Bluebacks and Silver Brights A Lifetime in the BC Fisheries from Bounty to Plunder

by Safarik, Norman; Safarik, Allan

• ISBN13: 9781770410411
• ISBN10: 1770410414
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2012-05-02
• Publisher: ECW Press

Summary

More than a history of the Vancouver fishing industry, this collection of adventures set on the Pacific Ocean also serves as a compelling memoir. With dozens of salty tales of hardworking and hard-living fishermen and fish industry workers, this is the story of West Coast fishing from the Strait of Georgia, down to Steinbeck's Cannery Row, and even a look into New York's old-time, mob-controlled fish markets. With wisdom and insight, the tales also serve as an ecological warning, recalling the lost bounty of Canada's natural resources of a century ago, and their possible extinction today at the hands of government mismanagement and overfishing.

Author Biography

Norman Safarik has worked in the fish industry his entire life. He followed his father into the business, and has been succeeded by his son. For fifty years, he knew every fisherman and wholesaler in British Columbia, and along the west coast of the United States. His reach extended to New York City, Montreal, Japan, and Cuba. He lives in Vancouver, Saskatchewan. Allan Safarik is a poet and editor. He is the author of All Night Highway, Bird Writer’s Handbook, and How I Know the Sky Is a River. He has been shortlisted twice for the Saskatchewan Book Award for Poetry, and he was a winner of the 2003 John V. Hicks Manuscript Award for Literary Nonfiction. He lives in Dundurn, Saskatchewan.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. vii
After the Catch	p. 1
Terminal City	p. 7
The Trawlers	p. 13
The Man from New York	p. 20
The California Con Man	p. 26
Live Cod	p. 28
Spanish Pete	p. 34
The Lutafish Eaters	p. 42
The Backman Boys	p. 47
Littlenecks	p. 51
Peddlers	p. 61
Fishmongers	p. 77
Bluebacks	p. 83
The Carriage Trade	p. 90
The Industry Flounders	p. 94
The Fishermen's Ball	p. 99
Von Arnim	p. 107
The Gambler	p. 110
Stradiotti Brothers	p. 124
Monsters and Money	p. 131
Fish Cops	p. 135
The King of Fishmongers	p. 141
The Trade	p. 144
The Hagers	p. 150
Chickens and Whales	p. 153
Mac and Bob	p. 171
Cannery Row	p. 179
Shoot Up at Campbell Avenue	p. 183
Big Fish and Big Business	p. 190
Malcolm McCallum	p. 216
Dr. Ballard	p. 230
Off with Their Heads	p. 238
Reds Bearing Lobsters	p. 247
A Blue Suit and a Red Rose	p. 257
Of Sea Lice and Lieutenant-Governors	p. 269
Charlie Walcott and the Annie Tuck	p. 286
The Shah's Agent	p. 311
How the West Coast Was Won and Lost	p. 316
Thieves and Cash Buyers	p. 329
The Vanishing Fishery	p. 338
Appendices
Pinks, Crustaceans and Morning Herring	p. 347
The Ocean Kings	p. 357
A Brief History of Salmon	p. 360
Letter to the Commission on Pacific Fisheries	p. 366
Table of Contents provided by Ingram. All Rights Reserved.