‘Every day something can happen’
Cape Breton fishing community reacts to Port Hood tragedy
Fish harvesters and people who work with them across the island are mourning with the community of Port Hood following Saturday’s tragic fishing accident that claimed two lives.
“It just goes to show there are a lot of inherent dangers in the industry,” said Osborne Burke, manager Victoria Co-operative Fisheries in New Haven.
“You have to be mindful all the time that just in the blink of an eye something can happen and turn into something that’s very tragic in this case.”
The two fishermen died in waters off Port Hood shortly after 6 a.m. on Saturday after their lobster boat capsized. Burke said the “very sad” news came his way by 8 a.m. that same day.
“We have people leave with full intentions of being home to their families and unloading their catch,” he said.
“I’m sure the Port Hood community, in particular, and their buyer of their product and everyone involved that would know the individuals are devastated by what happened.”
The news had also reached the wharf in North Sydney early Saturday and was still a sad topic of conversation on Sunday where fishers were preparing to start lobster season on this side of the island.
“When you live in the communities
where people have made their living by the sea and people have lost their lives, we understand it,” said Joe MacNeil, a Florence native who works on the Trenton Girls. “You feel for the families.”
MacNeil has spent most of his
life on the ocean over a long naval career and as a fisherman, and knows the dangers.
The sea, he said, is unforgiving if you don’t respect it and there can’t be enough emphasis on safety.
“You hope for the best when we set here on (Tuesday) and hope that nobody loses their lives when they are trying to make a living and trying to provide a product for the world because we have a product there that is distributed throughout the world.”
Burke said there had already been renewed interest in safety on the waters even before Saturday’s incident.
He expects that to continue in the days ahead.
He said more people have been purchasing personal floatation devices, life rafts and immersion suits.
The Fisheries Safety Association of Nova Scotia has also been conducting training exercises across the province.
“It has made a significant difference but then we have something like this happen, so it’s a wake-up call for everybody to be conscious and aware when they go out there. Every day something can happen.”