's all.
13:21Yeah.
13:22We're going to head back now, walk over, and I'll cook up some food.
13:31Wait what, let go?
13:32Yeah!
13:33While cod is part of the island's DNA, so is making money.
13:37And there are other fish out here worth a lot more than cod.
13:40We're hoping to see if we could strike a few alibut to bump up the trip.
13:44We're 100 miles east of Bonavista Bay.
13:47It seemed like we just got to move further east.
13:49The boats outside of us to the east getting a few alibut.
13:52So, same depth of water, but I guess just a different bottom.
13:55Those fish are pretty big.
13:57Once you get aboard, and you get a couple aboard,
13:59you know that the value of your hitch is adding up a lot quicker,
14:03and the excitement just rises,
14:05and everybody loves to get their fish on board.
14:08A little breeze of wind there, 325 knots.
14:12It's slowly starting to peen down a little bit.
14:17When there's a breeze of wind, it makes it a little more difficult
14:19to get the alibut aboard.
14:21Fingers crossed, there's more alibut.
14:24That's it!
14:26Living the dream!
14:28The crew's first two lines fished well on the cod.
14:34But catching alibut means the difference between a good trip
14:37and a great one.
14:39Alibut!
14:40Whoa!
14:41You got nothing in there, Jeffrey.
14:43Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.
14:44Oh, you got to come in now.
14:45I am, man.
14:46There you go, Jeffrey.
14:47All right.
14:49You finally got it, buddy!
14:54Oh, yeah, if you get the fuel, don't you?
14:56Oh, yeah.
14:57They're getting a little ticker.
15:01Oh, yeah, that's fine.
15:02That is.
15:03A bit of excitement, anyway.
15:11Holy...
15:12That's the biggest path.
15:15We're working for Daniels pretty good by...
15:17Oh, we're always out to go.
15:21Off the south coast, skipper Daniel Morgan and his crew
15:24are worn out but close to hitting their target.
15:26We don't stop very much, so always money coming in, which is good.
15:29There's no point to having a boat if you don't have a good crew.
15:32Oh.
15:33That's what makes the boat for sure.
15:35I just got to try not to wear them out too much.
15:37If you asked me a million things last year what I'd be doing,
15:43fishing sails would not be one of them.
15:47Danny and the boys will drop a couple of strings to fish
15:50while they steam back home to offload the whelk.
15:53And here I am.
15:54I'm lovin' it.
15:57Yeah!
15:58Get out!
16:01When the whelk started this year, I had to take 20 grand basically
16:04to throw down on whelk pots and gear and rope and whatnot
16:08for whelk fishing.
16:09And I didn't know if I was gonna make a dollar out of it.
16:11So in the end it did work out.
16:13But if it never could have been bad, it was a gamble that I took
16:16and paid off.
16:18We're on the way home.
16:204.23 a.m.
16:21We're leaving that ahead in.
16:23So we got 998 bags, 35 pounds in the bag that I weighed.
16:29That gives us 34,930 pounds.
16:32So we're pretty close to our 35,000.
16:35So that'll be good enough.
16:37We're headed to Grand Bank to offload.
16:39Feels good to be going home, especially with a full load.
16:51Over 100 miles offshore in the North Atlantic,
16:53the crew of The Perfect Choice are starting their morning with a favour.
16:57Ah!
16:58One of my buddies there ran short on bait,
17:01so we came up the land side to get a bit of bait.
17:04We got lots, so we're gonna give them an extra few packs of bait
17:08so they can finish their trip.
17:10Good friend of mine.
17:11We do what we can to help each other out.
17:13Like, we wouldn't want to see anybody lose their trip
17:15and have to steam 200 miles and burn up fuel
17:17to fix something that's very simple that we can fix on the ocean.
17:20When we're out there, we're all pretty close.
17:22Boys, guys!
17:26One, two, three!
17:28Watch that rope, Toby.
17:30Watch your fingers and splen it, too!
17:32That's gonna float, is it?
17:34Yeah!
17:35Watch it, actually. It's going on there now.
17:37We'd better watch it.
17:38I'll be ready.
17:39Yeah!
17:40I'll be ready.
