Against the Tide: The Fate of the New England Fisherman
by Richard Adams Carey
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"With its Spectacular beaches and charming towns, Cape Cod is known around the world as a vacation spot and a summer retreat for the well-to-do. But there is another Cape Cod, a hidden, hardscrabble, year-round world whose hunter-gatherer economy dates back to the Bay Colony. This is the world of the independent fisherman, who lives by his wits on the ocean's unpredictable bounty. It's a world of arcane folkways and expert knowledge, of calculated risk and Yankee self-reliance, of freedom show more won daily through solitary, backbreaking work. It's a way of life deep in the American grain - enduring, yet imperiled by indifferent forces of change." "Haunted by the numbers of family fishermen who have lately been forced to abandon the profession, Richard Adams Carey spent a year among a handful of men who stubbornly refuse to do so: Brian Gibbons, an eloquent, largely self-taught lobsterman; Carl Johnston, a mate on a Chatham dragger; Dan Howes, a clammer on Cape Cod Bay; and Mike Russo, a long-liner for cod and other groundfish. Working alongside these men, Carey hauled traps and seeded clam beds, learning their work and why they do it. He tells of their luck on the water, of the winds and tides that toy with their boats and their lives, of the currents of history and the squalls of fisheries politics that continuously threaten to swamp their livelihoods. And he tells of their humor and their hope, renewed with every plentiful catch and every small victory in a fisheries council boardroom."--BOOK JACKET. show lessTags
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Against the Tide is a study of four individuals involved in different fisheries on Cape Cod (groundfish draggers/longliners, lobsterers, quahoggers). The author went out with these folks over the course of a year as they fished, clammed, dragged for shrimp, went to committee meetings, and so on. He analyzes the political landscape of fisheries management, and the impact of the disappearance of small boat owner-operators on a local community.
Carey gets a little carried away at times with his language ("time slips out of joint" [p. 350]?). There's also something very unsatisfying about the book, because it's basically a narrative of everyday life. Were Brian's pots being robbed? Why have the lobsters declined? Who eats dogfish? These show more questions are unanswered because the protagonists don't know.
There's also a decided un-emphasis on science. Certainly the book is meant to represent one viewpoint (small owner-operators), but Carey researches a great deal of information on the building of factory trawlers, and spends not one sentence on the science that is supposedly guiding the fisheries management process. It seems like the protagonists would be a heck of a lot more interested in cod population studies than in how much it cost to build a trawler in 1969. show less
Carey gets a little carried away at times with his language ("time slips out of joint" [p. 350]?). There's also something very unsatisfying about the book, because it's basically a narrative of everyday life. Were Brian's pots being robbed? Why have the lobsters declined? Who eats dogfish? These show more questions are unanswered because the protagonists don't know.
There's also a decided un-emphasis on science. Certainly the book is meant to represent one viewpoint (small owner-operators), but Carey researches a great deal of information on the building of factory trawlers, and spends not one sentence on the science that is supposedly guiding the fisheries management process. It seems like the protagonists would be a heck of a lot more interested in cod population studies than in how much it cost to build a trawler in 1969. show less
Against the Tide, the fate of the New England fisherman by Richard Adams Carey
Love hearing how the fisher people survive. Risky and arduous work and the reasons why the industry is declining.
This is about a story where the man is followed as he goes from company to yet another over the years, each a different fish industry.
Love learning how the trades are done. Politicians and rules and regulations come to light to help me understand what happened to the downfall of the industry.
Especially like the stats that bring it all together.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
Love hearing how the fisher people survive. Risky and arduous work and the reasons why the industry is declining.
This is about a story where the man is followed as he goes from company to yet another over the years, each a different fish industry.
Love learning how the trades are done. Politicians and rules and regulations come to light to help me understand what happened to the downfall of the industry.
Especially like the stats that bring it all together.
I received this book from National Library Service for my BARD (Braille Audio Reading Device).
An admirable addition to any reader’s collection on “the fishing” and the folks who brave it in order to feed us. And it is a close examination of those fisherman in its coverage of their daily grind and life, the battles for fair treatment of both the prey and their hunters.
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Author Information
4 Works 208 Members
Richard Adams Carey was born in Connecticut and educated at Harvard College. After his graduation he went to work in a northwestern sawmill, and he has since divided his time between Alaska and New England.
Awards and Honors
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1999
Classifications
- Genres
- Hunting and Fishing, Sports and Leisure, Nonfiction, Science & Nature, General Nonfiction, Economics, Biography & Memoir
- DDC/MDS
- 338.3 — Society, government, & culture Economics Production Water products; Fish, ice, etc.
- LCC
- HD8039 .F66 .U474 — Social sciences Industries. Land use. Labor Industries. Land use. Labor Labor. Work. Working class By industry or trade
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 45
- Popularity
- 663,720
- Reviews
- 3
- Rating
- (3.20)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper
- ISBNs
- 2
- UPCs
- 2
- ASINs
- 1
