A Visit to the Porter Weir
By Magali Grégoire
Early in June, I visited Darren Porter's weir fishing operation located on the mudflats of the Minas Basin, located at the end of the Bay of Fundy. Darren is one of the few fishermen still using this ancient technique, one of the oldest known methods of fishing as well as one of the most sustainable. Other than my curiosity and sincere interest in this fishing method, I visited the weir to see if it might be a collection method for the Back to the Sea Aquarium. I discovered that the weir would in fact be a great collection method and that Darren was happy to say he would be willing to help out!
The weir is a fascinating method of fishing! It is approximately 700 meters long and made up of wooden poles about 2 meters in height with netting in between. Shaped as a semi-circle, the fish are directed towards the trap as the water pulls back with the tide. The weir must be harvested twice daily, no matter at what time of the day the low tide occurs. The trap holds mackerel, herring, shad, flounder, skate, squid and will often trap less common fish such as striped bass, sturgeon and dogfish. Darren's daughter Erica, who works the weir, told me her most exciting find was an adorable lumpfish!
This year, it took Darren and his team approximately 100 low tides to build the weir and they will spend over 400 consecutive tides harvesting the fish from May to August before tearing it down. Talk about hard work! Keeping the mackerel, herring, shad, squid and flounders, the other fish caught by the weir's trap get released downstream where they land into a "pond". The fish remain in the pond (except for a few unlucky ones who make a yummy lunch for some bird predators!) until the tide comes back up allowing them to swim away.
The catch-and-release philosophy of the Back to the Sea Society means that we plan to catch all the animals in the spring prior to the opening of the Aquarium and release them all in the fall at the end of the season. The animals will be collected by various methods, including scientific diving, beach seines and with the help of fishermen such as Darren. The weir will be a great opportunity to collect animals that should do well in captivity as they are accustomed to the harsh conditions of the Minas Basin, that is, the huge variation in temperature and salinity that comes from the world's largest tide.
A huge thank you to Darren for allowing me to spend the afternoon with him and his team observing the workings of the weir and to Matt Grégoire who organized the trip for me and took me out to Bramber!
Navigate through the slideshow below to see more pictures from this day out in the field!
