Walsh, Marguerite; Ryan, Jacquey; Interview with Marguerite Walsh

Marguerite Walsh's taped interview in Witless Bay on September 24, 2014. Jacquey Ryan is the Interviewer and the topic of the interview centers around the fishery and Margueite's role as a fisherwoman.0:00 – Intro; 0:20 Marguerite tells where she is born and mentions family; 0:51 – “Back then nobody had a lot of riches; 1:04 – Dad married her Mom; 1:17 – When Marguerite was born; 1:26 – Growing up in Burnt Cove, where Burnt Cove is; 1:40 – Dad’s second marriage to marguerite’s mother. Amount of children in family; 1:54 – Mother’s miscarriage; 2:02 – School in Burnt Cove – what it was like; 2:20 – Heating school, pot belly stove, boys brought wood; 2:48 – Lifestyle in school, walking to and from school; 2:58 – Memories of her dad coming with a slide to get them when weather was stormy in winter; 3:14 – Coming to Witless Bay, worked in fish plant and met Joey; 3:40 – Back to school the first time; 3:50 – Went to work in a nursing home in Witless Bay; 3:57 – Son James was born, hard working and raising a child; 4:14 – First mention of Cod Moratorium; 4:29 – How Moratorium affected their family; change to fishing; 5:02 – crab fishing starts; 5:17 – Marguerite gets involved in the Fishery; hard being away from son; 6:05 – Quotas and time allotted for fishing; 6:19 – Why they were given a start and end date to fish; 6:20 – Sell on crab gets soft; 6:37 – Weather was a factor; 6:43 – Up so early; 6:50 – Getting ready to go out on the water; procedure for keeping crab fresh; 7:02 – Steam out as much as 25 miles; 7:20 – Come home tired and other chores to do; 7:45 – Living arrangements; 7:57 – Length of season for fishing crab; 8:24 - Mostly crab fished, sometimes helping with other species, boning and fishing; 8:43 - Boning fish; 9:08 - Crab Fishing dropping off buoys/programming the GPS; 9:40 - Looking for their fleets, hauling traps’ 9:57 - Sound of winch would indicate amount of crab in a fleet; 10.22 - Once crab comes aboard the process that takes place; 11.05 - Keeping the crab on ice; 11:38 - Harvey Pan; 12:01 - Feelings about being 25 miles out from coastline; 12:21 – Seasick; 12:42 - Patch behind ear; 12:56 - 3-4 foot swells; - 13:15 First time fishing; 14:10 - High winds, had to leave early, son home, having trouble getting back to shore;14:40 - GPS reading, putting on miles but going backwards, almost down to Petty Harbour;15:15 - Safe and sound, pretending not to be nervous; 15:41 - Joey talking to the other men trying to figure out why miles were going on GPS but they weren’t going anywhere; 16:14 - Four in the boat – who they are; 16:28 – Landmarks; 16:57 – Son James starts fishing; 18:05 - How James felt about his mom fishing; 18.21 – James went fishing when Marguerite stopped; 18:47 - Community’s feelings on Marguerite fishing; 19:18 – Other women fishing; 19:35 – Marguerite goes back to school; 20:56 - Marguerite’s understanding of what’s involved in buying a license; 21:30 - Joey and Marguerite’s boat, bringing her home, boat filled up with rain and almost sank the first day; 21:07- People from community helped bail the boat out; 22:20 - Size and name of boat, government regulation 22:50 VIN number; 23:06 – Where they got their boat, how long they had it and having the boat fiber glassed; 23:43 - Catching a nap while fishing; - 24:15 Information on the boat; 24:45 - Speed boat for lobster and how they caught them; 25:03 - Fishing with a group of people, where they sailed and what they did/went to snack bar and had food; 26:32 - Exhaust on boat; heat inside the boat, warming up on the boat; 27:00 - fishing with James; 27:12 Trying to discourage James from fishing; 27:36 – James tells Marguerite that working on the water is where his heart is.; 28:12 - Marguerite’s reservations about James fishing; 29:03 – Remembering the day the Moratorium came in; 30:07 How the Moratorium affected her family “closed one door and another one opened”; 30.29 - Memories on the water, old saying “What happens on the water, stays on the water”; 31:14 fished for 7-8 years for 2 ½ months a year usually May or June start till August; 32:07 – Cold days: 32:25 – measuring crab and bit by crab; 32:42 – Keeping hands warm; 32:51 – Baiting up; squid, mackerel, skivers; procedure for baiting. 33:20 – Crab gets scent of mackerel and crawls into pot 34:07 – Description of how skiver and plastic tub worked; 34:43 - Removing crab from pot and baiting up process; 36:29 – Putting the crab pots out; GPS destinations, keeping track of where you dropped your pots; 37:02 – How many pots were used; keeping track of areas where crab were plentiful; guessing game; 38.21 – Description of a Fleet; 38:55 – Sometimes people set their pots over yours; 39:09 – Dropping your Fleet; 39:53 – Checking your Fleet; 40:20 – Everyone had a different job to do. 40.29 – Joey would re-bait them; stacking them; 41:10 All the Fleets are hauled they’d come in; 41:26 – Nets would stay in ocean till season ended; 41:50 – confusing trying to find them; 42:00 When it’s foggy; shipping lanes; 42:24 - Types of boats in shipping lanes; 42:36 Close calls; 42: 52 Type of equipment used in fog; not always able to look at it when fishing: 43:28 – How Marguerite knew about the equipment from experience; 44:10 – Learning the process; funny story; boss in house and boss in boat: laughter; 45:02 – would ask and watch joey’s brother; 45:23 – Seasickness; – 45:50 – What Joey’s brother thought of Marguerite working; laughter; 46:26 - Arriving home and chores to do; 46:55 – seeing son at end of day; 46:04 – What Joey’s parents thought of Marguerite fishing; 47:41 - Marguerite and her in – law connection; 47:40 – Grandparents took care of James, Granddad playing with James; 48: 19 – Marguerite’s Parents’ death; 48:39 – When Marguerite stopped fishing;49:23 – Other types of species Marguerite may have fished for if there wasn’t a moratorium; 49:50 - Fishing once in a while; 49:59 – working in school, student assistant Bishops College; 50:32 – What do people she works with think about Marguerite fishing; 50:51 – How Marguerite felt when she had to get up at 2am in the morning; the work she did in a day; 51:55 - Hard work; sometimes no crab; price fluctuation on crab; hard to make a living but fortunate; 53:06 - Proud of having fished; 53.35 – Courses needed to do Level 2: 53.54 - Marguerite explains the 3 levels of training in order to purchase a license; 54:30 – Courses; small engine repair; net-mending; 55:17 - Marine Institute; Marguerite may go back again; 55:33 – Nervous bringing boat into wharf; 56:10 – Marguerite reflects on enjoying every job she has had; what she has learned from fishing on a boat with others and how it affects her in her life now; 57:50 - James gets worked offshore; how it will affect Joey; 58:11 – Joey’s is not well; will need surgery again; James a great help; Will fish with Joey when he comes in; 59:10 – Thank you very much Marguerite; very informative