Holland Titus Interview July23, 1979 Question: How old were you when you went out?Answer: What? When I started?Question: YeahAnswer: Oh, I started when I was, I was, I went to school up unto ten. About that time I started. I was about eighteen, seventeen.Question: Seventeen, eighteen huh?Answer: I was seventeen.Question: Yeah.Answer: Oh, gee, we made none. Oh no, no we never. It was at one time oh, let me see, in 1923. I don't know whether was out fishing then or not, but in 1923 my brother and I, we had a boat built. The Cape Island, Clark's Harbour. I took her home in March. It was the eighteenth of March I got her to Westport. Well, that spring we went lobster fishing and it was of course, in those times we saved everything you know you were selling the smaller ones to the factories around here. Well, anyway, and in the month of April we put out, I put out a hundred pots where we put them of course, you wouldn't know. What they call the Searcher's Shoals. Twenty-five miles off Westport. Question: Twenty-five mile off Westport?Answer: Yeah. Sou-West, fourteen miles off of Yarmouth. Well, we put our pots off down there and we caught some lobsters, but they wasn't worth anything. Well, anyway, we saved out lobsters, we saved our lobsters. The last month did we cart up.Question: Thirty-eight hundred pounds? That's a lot of lobster.Answer: No.Question: For two people it is, isn't it?Answer: No. Look at the fishing we done to get them. We was about three weeks.Question: Three weeks?Answer: Getting that much. That summer we had to sell out see? The season closed and Kinney was buying Westport. Had two or three buyers down in Westport. Well, they selled out, no market. And there was a buyer from Portland over to Freeport. Jameson, Lloyed Jameson. He was born in Portland, and he was doing something in Portland. He was crating them through and well he took our lobsters. Clementsport didn't get no lobsters at that time, that was in 1923.Question: Oh, I see. Thirty-eight hundred pounds?Answer: Well, we got enough to pay our bills for that long.Question: You got enough then?Answer: Got enough to pay our expenses.Question: Really?Answer: We got eleven cents a pound.Question: That's not too much.Answer: And then I took, we had a fish net, and four of us built a one of these things they got off the weirs you know and a in the harbours down here at Westport. And of course, I, I fish if we had uh, I'd go out and seine the, that weir probably we'd have 30-40 barrels of herring couldn't sell them. Had to throw them overboard.Question: Why couldn't you sell it?Answer: No market. Look at today. Geez, you get about 15 dollars a barrel for them today.Question: Yeah, like they have some of those back.Answer: And look at lobsters. Look at the price of lobsters today. Some difference.Question: Yeah, not fair.Answer: There's no comparison at all. Fishing today there's no comparison with it was in the 30's. Course, uh, when it came up in the 40's, during the war, when the war started then the price came up. Well, even scallop fishing. I was up here scallop fishing '45, '46, '47, Had my own boat. We got 50 cents a pound for scallops. Today they're getting three dollars.Question: Yeah.Answer: Well, I don't know what other information I can give you, I can answer questions.Question: Yeah.Answer: Well, I don't know what other information I can give you, I can answer question. Question: Yeah, I was wondering once you caught you lobsters what did they do, did they can them? Or did they sell them or…Answer: Oh no, they went right on the market, the American market. That's the shippers, the shippers, see anything under nine inch would go on to the canners. They canned everything.Question: Just off to the canners. And where would the canner be around here, that would be in the states too?Answer: No, at that time we had 2 canning plants down at Westport.Question: Yeah?Answer: Are you familiar with down there?Question: Not really. I just been down a couple of times.Answer: Yeah, in Westport we had there was 2 canning plants down there of course that was when I was young. You know.Question: How many people would work there at the canning plant?Answer: Oh, probably 15 oh, about 15-20 in all, yeah, in the canning plant you know we'd borrow them. Of course, I used to work in a canning plant on the holidays and Saturdays when I was going to school.Question: Would you get extra money for it?Answer: Well, you know a little bit. I made it. I used to have to help out. Get a pound of better or a quart of molasses to take home. My father never made no money. You know at that time.Question: What did your dad do anyway? Was he a fisherman?Answer: Yeah, he fished and he went to sea some. And he tired cooking. Oh, when I was a kid growing up my father was only making what, $20.00 a month. $5 a week.Question: Yeah, it's not a real big wage.Answer: No it's not in comparison, living today is no a boat shucking scallops. $20 a bucket. Those kids they don't save it, I don't think.Question: No, they seem to be spending it having a good time.Answer: Oh yeah….going to the tavern, see them going to the liquor store.Question: Yeah, gee. Well, what would you have done for entertainment down in Westport if you had a chance and a bit of extra money? Would you, like was there a show or…Answer: Well, yeah, it uh, in the '20's we used to have a piture show there.Question: Yeah, did you?Answer: Yeah, silent pictures. Yeah, it was about twice a week.Question: have good crowds too I suppose?Answer: Yeah, oh yeah, no money in it. You could go to a show for $0.15, $0.20…..Well, I think when I grew up. Well, I think we had better fun than they have today in a way.Question: Is that right?Answer: Oh, yeah, we used to put on plays. Practice say, a month, 2 months in the fall of the year. And in the winter it didn't matter what we had the sons of Temperance. We had once a week. You know? You know, we had these house parties.Question: Yeah?Answer: Today it's all together different, parties today, you just, you young people today all you have to do is raise hell and tear things to pieces.Question: Yeah, it seems to be a pretty wild bunch.Answer: Oh, yeah, there's no comparison, oh yeah, you can't compare the living. And then when we finished she was a hard to find. We had to do some hard scrounging and look what we got today, oh boats, crates, sounders, radars, you know. What we had to get was when we wanted to get a show off ground. I fished away form home say twenty miles and we wanted to find out how deep the water was we had to fire lead overboard, and let it go down.Question: Yeah? Just send a piece of lead down to the bottom and see how deep it was?Answer: Yeah. If we wanted to get say fifty fathom of water we might be sounding sixty-eight to seventy fathom of water. Today why, all's you gotta do is read that. So depressing.Question: A lot easier now.Answer: Oh, yeah. You're in the thick fog huh. With these radars aboard the boats today it doesn't make any difference how thick it is. That used to be fishing through that…from down to Westport.Question: Is that right?Answer: Sure.Question: How big a boat did you and your brother have in 1923?Answer: Oh, that was a forty foot boat.Question: A Forty footer?Answer: Yeah, before that we had a thirty-six. We used to go heights of twenty-five to thirty miles a day in the summertime.Question: Just the two of you crewing or….Answer: Well, in the summertime on used a crow line salting the fish there'd be un three of us. About the some as lobstering since there'd only two in a boat.Question: Yeah.Answer: You got if fixed John?John: No, Thursday ten o'clock he told me to come Thursday ten o'clock. He must be busy.Holland: Yeah, I seen you gone this morning.John: Yeah, yeah, I heard you eight o'clock.Holland: Right…(Irrelevant conversation)Holland: You represent the fishin' industry?Question: No, its with the museum, the Admiral Digby Museum. Like we're just trying to find out about like I don't know just history of Digby. Like there's not much really written up about it. So, we were going out and interviewing people and trying to make it up so it doesn't get lost. I was wondering where you were from.Answer: Out here at Westport.Question: Born in your mother's house or….Answer: what?Question: Born in your mother's house or….Answer: Well, I was never, oh, I was born yes in… We never owned the house. It was a rented house. Oh, yeah, we never had a house of our own until just before mother died. But, after I was married I rented four years and them I built my own.Question: But, that was done, uh you built on the island on Westport?Answer: Oh yes, on Westport, well, they say I can't remember but they say at one time probably when all the vessels was there people come in from outside. Oh yes, that's when Joe and I'd be kids, babies. They'd estimate it's pretty near a thousand, a thousand man population.Question: A thousand men on that island?Answer: Population, population….John: They was all big families.Holland: But today, I don't think you'd count out three hundred.John: Oh yes, over three hundred.Holland: Is there over three hundred there now?John: Yes.Holland: Well, why didn't you tell me? I wonder how many of the names are on the voters list. I never noticed that.John: That gives you an idea.Holland: Well, uh, if there's uh, there isn't four hundred.John: No, there's not four hundred, three hundred, three hundred fifty or so. Question: Why would the population drop off like that?Answer: Well….John: They all had big families. Every one of them had big familiesHolland: I can't tell you.John: Today why, nobody has big families down there.Holland: The older people why there's not very many elderly people om the island. Years age weren't old people anyway what they are today out in the Westport today you won't find I don't imagine on Westport today you wouldn't find over fifteen, would you John?John: No, I don't know if you'd find that many.Question: I wonder why that is?Answer: Well life is very much different than it was when we grew up.John: Well, there must be in Westport, there must be eight of 'em here, old people.Question: Is that right?John: Yeah, in Westport alone, there's three of 'em right here.Holland: Yeah, here he is. We don't talk to him though. He don't want us to talk to him.John: Well, I was down at the wharf watching them.Holland: I was down there this morning.John: A smelly old truck come by me and I was only that far from the truck but when that water comes down, by golly, the whole side of my car, I had to wash her.Holland: That was where, that was way out.John: No, I was way out and had a look around.Holland: They had those big tank trucks outside.John: That gives you an idea.Holland: Well, uh, if there's uh, there isn't four hundred.John: No, there's not four hundred fifty or so. Question: Why would the population drop off like that?Answer: Well…..John: They all had big families. Every one of them had big Families.Holland: I can't tell you.John: Today why, nobody has big families down there.Holland: The older people why there's not very many elderly people on the island. Years age they weren't old people anyway what they are today out in Westport today you won't find I don't imagine on Westport today you wouldn't find over fifteen, would you John?John: No, I don't know if you'd find that many.Question: I wonder why that is?Answer: well there must be in Westport, there must be eight of 'em here, old people.Question: Is that right?John: Yeah, in Westport alone, there's three of 'em right here.Holland: Yeah, here he is. We don't talk to him though. He don't want us to talk to him. John: Well, I was down at the wharf watching them.Holland: I was down there this morning.John: A smelly old truck come by me and I was only that far from the truck but when that water comes down, by golly, the whole side of my car, I had to wash her.Holland: That was where, that was way out.John: No, I was way out and had a look around.Holland: They had those big tank trucks outside.John: Eh?Holland: They had big tank trucks. Took two loads.John: Yeah.Holland: That's for you come down.John: Yeah, that's for I come down. One fellow landed and wanted 5 ton, he said.Holland: Oh yeah, takes 3 or 4 of those small boats to take in that much. Up to Casey's where Casey's got his that's where they unloaded.John: Well, that's where I wasHolland: Yeah.John: Where Casey's wasQuestion: So you've got 3 fishermen here?Answer: Yeah, there're 3 of us, yeah, yeah, yeah. Boy those big tankers. There's those big tankers outside there.John: YeahHolland: One of them big boats there well, Matthews from Grand Manane fishin' from out those big one.Holland: I think he took in two or three ton.John: Yeah. Holland: Took them way down to Wedgeport.John: YeahHolland: That's where they was carring them.John: Yeah.Holland: I imagine this one here probably went down to Ben's down to Saulnierville.John: They was pack in all his in that………….Holland: Oh yeah, well they was putting it up there.John: On the wharf thereHolland: YeahJohn: YeahHolland: Those other boats are up beside there.John: YeahHolland: See them big tankers.John: These boats, some of them's from PictouHolland: Oh Yeah?John: Yeah, yeah, they to carry ice in one of 'em when they made that long lift here, I guess these two loads are goin' there now.Holland: Well, the fisherman's got a great break today.Question: Yeah, how