The Whales follow the Capelin

You know, when you go into the grocery store and buy some fish, you never really give much thought to the bigger picture.

I got talking to an Australian friend the other day who had just returned from a Newfoundland holiday. He got talking to an old guy from Twilingate who was describing the situation in years past: "The capelin are little fish about yea big," (holding his thumb and first finger spanned apart) "and they would come running in from the open sea to this harbour to spawn. And the whales would follow the capelin in to feed on them. There used to be whales everywhere in this harbour because of the capelin. Now, because the capelin fishery has been overfished, there's hardly any coming into the harbour, and so there's no whales either."

So, we'll be seeing "post fishery" Newfoundland in a stage of transition to other types of industry. Fishing will be more and more of the past, and something to reminisce over.

The List, and the Results

Off the top of my head, here are some things I'm hoping to do:

• salt water fishing
• whale spotting
• see an iceberg up close and personal
• become an Honorary Newfie
• see some good fiddlin'
• spend some time enjoying a pint in a nice pub with Traveling Beauty
• walk around St. John's with my kids and explore
• see the Superpickers concert
• see a moose
• eat a moose burger
• have a Newfie steak (thick, fried bologna)
• find out what a cod tongue actually is (fish don't have tongues do they?)
• enjoy bakeapple pie
• eat some nice fish 'n chips
• see Signal Hill and Cape Spear
• get down to Witless Bay wildlife preserve to see the puffins
• travel to the beautiful town of Trinity
• go to Fogo Island

And here's my post-trip review of the list:

• salt water fishing (didn't get to actually do it, but we watched the locals netting capelin)
• whale spotting (we tried, and saw a couple from the shore; nothing up close)
• see an iceberg up close and personal (not a single one)
• become an Honorary Newfie (nope. next time I'll have to pursue that one more directly)
• see some good fiddlin' (saw some good guitar playing at Kelly's Pub and The Superpickers performance)
• spend some time enjoying a pint in a nice pub with Traveling Beauty (definitely did this one!)
• walk around St. John's with my kids and explore (many times)
• see the Superpickers concert (yup, done)
• see a moose (unfortunately, or perhaps fortunately, no)
• eat a moose burger (nope; didn't see it offered on any menus)
• have a Newfie steak (thick, fried bologna) (nope; didn't see that on any menus)
• find out what a cod tongue actually is (fish don't have tongues do they?) (yes they do!)
• enjoy bakeapple pie (nope; not available. But we did buy some bakeapple jam)
• eat some nice fish 'n chips (definitely yes; at Portugal Cove)
• see Signal Hill and Cape Spear (oh yes)
• get down to Witless Bay wildlife preserve to see the puffins (we saw puffins on our boat tour)
• travel to the beautiful town of Trinity (didn't make it; but we did see many other beautiful places)
• go to Fogo Island (we considered it, but ran out of time and good weather)