Hi! My name is Roe and I was brought to the sea, like most fishing family’s kids, before I could walk. I spent a lot of time being carried on my mom’s back as she went about her work on the boat.
Some of my first memories are on the back deck of the wooden schooner the Fearless II, wind in my hair and music playing over the speakers as we cruised along the coast.
At age 12 I came out on the boat as a deckhand. I was taught to scrape and clean the halibut as they came over the rail.
The other crew did most of the heavy lifting but they always made sure to teach me to tie knots, dress a fish, sharpen knives, cook in a tiny galley and play crib.
The different forms of the fish fascinated me, some had two eyes on one side of their face, some came in brilliant colours and some were white on one side and brown on the other.
They were all beautiful in my eyes and my dad, a marine biologist, always shared interesting facts about them, which fed my curiosity and appreciation for these animals.
The kids in school did not understand what I did every summer. When I tried to explain they made fun of me for being “manly” and so I stopped telling people where I went every summer.
Fishing in our marine community was something men and women did but fishing outside of that community was looked down upon and misunderstood. It wasn’t something that girls did.
Gradually, the more I learned about our fishery and the more I learned about myself, the more proud I became.
I learned how some fisheries along the Pacific West Coast use three different gear types: hook and line, trawl and trap.
There are two cameras and a tracking system on every hook and line boat to record what is caught.
Two pictures are taken of every single fish so we know exactly who, what, when, where and how each fish has been caught.
The trawl boats have people on board who record the catch of the day.
Today I am proud of my skills as a fisherman. I know I can work hard in extreme environments to get the work done even if I do get seasick every year!
I am proud of the food we produce on our fishing boat and I am most proud of all of our management systems which means the fish, harvesters and consumers are treated well.
We do have room for improvement though and we must strive to do better tomorrow than we did yesterday.
For me, fish come first. We need to understand the health of our fish and make sure we can eat fish for generations to come.
Draw yourself with Roe to show how you are connected to the ocean:
This is a true story based on the life of Tiare Boyes who grew up in a fishing family in B.C with an environmental activist mother and a father with a Masters in marine biology; so she calls her upbringing ‘pretty fishy’.
Tiare is participating in our ‘Fish Fry-day’ speaker series in February 2020 where she’ll connect with classrooms virtually to chat and answer questions.
Email online.learning@ocean.org to inquiry about which dates she’s speaking to see if your class can join (for free!).
Learn More!
Check out the links to learn more about Tiare’s adventures!
-BBC Earth: Tiare Boyes Narrates and Guides 3D 360 Tour
-Tiare Boyes Narrates Video of the system of Wild Pacific Fishery Management
-Tiare Boyes: Canadian fisherwoman breaks social stereotypes
Check out more of Natividad’s illustration work: