Sablefish and Community

April 6th (Monday)

Although the sky was clouding up in the morning the forecast was for decent weather, and the water was perfectly calm.  We decided that we should go out fishing.

Before heading out I tried and tried to get in touch with the Shearwater grocery store and post office about getting our mail put on the Shearwater barge.  I had been in touch with the barge coordinator and we had agreed upon $45 to get a couple of boxes sent on the barge.  It was a lot cheaper than the previous quote of $90, and a lot cheaper than having Canada post forward all of our mail to us, and at this point it was really our only option.  I could not get a hold of anyone in the morning so we headed out fishing. 

We spent several hours out fishing today, and although the wind and tide were actually cooperating to give us a good drift line, we caught nothing worth keeping.  We did, however, catch two fish that we had never caught before.  

After taking pictures of them, when we got home we identified them as Sablefish.  Apparently they are often called Black Cod or Alaska Black Cod, and they can get up to 45” long and 55 lbs., and, they can live in depths of up to 9,040 feet.  Unfortunately ours were too small to keep.  

Although only light northwest winds had been forecasted, we were having south and southeast winds, and through the afternoon they started to increase.  Kelly, from the logging camp, came out to see us as we were drifting, and our boats drifted along together as we talked between them.  Their breakwater boom had already been towed away, and he said that the plan was that they would be leaving, hopefully on Thursday this week. They would be towed up to the south end of Pitt Island.  He said that everything with the coronavirus had slowed down their operations, but that aspects of pulp and paper production were still considered an essential service so that they were still able to be working.  As the wind started to pick up, and we all started to shiver, we said, “Good bye”, and headed home into the warmth.

It was before 16:00 when we got back, so I tried again to reach the Shearwater grocery store, and this time I managed to speak with the manager.  She has been amazingly helpful and understanding through all of this, and she agreed to box up our items and try to make the connection with the barge.  I also emailed the barge coordinator and was told that she would do her best to let the barge crew know.  It will be great if we finally get our mail this week.    

We had told Blair that we would give him some crab for California Rolls, so we walked up to his place with a container of crab.  In exchange he gave us some avocados, so we had a delicious dinner of California Rolls and some Mahi Mahi that Gladys and James had given us.  We like to share our seafood -- Crab, Pacific Cod, and Halibut -- with people here, especially those who do not go out fishing and crabbing on their own, and who have been very kind to us.  In exchange we have been given fresh garden tomatoes, squash, peppers, avocados, Mahi Mahi, and other items that we would not have otherwise had.  It is very nice; isn’t that how a community should be, people with a bunch of one thing share with others who in turn share the items that they have most of.  It is unfortunate that this does not seem to happen in many communities anymore.