17:41Yeah!
17:42I'll be ready.
17:43I'll be ready.
17:44I'll be ready.
17:45I'll be ready.
17:46I'll be ready.
17:47I'll be ready.
17:48I'll be ready.
17:49I'll be ready.
17:50Yeah!
17:51Game on!
18:04On the west coast of the island, the Brake family is hitting the water with their crab pots,
18:08but they're not going fishing.
18:10Can I back up?
18:11Yeah!
18:12We're off to do a survey for the Union and DFO for snow crab.
18:18Yeah!
18:19Being a part of this industry is about more than landing catch.
18:23Okay, you guys.
18:25A lot of the island's fishers also take part in scientific surveys to determine the health
18:30of various stocks.
18:31It's a prospect, is what it is.
18:32Our crab area is not a very plentiful one.
18:35We were lying on the crab for, I guess, probably 15 years, I guess.
18:38And then it just wanted to collapse.
18:39We resigned the crab and went.
18:40When we first got it in 93, we had 33,000-pound Florida case.
18:44And now it's down to where we're at at 4750, because that's a big drop, right, in crab
18:50Florida.
18:51Snow crab saved many fishing families, like the Brakes, when cod collapsed.
18:55There's that one up there.
18:57But nothing out here is easy.
18:59Before he got that crab, we left and went to Ontario, because we couldn't survive here.
19:05And we had two small kids.
19:06He worked at a butcher shop.
19:08And I went as a temp, as a secretary, and luck should have it.
19:13Like I said, they got the crab, and it got us back up again, so.
19:18We're coming off Troop River, Woody Point.
19:21It's about 50 or 60 miles from home.
19:23Is he going to throw it?
19:24Not yet.
19:25I took the stick out of the body.
19:26Not yet.
19:27Right?
19:28Yeah.
19:29Yeah.
19:30Gone.
19:31First part, gone.
19:32He's gone.
19:33Okay.
19:34You got to be careful that you don't get no rope around your legs, therefore get tolled
19:39over with the pots.
19:40But we're careful, most of the time, anyway.
19:43I don't think there's any crab here, because we've had pots here before, and we never got
19:47no crab.
19:48But, where the temperature has changed, and now you don't know.
19:51A crab could be moving over the ground, so we don't know.
19:54So, we're just hoping for the best there, no?
19:56Daniel and his crew have arrived back in port, worn out and happy to have a helping hand.
20:09They got an offloading company here.
20:11As soon as we tie us on the boat, the offloader comes aboard the boat, and they offload the
20:15full boat for us.
20:16They clean out the boat.
20:17We don't have to touch the thing.
20:18It's actually amazing.
20:19We're 30 pounds short of 35,000, so I'll definitely be good with that.
20:26Welk is a harder fishery.
20:28I'll give it that, because everything's heavier.
20:30Hopefully, we can stay on them for a little bit.
20:32They're always moving.
20:33You got to keep jumping your gear around and try to stay with them.
20:36You wouldn't think they could crawl so fast, but they do.
20:39At the current price of Welk is a dollar a pound.
20:41So, that was around a $35,000 trip.
20:51A few miles north of Daniel and Garnish, Tanya and Preston are busy prepping for their next
20:56fishing trip.
20:57We'll do a bit of cod and holliboy, and we'll do some local sales there and get orders
21:02for some of the restaurants and stuff.
21:03Well, cod fishing I've been at for a long time.
21:06I started when I was 16 or 17.
21:09I started going out with my uncle, and then after that, I was fishing with my father.
21:14So, I got a very extensive history with the cod.
21:17Like other island fishers, the Grandies have to constantly adapt to survive in this industry.
21:22We've got scallop, whelk, shrimp, ground fish, lobster, mackerel, squid, herring.
21:32Get the gear out just as daylight breaks.
21:35That way, once it's all out, after daylight we can start hauling it back.
21:38We don't relax.
21:40We'll always be changing.
21:42There will always be new boats we'll want to get, new species we'll want to fish.
21:47Because, I mean, as long as we've been in this business, like, there's always been changes.
21:51And you can't get just comfortable with one fishery.
