This being the second day of shooting on our documentary it's becoming incredibly clear to me that a lot can happen in one day here in Nova Scotia so don't expect a short read from me, especially on a day like today.
We came with a story in mind, today was the day we started to find our characters.
The morning started us off at Carl's house in Digby, where we had stayed the night before. The plan was to go out into the community nearby and shoot some b-roll, or stock footage of local warfs, boats and seasides, later to be used to bridge the gap between interview shots or set a specific tone in the editing room. Basically, we were looking to capture a small taste of the local culture. The plan was to do this for an hour or two and then be in Wedgeport, to interview a young lobster boat captain named Lucien, and then stick around for the 1688 metting in the Wedgport firehall that night.
That morning we only thought we were going after a small taste of Digby, but the thing is, with Carl around, there's no way you're ever going to get a small taste of anything. The man's got a personality twice the size of any mortal man. So when we announced to Carl and his son our intentions for our morning and day he declared in a loud, slightly inebriated voice, "I'm comin with you bays, and we're takin my truck.... but you're driving!"
So we grabbed our gear and threw it into the back of Carl's dilapidated Ford Transit, and then piled ourselves in as well. Brad, however, was in the driving seat, and forced to take Carl's poorly timed and demanding directions. It was a hilarious drive with Carl and his son constantly ripping into us and each other for just about everything they could think of (It is true about sailors and foul language, it's pretty much a straight blue streak with those two around) but eventually we arrived (after a trip to the liquor store, I might add) at an abandoned warf Carl wanted us to see.
And see it we did.
The views would have been picturesque on a day with blue skies and sunlight, but instead we were blessed with high winds and an overcast sky. It gave every shot an amazing sense of realism, it was incredibly raw, haunting and beautiful. The warf was crumbling and broken and obviously hadn't seen use in a couple decades, the tracks to load boats and skips into the water was rotting away quickly and covered in seaweed, there was even a washed up, rotting, plant infested 30 foot fishing boat. It all looked amazing and we could have shot there all day, but Carl had something else in mind. Carl started talking.
He talked about how this was a place built by men, fishermen of old with their hard earned money, by their blood, sweat and tears, because they believed in the dream that is fishing on the wide open seas. How the men who built this were young men, and now with all the problems in the fishing industry the young people of today, the ones with the passion and ideas were leaving. They are leaving. They all go west, to the oil sands because they can offer something that a lot of these young fisherman can't get out here; a steady and extremely lucrative pay-check.
In short, Carl did what he did best, he told stories.
And we filmed it.
After the warf, Carl took us to the currently working warf to get some more basic b-reel and then to the local tavern, where he talked up the bar-maid, told more tall tales and where we had an amazing plate of scallops, haddock and clams, all caught right there in Digby (apparently they're pretty famous for their scallops). It was my first time having both clam and scallops, and they were absolutely delicious, if you're going to loose your scallops virginity, do it in Digby.
We stayed at the tavern for a short time, but it was getting pretty clear that it was time for us to be moving along for our interview with Lucien, scheduled for 4 o'clock that afternoon. we said our goodbye's to Carl at his place and re-assured him that we'd be stopping by again before we left the province all together. So to the road we went again. The drive to Wedgeport was not a long one, only taking about 45 minutes, but finding Lucien's house was something else entirely, as all of our phones either had no service or were out of charge (It's pretty common place for Myles and myself not to have any reception where we are, we're both with Rogers and their coverage of the south western half of Nova Scotia is notoriously terrible). We had driven in silence most of the way, exhausted from our time with Carl (He's a great guy, but to match his level of intensity requires a lot of mental fortitude) so we pulled into the Wedgeport warf and, well we just sat there for like 20 minutes and power-napped. We were too early for our appointment with Lucien anyway and by the time we awoke we still had about 20 minutes to kill.
We did eventually find Luciens house and after waiting a short time for him to get back from his cottage, He invited us inside, offered us a beer and immedietely began talking about the Lobster Fishing industry and the imbalances, problems in it, and how he thinks they should be fixed, in fact, I was worried that he was going to say everything he had to before we got the cameras rolling (he was also incredibly amused and strangely impressed with all of our makeshift camera gear), but we did get rolling and my worries proved to be unfounded as he was very eager to talk about every aspect of what he's been doing in the industry both as a boat captain, and as a member of the Lobster Pricing Committee where he volunteers as a board member.
Lucien was extremely open and honest with us, he's 22 years old, making him one of the youngest of the boat captains in his district, and the youngest member of the Board, but he speaks with the maturity and wisdom of a much more experienced fisherman. He was an amazing interview and it's become clear that he's going to be featured fairly heavily in our documentary. He's extremely relatable and incredibly smart.
Lucien was also the first one to ask us to stay longer than we've planned.
He said that we were going to be leaving to soon, that we'd miss a lot if we left.
Maybe he's right.
After Lucien we went to the Fire hall where the 1688 meeting would take place, about an hour and a half early to meet and talk to a guy named PJ Swim, who's working to rebrand Canadian Atlantic Lobsters which will subsequently grow the demand and the industry (check out www.lobster.ca for more details on his plans). PJ has turned out to be a great guy to hang out with and has hooked us up with lodging for the night, and a little food and drink (somethings we always appreciate). He really cares about what he's doing and he's a really exciting person to have around. He's also got ins with some of the big lobster buying companies in the Maritimes, and he's hoping to be able to get us in to check out the massive lobster holding facilites they have to keep the surplus lobsters fresh for when the season's over.
PJ was also there for the 1688 meeting, which turned out to be my highlight of the day. James Mood's 1688 organization is calling for a strike. A strike to start the day the season opens (commonly referred to as "dumping day") so that the fishermen of the 33 and 34 LFA (Lobster Fishing Areas) located on the south west tip of Nova Scotia can secure a better price per pound for the lobster they catch. Right now they get around $3.00-$3.50 a pound and that's not enough to support many (not all, but many) fisherman, who are struggling to get by at the current price. There were around 55 fishermen and captains in that meeting, including our new friends Lucien and PJ, and every one of them had something to say, they were very passionate and all spoke for hours. I don't have time to get into the details of all of their ideas, or any of the great back and forth we caught on camera, because it's 2:30 in the morning and the others have gone to bed. Besides, it'll all be in the doc, you'll see what I'm talking about... hopefully.
The one thing I will say is that we have made a lot of strides today, and Identified three key "characters" for our story. I have no doubt Lucien, PJ, and James will all have a lot to give us in this thing. they've each got their own idea on how to help the parts of their communities that are really struggling finacially, and each idea could work... but good luck getting everyone on the same page, or even at the same table, yet, that's what needs to be done. United these fishermen will stand tall and overcome, no matter what they decide to do. Divided, they fall.
As Canadians, we can't afford that.
G'night
-Matt
P.S. No pictures tonight, even though I took a bunch. Check my instagram (@brisleyadams) they're all there. I didn't want to do any extra transferring tonight.
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