do you mean?Answer: On money.Question: Yeah.Answer: No comparison, no comparison.Question: Who owns those big ships down there, the bigger trawlers and draggers, what ever they are?Answer: Oh companies, you know, big companies.Question: What would they be fishing for now?Answer: Herring. Have you been down there on that dock?Question: No I haven't.Answer: OH, well you wanna go down there.Question: Will they be going out to the weirs to take the herring out?Answer: No, they have big stakes to set they go out at nighttime, you can only see those at night-time, you have to have night time to see those. You see herrings come up in the water at night time. Daytime as soon as the sun come up, they go right down to the bottom.Question: Is that right?Answer: This is a feller from Westport, he's fisherman too. He' wanted to get some news on fishing business. I tell him there no comparison today you can't compare fishing today to fishing 60 years ago. 60 years age we couldn't sell our fish. Today you haven't got money enough to buy 'em.Question: It must have been pretty bad working all day then having to throw your fish back in the water?3rd Fisherman: Oh, yeah, yeah well, we sold them high $0.30 a hundred. Nice great big fish, $0.30 a hundred.Question: You mentioned something about the sons of Temperance.Answer: Oh, yes the son of Temperance used to years ago. That's where we got our entertainment when we was kids. Didn't we Colman? You join the son of Temperance at that time 14 years old. We had a lovely hall there too.Question: What did you have to do to join? Anything special or……Answer: Well, you know we'd have to take a pledge. If you broke the pledge then you'd have to get reobligated.Question: So you would have to get reobligated every weekend then?Answer: Some did. I took a pledge when I was 14 and I been rid of liquor. I could swim in it. Never took a drink in my life.Question: Never had a drink in you life?Answer: I been down the Carribean, down to Cuba, where you could buy it for $0.25 a bottle. That corn liquor. All other fellers most of 'em got drunk, but I neverQuestion: That's good pledge if you can stay with it that long.Answer: Yes. Well that's what it was at that time. When we grew up we'd have our house parties and we had better time than these kids have today. I think.Question: Not quite as wild I suppose, ripping things down and smashing things up?Answer: Well, oh now there were elderly people you know, we'd respect 'em. Another thing, when we were young, young men you know, say in our twenties and thirties, same as the odd fellows, if one of the members was down sick well the members would set up with him you know, and tend hem all night long. Today they don't do that. No, these young people wouldn't know how to take care of anyone. You see everything goes on. There's no comparison in today an what it was 60 years ago.Question: Not as much of the neighbourly community type of?Answer: No, I don't think there is, I don't think there is. There is cases where, you know, one will help out the other. I don't think there is anything you can do. Of course as far as money, there is anything you can do. Of course as far as money, there is money today. Down here shucking scallops get $20.00 a bucket, for shucking scallops. Down there there not fast really but some of those young folks make $50.00 a day.Question: That's pretty fair.Answer: Well, yes, and then a fast shucker, some down there will make $100.00 today. I could go down there and shuck and make $17.00, when you get in your 80's well you've had it it, I'm past 82 so……Question: Is that right: What about John?Answer: John, John will soon be 82, it's comin' up soon. We worked hard. Boy, I'll tell ya, the years go.John: I didn't think I'd be here this long. Work will never kill no one.Holland: I been down, I don't think I'd ever get back.John: The only thing I think that might, I got rheumatism right in my knees and legs, by God, their awful, wearing rubber boots all the time. Well it was always rough where we fished. Where we used to fish most of the time you had to hang on never knew if you could get back or not.Holland: I was tellen him John, see summers we used to fish the Grand Manane Banks and we never had no sonar. You have to get in 50 fathom water. A fella caught a 6 pound cod when he hauled that back he didn't sail until he touched ground. Now all you have to do is say hello to the ground, they show ya.Question: You can see where all the schools are now.Answer: Oh, they pick up schools of fish and everything.John: Yeah.Holland: yeah.Question: How many fish would you catch hand wise on an average day? You would catch that many would you?Answer: In August, mid August, we'd go night fishin. We'd take 3 men in a boat and come in the next morning. They'd average 4000 up to 8000.Question: With just 3 men going out at night?John: There was a time when you couldn't give 'em away.Holland: I told him John, when we had that weir home there, different times we had a great big 17 foot dory. I've seen that dory twice taken in the dock and we couldn't see 'em. George Morell, two or 3 times come up with his dump truck and take 'em and out 'em on his field. And sometimes we'd hafta dump 'em when we did sell we got a dollar a barrel. That's when carter put the smoke house up. We filled that smoke house at a dollar a barrel.John: We sold Pollock for $0.30 a hundred. Now they $14.00 a pound for them. We sold 'em $0.30 a hundredHolland: I was telling him about the time we has 3800 pounds of lobster and we couldn't sell 'em and Gordie jenson took 'em over to Freeport- $0.11 a pound.John: I got $0.09. Had to take 'em to Yarmouth. Took 'em on the boat and got $0.09 a pound.Holland: Well, we shipped, Frank and I in December, that would be your Christmas money, we shipped 600 lbs. of lobsters up to Nonnie Campbell, she run a restaurant up there and we got a cheque for 60 odd dollars. That was supposed to be our Christman money. The folks today the first have they make in the last week in November the high boats can get 1000 lbs. 1000 lbs when they get $2. lb. there's $2000. right off the bat. So there's no comparison whatever.John: Codfish the most I ever got in Codfish in my life that was the last when I knocked off fishing and that was $0.16 lb. Now the kids today get pretty near $0.81 and a bonus on top of that.Answer: No gov't bonus when you guys were fishing.John: No bonus, no, no bonus, while we were fishing.Question: Nothing was subsidized? They wouldn't pay anything if you had a bad season?Answer: No, No.Question: No, relief we had. I used to have to go pick up coal on the beach to burn and cut wood and stuff like that. My father didn't make any money at all.Answer: Father would get $5.00 a week, or 20.00 month on Westport. I'd go out the clam flats and dig a bunch of clams for $0.25 and go to the store and get some molasses to take home.John: My Father and my oldest brother Freddy, used to fish up here to Digby in Snow's vessels. They never made no money. We'd have to go on the beach two or 3 of us and pick up coal and go in the woods and cut alders and bring 'em out to burn.Holland: Yeah.John: I remember one time when he came home he did bring one of them great big long boxes of raisin cookies. God, we howed into them, I'll tell ya, 4 kids. After I got to growing up it was different. I caught my fish, didn't make a lot of money, but I made a good livin.Holland: Mr. Darin, there, his father's a blacksmith. He'd pound iron all day to make $0.50.John: Yeah, I can remember him down there.Holland: you been down……. You wanna take a walk, drive down on the fisherman's wharf there, see 'em shuck scallops.John: Never seen 'em shuck scallops?Answer: I read about how to do it, but I've never seenJohn: Oh, my God, scallops are just little things no bigger than that. Oh, it takes a long time to fillet 'em.Holland: John, I'm gonna tell 'em when I first came up here 3 years age. I went down and shucked 7 buckets. It was $10.00 a bucket then. Now they're getting from $20.00 to 425.00 and you see…..John: There must be 20 on them boats.Holland: oh, there's 30 men on Sonny's boat now. He come in this mornin. Yeah, had his hatches full. Land knows how many he had on deck.John: They must be getting down right to the right close to the bottom. Cleaning the bed out. Oh, lotta gravel.Holland: Yes, to see the fishermen down around that wharf.Question: What do you do with them once you take the shell off the scallop?John: Well they put 'em in bags and I don't know if they freeze 'em or what…….Holland: Oh, yes in them packin places there, you take O'Neils, he's got a …..John: Does he freeze? Oh, yes in 5 pound boxes. In Casey's too.Question: Where would they send most of those?Answer: Go to the Stated. They go all over probably to California.John: Oh, yes.Holland: You take the boats down there, there getting $3.10 per pound.John: Yeah. There makin a lot of money those fellas.Question: Must make you angry all the work you guys did.John: No, no.Holland: Oh, I'm glad they're makin it. Well that's the only thing keeping us old fellar. We get a pension so, you know. My father never got no pension. Well he got a little, first one he got was $14.00 a month.John: I give everything over to him. The shop and all but he lost the shop and they had to build a new one. They give 'em relief to build a new shop after the storm.Question: Ground Hog day storm?John: Oh, it cleaned everything right out.Holland: They was well payed.John: There was only on there couldn't have been more than 3 or 4 shops left.Holland: It tore the waterfront up. They was well payed.John: Oh, yeah they was well payed. But oh, they lost a lot of things. My boy I don't know how many tanks. Those tanks tanks that you salt fish in, they all went. Holland: Well, that place I had, had 17 tanks, but the government payed.John: Oh, the government payed.Question: If that ever happened in the 20's you wouldn't have gotten anything.Answer: If that had happened in the 20's we'd been ruined.John: That was done, that was done in one sea. You wouldn't believe it, take the whole ……., started from the lower part of the island, the sea come in and come right up and kept on going, took every building along with it in its way. Only left just a few buildins. Wasn't no more than, I guess, four or five buildins left on the water front.Question: That must have been pretty scary down there.Answer: Very, we weren't there the ones that…….John: No. we wasn't there.Holland: I've heard say the ones that………John: Got no ides what it was.Holland: It was scary alright. Next one might cover the Island, gone right over.John: Yeah.Holland: You know, you never know.Question: You know, it surely could.Answer: You'd have to be there to see it to realize it.John: Well, when you take one sea come in like that, they didn't know. What was gonna come or if you was gonna go under or not.Holland: No, if they had another one…….John: Well, a tidal wave it could kept commin and whole island could a gone under.Holland: Right over- those things, you know……..John: It was the tide, you see it was a tidal wave, the tide after that storm the tide went down as much as four or five ft.Holland: Lot of 'em figured the world was comin' to an end at that time, the older ones.Question: Must be hard to get anyone who it sick down there up to the hospital.Answer: No, not so bad.John: Not so bad now.Holland: They got an ambulance right down on the island.Question: Few years ago it must have been hard.Answer: Well,….John: That's the reason we're up here though. My wife was sick, she said I'm not stayin here another winter. Well, I said, if I get a chance to sell, I'll sell. I had a chance to give it away and I give it away. Decided to come up here.Question: Must be a lot easier than down on the island?John: oh, yes, now my wife's in the hospital down here.Holland: Oh, there's no place down there for elderly people.John: Well, you take you take …she's scared in the summertime when it's blowin, she scared to death, nerves. No, she couldn't stay there. She's nervous. You know, we moved up here, we been up here for goin' on 9 years.Question: Yeah, must be quite a change.John: Yeah, the young crowed down there, I don't know any of them. Eight years, if someone was 7 or 8 they'd be grown up and you don't know em and they got wiskers and all.Holland: It was a good life though on the water. I enjoyed every bit of it. John: Oh, I enjoyed it, I enjoyed it. I would a never come myself it hadn't been for the wife and her nerves. I think I'd been better off really if I'd a stayed there. I think this time when she went in the hospital, I think she really was homesick, myself. She don't say so, oh, but I really do feel so. I woulda had something to do down there.I come up here and I got nothing to do. I coulda gone down and built a trap if I'd wanted to, jigged around the shop, went fishin once and awhile if I'd a wanted to. They catch squid now. Kay went out last night and that struck em at Alders Cove they drifted in the passage. The young Moore fella drove a truck up here with me from Connor's and they drifted in and they caught 800 and then uh, Roy Grey and uh, his brother there they went out, they had over 800.Question: This is squid?Holland: Yeah, squid. That's something that hasn't been for years.John: No, years and years.Question: How do you catch squid?Holland: Well, they have a little squid jig.John: With prongs on it.Holland: It's full of pins.John: With prongs on it.Holland: It's full of pins.John: It has pins, ya know, and they suck on it and you haul it up and you have to turn the jig upside down and let em drop off.Question: I heard something that they shoot oil or ink all over you do they?Holland: Oh yeah.John: Oh, yeahJohn: They got an ink bag inside of em and that's full of ink and when they come out of the water they'll shoot some water sometimes and sometimes the ink will come out. Yeah, they'll squirt ya boy.Question: Squirt each other on the boat, eh?John: They make great fish bait sometimes the fish likes em.Question: What would have been the main fish back in the 20's and 30's?John: What would have got the best market?Question: What would have been the main fish back in the 20's and 30's?Answer: Oh, I'd say there was no market really, but they was the same fish that you catch today.Question: Herring….Answer: : Cod, Pollock, of course the herring. They make a difference in the herring today, the herring fishin is different.Question: How has that changed?Answer: The market has changed the herring.Question: You still catch them the same way?Answer: no.Question: No?Answer: No, years ago we never heard tell of a seiner (open net for sea fishing). We used to seine Pollock, schools of Pollock, but never heard tell of seining herring.Question: How exactly do you do that, seining?Holland: : Well, they're seining about 300, 3500 fathoms long……John: Oh, 400 fathoms long.Holland: Them are 40 fathom deep and they run that out you know, to make a big long circle. They pick the other end up with both ends aboard the boat and then they pull that up from underneath which draws them together and then they got the fish. If you go down on the wharf you'll see the seiners there.Question: Yeah, I think I will go down later this afternoon.John: They got a big roller now and that seine comes over the roller. We used to have when we seined we used to have to pull em by hand.Holland: The roller rolls it.John: All they have to do is core it.Holland: Yeah.John: There's nothing to it now.Holland: Then the machinery pulls it together.John: Yeah.Holland: There's an awful lot of new inventions today.John: Most of the herring these fellas find the herring are 'bout that long before they can save em.Holland: yeah.John: And down our way all they can find is all mixed up, herring from that size……is all they'll take. If they don't get the big herring you can't save em you gotta let em go again.Holland: I asked Guptille the one's in the big one down there if he heard anything from the folks down the island last night. He said he heard some of em talking they went offshore. They went out, they must have gone out round McDormand's pass that way. They tried to find the big herring. Yeah, you wanna go down on the……and you're interested in pick up you know write up about fishin.Question: Yeah, very interested. It just amazes me how it has changed over the years from the couple of people I've talked to.Answer: No comparison.Question: Are you saying that there was no size limit on anything like on lobsters, you mentioned earlier. You could keep any size lobster?Holland: Oh, years ago there was not, you could save anything that went in that trap when they had the canners. I don't know when this went into effect, this 9 inch law but that's been the last I suppose fifty years that you couldn't save small ones. I know when we had that Cape Island boat in 1923, we sold to the canners. There was a canners then.John: Yeah.Question: That was right on Westport?Holland: Yeah.John: I guess in Prince Edward Island they save small ones.Holland: Yeah, they have canners down there.John: They have canners. I don't know how whether there's been any difference or not. They claim it would ruin the fishing if they cut the small ones off.Holland: well, made a big difference down home when we was fishin whoever heard tell of goin out and getting a 1000 pounds of lobsters. We got 200lbs, 300lbs at the first of it, John.John: Yeah.Holland: Take in the summertime and in May the catch would come up pretty good. We used to go to Yarmouth sometimes and sell out . Then Cape Saint Mary's we get I'd say, 300 or 400 pounds of lobsters.Question: How long was the season? Same length of time?Holland: Years ago we had 6 months. Today it's only 3.John: No, it's 6 now.Holland: What?John: six now, they start in December and knock off in May.Holland: Yeah, that's right. We did have 3.John: Yeah, we had 3.Holland: Few years ago.John: Well, one time they had 2 seasons. You start, I guess, in the fallAnd you went so long and had to knock off.Question: Why, it was too much?John: I don't know, they had two seasons in one.Holland: They do it in Grand MananJohn: Eh?Holland: They do it here.John: That's right they've got 2 seasons here in DigbyHolland: Yeah, above Point Prim.John: Yeah, they start here 15th , 15th of October and they fish for aq couple months I guess they em up and then they start again.Holland: Yeah, they have fish above Point Prim.John: Yeah.Holland: From Cole Harbour to Point Prim is a six month season.Unknown Woman's voice: the old men's convention?Holland: Oh, old men! What are you talking about old men? I don't like that. We may be old today but we will be you tomorrow.John: Sun's getting warm.Question: All you guys out here watching the pretty girls walk by?Answer: We used to have to watch over in the lounge but we can't see them now.Question: Do they have a recreation room here in the building?Answer: Oh, yeah.Question: Must be a little boreing for a fisherman?John: The recreation room is right in here.John: When are you going down home to Freeport, tomorrow?Holland: No, I was talking to Vike last night and she wanted to stay down till Tuesday.Started fishing at 18 yrs. Old-small income1923- Brother and he had a boat built- Cape Bound- Heart's HarbourLobster fishing-no size limitApril-100 pots- 25 miles s.w. of WestportCaught 3800 lbs of lobster in 3 weeksSold out that summer - no market'Buyer from Portland- Gordie Jameson- 1923 received $0.11 lb.4 built a weir- seine-30-40 barrels of herring which they had to dump overboard.Today it is $15.00 a barrel. 1930's-no comparison to fishing todayPrices rose once the war started Scallop fishing in 1945-47-$0.50 lb. while it is $3.00 todayLobsters went on American market-under 9 inches went to canners-2 canning plants on Westport-15-20 employeesWorked there on the weekends when he was a kid-had to help buy groceriesFather was a fisherman-didn't make much money. Worked on the "Old Westport" for $ 20.00a monthToday it is $20.00 a bucket shuckingUsed to have a movie house- silent pictures twice a week. $0.15 or $0.20 a showUsed to have a better time when he was young-used to put on playsBelonged to the sons of Temperance-met once a week-Had house partiesFishing was much harder-no sounders or radar- tested depth by dropping lead.Boat he owned was 40 ft. - before that owned a 36 ft.- used to go 25- 30 miles out Usually a crew of 3 in the summer time- hand-line and salting the fishWith lobster fishing- 2 in the boatBorn in Westport-parents never owned a home until just before his mother died.Built his home on Westport.Population used to 1000 on Westport'Population today approx. 350Used to be a big fleet of vessels and big familiesNot many old people there today6 or 8 people from Westport right at Basin viewFisherman have it much better today-moneySeiners -only seine at night- herring come to the top light sends them to the bottom60yrs ago he couldn't sell his fish- did get about $0.30 a hundredSons of Temperance-joined at 14 yrs. Of age- took a pledge-never took a drink in his life.Had a good time at House parties- Had a nice hall- a lot of community spirit- helped sick friends.A good shucker makes $100.00 a dayCould make $70.00 a day himselfFriend John joins in the conversationUsed to hand line for codGo night fishing- average 4000- 8000 lb a nightRemembers having his 17ft. dory full of fish and couldn't sell them- used for fertilizer $. A Barrel-filled the smoke house. $0.30 a hundred- today Pollock is $0.14 lb.$0.11 a lb for lobsters in 20's and 30's- once sold for $0.09 a lb at YarmouthWas no relief or subsidies-had to pick coal on the beach for fuelAlso sold clams for $0.25 a bucketCut alders to burnBest price ever was $0.16 lb. for codMr. Dakin's father- blacksmith- lucky to make $0.50 a dayQuite a bit of gravel in the scallops means they are cleaning the bottom of the beds.Markets are in the states and all over the world. ($3.10 lb) Happy the fisherman are making moneyGround Hog Day storm-wiped out waterfrontBoth have had a good life on the waterCatching squid- method-used for fishing baitMain fish in 20's and 30's-same fish as todaySeining-method and changes-only keep big herring- over 9"-no size limit years age2-400 lbs was a great catchHave two season- take a month off and then start again END OF TAPE