21:55So, you kind of got to keep moving on and keep looking at new things and keep growing.
22:00We've always done a little bit of ground fish after lobsters.
22:05We'd always sell a bit local.
22:07It's just a way to keep a bit more product around.
22:10It's kind of strange because you think it would be easier in Newfoundland for local products to be found.
22:14But it's not as easy as you would think sometimes.
22:17Neither is staying on top of a fishing enterprise.
22:20You get one species have a downfall or have something catastrophic happen to it.
22:25Like, if lobsters happen to die off completely, then you need to have another fishery to be able to rely on.
22:30If not, you're done.
22:32Your enterprise is over if you've got nothing to turn back to.
22:36That's why I keep buying more license.
22:38If one fishery turns down, we can always switch off to another fishery or fish multiple species to help supplement income from lower value species.
22:47600 hooks.
22:48100 hooks to a tub.
22:49Each one of these tubs is 200 feet of line.
22:53The hooks are 3 feet of line.
22:551200 feet of line.
22:57So it's more likely to attract a strike.
23:01It can be a boring fishery and it can be an exciting fishery.
23:04You could haul all this and not see his eyeballs or you could haul it and come back with more than what our quote is like.
23:17They're getting ready to set their second string.
23:21About 700 miles northwest of the Grandies, the Brake family are still dropping pots for the DFO's inshore crab survey.
23:28Leave it for overnight, come back tomorrow and we'll have an observer bore with us for him to check each pot and see what's in it.
23:38For their efforts, the Brakes get a 10,000 pound increase for their offshore snow crab quota next year.
23:43We only got 40, 47, 50 offshore right now.
23:47So to get an extra 10,000 pound, that'd be a bonus for us.
23:50Like one fellow called me, he said, crab got a leg, so they'd crawl around.
23:54So I don't know.
23:55We're hoping they're crawling on this side of the line.
23:57That way we can, our quota might increase a little bit each year.
24:01So it gets back to what we had.
24:03But that's the waiting game to see.
24:07Fishing is a gamble.
24:09You don't know what's going to be there next year.
24:10You don't know if the price is going to be on the arrow down here.
24:13So, and you don't know if you're going to catch it or, it's, it's all a gamble.
24:26Good!
24:29Whoa!
24:30Stating pretty good.
24:31Started off pretty strong with fish there.
24:34Back out on the perfect choice, the cod catch has been solid.
24:37They've caught a little over half their target of 40,000 pounds.
24:42But they've only landed two halibut so far.
24:45What is that?
24:47Come on over, my son.
24:48What is it, Jimmy?
24:49What is it, Jimmy?
24:50It was a whole dragon hit, probably from a dragger.
24:54God knows how long it's been there.
24:56Come down, went fast!
24:57It definitely took a good hour out of our day, because the time we hauled it up, and we had
25:02to choke it off, and all so much work with the boom.
25:04Like a boom.
25:05By Jesus!
25:06What is it?
25:07Ah!
25:08I look her!
25:09Down now!
25:10Down?
25:11Yeah!
25:12Alright!
25:13Hold on in, Dick!
25:14Hold on in down, up there now!
25:16Good God, Dick!
25:17Well done!
25:18A whole piece of trawled it!
25:20Thought it was halibut!
25:21Known as ghost gear, lost and discarded nets and traps kill untold numbers of ocean species
25:30every year.
25:31We took it aboard because we didn't want any part of our troubles, so just keep it aboard.
25:51Back over on the Lady Geneva, the Brake family are launching the last of their 121 pots
25:58for their snow crab survey.
26:00Hot gun!
26:01Yep!
26:02Last string here now, yep.
26:03Ready to go.
26:04Almost done.
26:05Makes this it for sure.
26:08Get a few hours sleep, and then back at it again tomorrow morning.
26:12Yeah.
26:14This last one, was it?
26:16Last one, yep.
26:17Last one.
26:18That's gone!
26:19Yeah, I got it.
26:20Don't know if you've seen it or not.
26:21Yeah, I saw it.
26:22We're taking the fish up now where the weather has died out, so we can make better speed
26:30to get home earlier.
26:31That's our stabilizers that goes outside of our boat for keeping her a little bit more
26:36steady.
