North Shore lobster startup

‘There is no better job in the world’ – Robert Heighton Jr.

Anticipation and excitement spelled the morning mood at three Pictou County wharves with the much-awaited 2021 lobster season scheduled to start the following day.

Doing a little fine-tuning on Thursday (April 29) morning, the lobstermen and women had a feeling setting day was about to be delayed by at least a couple of days, with strong winds and rain in the forecast.

Their thoughts were realized with a late-morning announcement, confirming the start of the season was to be delayed until Monday. This was later pushed until Tuesday, May 4.

“The fish are there, no matter what, so no use getting too excited about it,” said Wayne Noel, a Caribou Wharf veteran of more than 40 years.

These days, Noel said, he is mostly retired from the job and his boat, Tall Tales 1, but will still help his son out now and again. He was driving slowly around the wharf just checking things out and exchanging greetings with familiar faces.

“I just like to be down here,” he said. “It’s always good.”

At a different location on the wharf, Donnie English and hired-hands Brent Maceachern and Nathan Gormley were much busier, as they prepared the Miss Amelia for another season.

“It’s always like Christmas morning,” said English, a lobster fisherman of 32 years.

As for what type of season he is expecting, English said you never know, referring to both the conditions on the water and the uncertainty of what prices the fishermen will receive once the lobsters are brought onshore.

Moving westward along the Sunrise Trail, the Toney River Wharf was a much quieter scene with only a couple of fishers out ensuring they were ready to go once the expected winds had passed.

One of those was veteran James Craig who has been fishing since as long as he can remember.

“I’ve fished since I was little, I was brought up on the water,” Craig said.

When talking about what he likes about the job, he was even more succinct.

“Everything,” he said, adding that each year is a little different.

“But, yes, I definitely look forward to this time of the year.”

It was a similar scene a little further up the Northumberland coast at Cape John, where a fishing family was out doing their last-minute preparations.

Seventy-nine-year Robert Heighton was getting ready to mark the start of year 60 or 61, or somewhere around there, he said.

Asked what he loved about the job, he equalled Craig’s succinctness.

“Fishing,” he said with a wry smile and chuckle, adding he doesn’t appreciate all the new rules and regulations, which seem to be added annually. That thought made his smile disappear quickly.

“It’s bad, always something,” he said, before busying himself again with attending to traps.

His son Robert Jr., who works on his father’s boat Ocean Rider 1, was a bit more open as he offered up his thoughts on the anticipation of setting day.

“It’s an exciting time,” Robert

Jr. said. “You always hope for the best but prepare for it not to be, you don’t want to get your hopes too high because it can change from one year to the next.”

Working on his father’s boat for 18 years, he talked about a couple of variables each season brings.

“Weather patterns and the bio-mass of the lobsters in general,” he said. “How many animals are out there? so to speak.”

The River John resident said he has and his family have always been involved with the industry, though he didn’t begin working seriously with his father until he was in high school.

“I like being on the water, especially on a day like today with the sun shining and not that windy. There is no better job in the world,” he said. “But it can change in a hurry too.”

His dad’s brother Keith, has seen that in his many years of fishing out of Cape John.

“That is just part of fishing,” he said, standing in his aptly named boat, Risky Business.

“But I just love being in the outdoors … being on the water. It’s a good day.”