Quentin Casey

This tells the story of the Miss Ally, a Cape Island—style fishing boat from Woods Harbour, Nova Scotia, that sank in a major February storm. The five men on board were never found, and we have no way of knowing for sure what prompted them to stay out in the forecast storm while all the other fishing boats went in. Through this book, the reader gets to know each of the five men throughout their short lives (the oldest on board was in his early 30s) and the impact of the incident on the community. It is also a window into the Nova Scotia fishing community in general, how the traditions are kept alive, and how history tends to repeat itself when it comes to fishing vessels being lost at sea.

I was glad that the book gave a lot of space to the families but did not automatically side with them against the government when it came to the search-and-rescue efforts. The author presented the circumstances that the various rescue agencies were dealing with at the time: assessing odds of survival, juggling eight other rescue cases that night, deploying the right resources at the right time, and making the decision to reduce the search. It is true that the government could have done a lot more to explain their decisions to the families in a way that would make them understandable, especially given the history of fishermen’s dealings with government (e.g., the crazy-confusing quota system for the fisheries), but that doesn’t automatically make them the bad guy. Or at least not a monolithic bad guy. You can be mad at the Department of Fisheries and Oceans’ fisheries management program and still appreciate the work of the Coast Guard.

This is recommended if you’re interested in the present state of the Canadian fishing community or fisheries in general.… (more)