26:37She'll roll a bit more.
26:38Yeah, she'll roll a bit more.
26:39Yeah, she'll roll a bit more.
26:40Yeah, she'll roll a bit more.
26:41Like right now.
26:42Up!
26:43Yeah!
26:44Out!
26:45400 miles east of the brakes, biologist Emily Novacek is back on the water.
26:59Today we're out here picking up receivers to collect data on cod that we've tagged.
27:04Using the latest technology to track cod.
27:06I'm really interested in spatial analysis.
27:08So the way maps inform the way we think about the world around us.
27:11If something isn't mapped, it's almost not real to us because we can't track it.
27:14We can't look at it year over year.
27:15And so that aspect of how we capture spatial information, how we consider it, and then how
27:20it informs policy, I think is really fascinating.
27:23It's a little lumpy.
27:24Yeah, this is not ideal, but it is workable.
27:29This Jamie in with the deck box has sent a signal down to our receiver that's moored
27:34on the seat floor, and she sent a signal to let go of the anchor.
27:38It's popped up to the surface, working perfect, and the guys are now just going to grab it
27:42off the surface.
27:43We're going to haul it in, download the data, change the batteries, and we'll set it right
27:45back out.
27:46My favorite part is the movement.
27:47So with cod, they have a fairly predictable inshore, offshore, seasonal migration that we can
27:51track with acoustic telemetries.
27:53We're putting an acoustic transmitter inside of the fish, and that's the part that we're
27:56working on right this second.
27:58We're pulling up acoustic receivers that hold the data from those fish that have acoustic
28:02transmitters implanted inside of them.
28:04It's kind of irreplaceable.
28:05There's no other way for us to study the movement of wild fish.
28:08It's really exciting to work on.
28:10So this is our receiver.
28:11This collects all the data from the fish we have tagged.
28:13Any fish that swims within the range of the receiver will get a detection, so the time,
28:17date, and the unique identity of that fish.
28:20On this receiver, we had a few fish detected between August and October of last year.
28:27Then it's quiet over the winter.
28:29Here, I'll reset this guy, and then I'll reset that guy.
28:32You can get that guy re-pinned if you want.
28:33Yeah, I'll get the...
28:34Perfect.
28:35Okay, she's perfect.
28:36She's beautiful.
28:37She's Linda Evangelista.
28:38She's ready to go.
28:39Okay.
28:40We've got to get her on our anchor, and then we'll be all set.
28:41Yeah.
28:42It's not a bad way to spend the day.
28:43It's right 4.30 in the morning.
28:54Today, we've got my father, Gordon, and Rick.
28:58Today, it's supposed to be a slicker.
28:59There's only supposed to be three to five kilometers of wind, so it's supposed to be a beautiful day.
29:04About 200 miles west of St. John's, skipper Preston Grandy and his crew are hitting the water for cod.
29:10Just headed here.
29:11A couple of miles off there.
29:12It's ready to set the first top of gear.
29:14Yeah, we'll do it with these ones.
29:17One on each other.
29:19We're tying on the buoy lines for that.
29:21Now get them ready, though.
29:22Getting ready to set.
29:23All right.
29:24That's that one.
29:25Ready?
29:26All right.
29:27We're getting ready to shoot it up.
29:28She's going to get it up.
29:29Hmm.
29:30First one.
29:31That's five more or less to go.
29:33The hooks will soak for as long as it takes Preston to drop his other lines.
29:37If he leaves them too long, predators will pluck the lines clean.
29:41Because I'll just add extra money to the income for the year.
29:45So every little bit helps.
29:55Back out on the perfect choice, the crew are wrapping up breakfast and gearing up for another day of fishing.
30:00We're going up alongside the boys now, so this is kind of a longer string we got here.
30:07About 5,000 oaks.
30:09So hopefully we'll get four or five thousand pounds off of this one and a few more alibis.
30:14Go back in the wrecks and you'll get him when he comes over the rail.
30:17Yeah, you got him.
30:18You got him.
30:19There you go, look.
30:20There you go.
30:21There you go.
30:22I'll be using that, that one.
