Gulf Stream North

by Earl Conrad

Captain Crother, the white owner of the fishing ship Moona Waa Togue, and his Black crew struggle to earn a living catching herring in the waters of the North Atlantic

248 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1980

Reviews

[Cynthia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recommended by the captain of a menhaden fishing crew. After reading H. Bruce Franklin's THE MOST IMPORTANT FISH OF THE SEA, I am convinced that Omega Protein, the company that the captain works for, will wipe out the menhaden if it's allowed to take as many fish as it wants. I said so on Facebook and riled up the captain. He and others employed by Omega Protein said I should learn the other side of the story. So, OK. This book is the MOBY DICK of the menhaden fishery. It tells about the pleasures and perils of the crew of the "Moona Waa Togue," a leaky Civil War-era sailboat that was refitted for harvesting menhaden. It talks about the stink, the heat, the dangers and drudgery endured by the African-American crew--sharecroppers, really--during five steamy days in July 1949. The joking, quarreling and singing are there too. It was a good read, but menhaden fishing is a high-tech operation today. Also, the population of the United States has grown from 152 million in 1949 to 281 million in 2010. The menhaden are still in danger of extinction and this would be an ecological catastrophe.