Lenard Young

Lenard Young’s Interview

1. How long has it been since you last fished? Its been eleven years since I last fished in 1993.
2. How many years did you fish? I fished for thirty-nine years.
3. How old were you when you began fishing for a living? I began fishing in 1954, when I was fourteen years old.
4. How old were you when you stopped fishing for a living? I stopped fishing in 1993. I was fifty-three years old.
5. Did you seek further employment after you stopped fishing? If so, what kind of employment did you seek? No I did not seek further employment.
6. What was the reason behind your stopping fishing for a living? Was it because of age, sickness, etc., or was it for another reason entirely different? The reason why I stopped fishing was because of injuries I endured, which made it impossible for me to be able to fish anymore.
7. Was fishing at that time the main source of income for people in your community? No, people also worked at construction, building highways, etc.
8. Around what area (location) did you fish? The locations where I fished was in Sheaves Cove and Lunenburg.
9. What did you fish? (Lobster, crab, cod, etc.) In Lunenburg, I fished scallops. In Sheaves Cove, I fished everything else including lobster, crab, lumproll, cod, halibut, etc.
10. What equipment did you use for fishing? The equipment I used for fishing was a keel boat with a outboard motor, and a traphauler.
11. Was there a lot of fish to catch at that time? (Try to get a rough estimate at the catch size) Yes there was a lot of fish at first but by the end, the catches were poor.
12. Do you miss fishing for a living? What aspects of it do you miss the most? Why? Yes I do miss fishing. I miss being on a boat in the water.
13. Was it an occupation that you enjoyed to do or was it an occupation that you had no other choice but to do? It was an occupation I had no other choice to do.
14. Was fishing an occupation that was kept up from generation to generation in your family? Yes, fishing was an occupation that was kept up from generation to generation in my family.
15. What kind of struggles did you have to face everyday when you went on the water to fish? (Ex. Weather, lost or damage of equipment, etc.). The struggles I faced was wind, ice, and no fish or lobster.
16. Was the fishing season the same in the past as it is today? (Mention difference if any) The fishing season was the same in some aspects, but different in others. The lobster season was the same as today. The cod season however, was different because back then there was no cod season. There was also no quotas.
17. How many people fished at the location where you fished? There was about ten people at the location where I fished.
18. Do you have any fishing stories that you will like to share? (Try to get at least one) I have a few stories I can tell you. The stories are about rescuing people who were in trouble out on the water in winds, snow storms, etc.
    • The first story was about when me and Amab Jesso who had to rescue Cecil and Shawn Felix in a snow storm because they could not see their way back to shore. We had to go out in the snow storm to save them even though we could not see in front of ourselves either. With luck, we managed to find Cecil and Shawn and brought them back to shore.
    • The second story happened to me and my brother, Harvey. We were out in our row dory fishing but it was a very windy day. The winds blew so hard that the tote pin broke off the boat and the boat turned sideways and capsized. In order for my brother not to get hurt, I had to catch the boat from falling on him. Harvey quickly swam ashore and ran home. He left me in the water and would not even come back for me. I managed to get to shore though.
    • Here are two stories that happened to my father many years ago. One was a story that he had told me and the other was one in which I witnessed myself with my father. The first story was about my uncle Willy who was out in his pick-a-pock motor boat. The winds was very hard and it prevented him from getting back to shore. In order to stay alive, he had to haul so much of the trawl in and then let the boat run. He kept doing this till his two brothers, my father and uncle Wilson, could come and rescue him. By the time he was rescued, there was no flesh on his hands.
    • Another story occurred in Sheaves Cove. There was a tidal wave that occurred at the beach. I was only seven years old at that time. The wave came in and cleaned off all the fish stores on the beach. This was the winter of 1946.
19. Other additional information that may be mentioned throughout the interview. Factoid: In 1954, a lobster license was only twenty-five cents. I also have a story about George Young. He was out in boat one day in the fog. He ended up getting lost and ended up in Abraham’s Cove. He only got back home at ten or eleven o’clock in the night. He was missing for four hours. He denies being lost but according to everyone else he was lost. The cops were even looking for him and were there when he finally got ashore.