30:23Hang on.
30:24That's it.
30:25Oh, yeah.
30:26We're getting a few.
30:27There we are.
30:28The boat is closing in on their target of 40,000 pounds of cod.
30:34And the halibut is adding up too.
30:36Right now we've probably got around 32,000 pounds of cod aboard.
30:39So we ended up with nine halibut.
30:41Atlantic halibut is the largest flatfish in the world growing up to 15 feet in length.
30:46They are tricky to catch and their numbers are low.
30:48So they can fetch almost $20 per pound at peak times.
30:52That's why it's called a money fish.
30:54Tomorrow morning we're going to wake up at daylight and sit, well just before daylight,
30:59sit our trawls back in the water and just continue on fishing until we get our quota.
31:06Yeah, there's rope float.
31:11Yeah, grab it.
31:14Over near Trout River, the Brake family are back on the water after a few hours sleep.
31:19Pull in, pull out the slack rope in.
31:23Don't worry about the balloon, pull the slack rope in.
31:25I ain't got my clothes on yet.
31:28On board with the family is Sea-Watch Observer Terry Hart,
31:31who will collect data about their catch for the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.
31:35Oh, there.
31:36We got one crab.
31:37Woo-hoo!
31:38We got a crab.
31:39There's a leaf.
31:41One crab.
31:43There's some leaf there.
31:44Not much, but...
31:45Oh, we're gone.
31:47Yep.
31:48None in blank.
31:51Okay.
31:52Blank, blank, blank.
31:53Had the crab migrated somewhere else or there was no crab there?
31:56It's important to get a lot of data.
31:58Very important for the fishermen because their livelihood is spending on this.
32:01They have this big money.
32:03If our lobster crashed and burned, we'd have to do like we did years ago, go away to work.
32:09Yeah.
32:10And that's not something we would want to have to do now at almost 60 years old.
32:14You'd have no other choice because we got too much at stake now.
32:17Like, we got so much money invested in this now.
32:20To have to turn around and give it all back to the bank or lose it all.
32:24I don't think I'd be able to... I wouldn't be able to do it.
32:27Two toads.
32:29Two toads.
32:30Two toads.
32:31We got a couple toad crab and that one's not the kind of crab we're looking for.
32:34Can you talk about it?
32:40It went pretty good.
32:42No scenarios.
32:43No one went overboard.
32:44Everything's good.
32:45I like doing it by hand.
32:47That way I can feel if there's any fish on there.
32:50We got a codfish on a skate so far.
32:53Something on there.
32:55Cod, I think.
32:57Nice fish coming out.
32:59When I first started out, we used to land and we were from 600 to 700,000 pound a cod a year.
33:05And then they cut us back to 20,000 pound a year in quotas.
33:10So it was major, major changes.
33:13If you're selling to the plant, the price for the cod is anywhere from 30 cents to a dollar a pound.
33:20That's why most of ours goes local.
33:23I can get a higher dollar value for selling local.
33:26Oh, okay.
33:27We got one.
33:28I can't see him yet.
33:29I just feel.
33:30There's a hole up there.
33:32Wasn't coming there.
33:33Oh, he's a keeper.
33:34Oh, yeah.
33:35He's pretty.
33:36He's good.
33:37He's not going to stay upside down.
33:38I could tell him a long ways away.
33:40He's legal size, but he's a keeper.
33:55While the cod haul has been decent, like the crew on the perfect choice, Preston would have loved to land a few more money fish.
34:01Alibut are very finicky.
34:03They don't like to see hooks.
34:04They don't like rust on hooks and stuff like that.
34:07So little variances means a big difference.
34:10For a cod or touch a rusty hook, it won't matter.
34:13Oh, yeah.
34:14At least we got one.
34:16Two snow crab this time.
34:30And me?
34:31Two.
34:32Throw them in a pan for me.
34:33Yep.
34:34About 50 miles from their home in Trout River, the Brake family are still hauling crab pots on their survey.
34:39They're not very big, but they're deer.
34:41And they're still coming up empty.
34:43I used to be a hairstylist by trade, but money-wise was just not enough to support my family.
34:49So I tried fishing and, well, here we are.
