Life on Grand Manan Island, situated between the coast of New Brunswick in Canada and the coast of Maine in the U.S., is tied to the sea that surrounds it. Traditionally, the mainstay of the island was weir-based fishing and processing of herring. Herring weirs are traps made with poles and nets arranged in a heart shape with a straight line fence that leads the fish into the trap. Around the turn of the 20th century that industry declined rapidly.
When I visited Grand Manan is the summer of 2017 I was drawn to the remains of the weirs, smoke houses, and other elements of the wild fisheries. These remains suggest a complex and sad story.
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