34:52What motivates me as well is my children, my family.
34:56It's hard work.
34:57It's hard being away from them.
34:58We got a snow crab in this one.
35:00One snow crab, two toed.
35:02A bit challenging on times, no doubt about that.
35:04But if you want to do it, you'll get it done.
35:07And if you love your job, you'll stick to it.
35:11About 500 miles southeast in Garnish, Preston, his dad, and Rick are arriving in port to offload.
35:18They're done pretty good with the cod, but we didn't do so good with the hollow.
35:21Oh, well, we've managed to catch one.
35:22That's better than nothing.
35:24Now I can get ready to go fill up the codfish.
35:28Not the best out there.
35:30Soft out there.
35:31Soft out.
35:32We actually work really good together, because usually the things that I'm a bit weaker in, Preston's better at.
35:36So it pretty much comes down to whatever works best for us.
35:40If he's better at doing something, then he'll take the lead in that.
35:43And if I'm better at it, then I'll take the lead, so.
35:45So I'll take some of this cod and we'll vacuum seal it and freeze it for a boat tour that I've got coming up.
35:51And I've got some more local orders, too, so they're supposed to pick up now later on in the week.
35:56So I guess I'll freeze it for them and they can pick it up later on when they're ready.
36:01So when we're not out there fishing at Stockton, we'll do take boat tours and we'll take, sometimes we'll take people out car jigging.
36:08So I went and done my food handling course.
36:11And now I prepare food and do fish fries and boil ups on the beaches when we do the tours.
36:17This is not just a job, it's a wildlife.
36:19It's your whole life is consumed by it.
36:21Everything you do revolves around it.
36:23And it's just, like I say, it's just your wildlife.
36:25It's no longer a job.
36:26I even went and got us all, I can marry people on the tour, so.
36:37Coming up on the balloon!
36:39Over on the Gulf of St. Lawrence, the Brake family are wrapping up their snow crab survey.
36:46Got it, good to go.
36:48Lloyd, got one, got two, got three, got four.
36:52Yep.
36:53Yep.
36:54Here at all.
36:55You don't know when you're going to get them.
36:56Okay, I'll keep those.
36:57He'll take those.
36:58One big one.
36:59One nice one there, yep.
37:00Yeah.
37:01One nice one.
37:02They're all crab.
37:05The handful of crab they've caught are all old.
37:08And there's no sign of new ones being born.
37:11That's all old crab.
37:12Yeah, they're all old crabs.
37:13They're all old.
37:14Meaning no fishing here for the foreseeable future.
37:17Watery hauls are not fun for anyone.
37:20No, it'd be nice to be able to go and see that there is crab there.
37:25Yes.
37:26And that's another spot that we can set to get our extra quota we got.
37:30Yeah.
37:31Unfortunately, that wasn't the outcome.
37:32No.
37:33Blank, blank, blank.
37:34Blank, blank, blank.
37:35I guess it moves.
37:36It goes off.
37:37It comes back.
37:38And that's like all fisheries.
37:40And this is why you need multiple species.
37:42Because one year it might be here.
37:44Next year it might be gone.
37:45So you bank on the next species to be up.
37:48There was a little bit of sign in one string.
37:51We had 11 strings set.
37:53We're on to our last string now.
37:55I'm thinking it's going to be the same thing.
37:57Another watery haul.
37:58Oh, whoa.
37:59That was my fingers.
38:01Almost done.
38:02Almost done.
38:03Almost done.
38:04Almost done.
38:05Yep.
38:06Last one.
38:07Yeah.
38:08We want it all next spring.
38:09We don't want nothing now.
38:10Last pot.
38:11Coming.
38:12One crab in 11 pots.
38:15We got pretty much what I was expecting.
38:18Yep.
38:19Zero.
38:20Pretty much.
38:21A lot of blanks.
38:22All blanks, really.
38:23It's not a complete story or a complete picture you're getting, you know.
38:27Yes, there's no crab here right now.
38:29That don't mean there can't be crab here in the future, right?
38:31While the result of this survey was not great, the 10,000 pound quota increase they earned
38:36will go towards an area that is still loaded with snow crab.
38:39Give us a little bit of extra crab to catch next spring.
38:42We should do very well with the extra crab we're going to get.
38:45If the price stays like it was this year, so we should do all right.
38:49Out on the North Atlantic, the crew of the perfect choice is setting their last trawl of their three-day trip.
39:06Probably a little over halfway on the last trawl for the night.
39:10Oh, I feel good.
39:12Going home.
39:13Ready for a good meal and the bunk.
39:16Yeah, hot dogs or something.
39:18And cheesecake for dessert.
39:20They're pretty popular, I must say.
39:22Our estimate is 42,000 pound of cod and 2,000 pound of helibug.
39:28It was three days fishing.
39:30Three hard days fishing.
39:31That's a good trip.
39:32Puts them all on everybody's face.
39:33When I get in and I know I'm going in with a good kit, everybody's cleaned up aboard the boat
39:37and excited to get in and see their families.
39:39We're not making a lot of speed, so hopefully as we get in a bit further,
39:43until I just like, we'll pick up speed.
39:45It's a new day over in Garnish and Preston is selling his recently cut halibut locally.
39:58I just found like a lot of Newfoundlanders and stuff were saying that they couldn't get local fresh food,
40:03that they had to go with my stuff like cod imported from China or scallops from like somewhere else.
40:07And to me, they just don't make sense.
40:09I mean, it's best to keep as much of our product whatever is made here.
40:12Here, it's got a lot less of a carbon footprint that way,
40:15and then people get good quality fish fruit from the water here at home.
40:19It just makes sense overall to me.
40:21There's a fellow here now to pick up the halibut.
40:23My uncle, he called there last week and wondered if I could catch one for him.
40:28So he's up now today to pick it up?
40:30No, he's going to eat it.
40:32When he gets down to his house there, now he cut it up the way that he likes cutting it up.
40:37Some people like their fish done different.
40:40Some like steak, some like spillets.
40:43The ones that do like steaks like a different thickness of steak,
40:46so this way here he can get the exact size that he wants.
40:50You've got dirty hands?
40:51Yeah, she's got clean hands.
40:53Where's she now?
40:55She's over here.
40:56Yeah, he weighed 15 pounds.
40:58How's that?
40:59Good.
41:00Oh, you take the money and put it in the sock.
41:11Always nice when you come back to land after you've got your catch.
41:15Cod is king.
41:16Cod is king, yeah.
41:18Yeah, I don't know, it's not where the money is too,
41:20but for some reason a lot of us loves it at the cod.
41:24Can't wait to get out.
41:25Can't wait to get up in the morning.
41:27For Eugene and Toby, their first long trip was successful
41:32and turned over a new page of their North Atlantic journeys.
41:35The trip was excellent.
41:36We had great fishing.
41:37We got our trip of stuff pretty quick.
41:38We had fairly good weather throughout the trip,
41:40so it worked out perfect.
41:41Work was easy, but the hours were long, but that's fishing, right?
41:44No other job I'd rather be doing.
41:46What are we doing?
41:47Make sure this comes up and it'll do all safely.
41:50And I'll do the warp.
41:52I am going to continue fishing long-term.
41:54Hopefully now our fishery stays strong
41:56and we can actually, you know, support our families
41:58and support ourselves with the money that we're making
42:01and that the kitsch rates keep up and sustainable for everybody.
42:05This morning, we're going to dig the storm there to New Dock.
42:15Worst case scenario is that they're going to have to redo our steering
42:17and redo the fins, and then they're going to have us off for all winter.
42:20Hey!
42:21Seen any tuna?
42:22Pioneer, if you could lay up on the fourth quarter
42:25and prepare to push.
42:26Sometimes it's too busy.
42:27Oh, geez, he's changing directions.
42:29Look, give it to her!
42:30Today we're going out diving.
42:32Nothing like fresh scallops.
42:34He's going out deeper water.
42:35He's not supposed to be down here.
42:37He's a big boy.
42:38He's a big boy.
42:39He's a big boy.
43:00He's a big boy.
43:01Shelf!
43:03He's time to burn new water.
43:10I was okay to die!
43:13I died in the morning with a**