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The Penney Family’s Experience in Gilbert Bay
The Penney family harvested codfish in Gilbert Bay from the 1970s until 1992, when a moratorium was placed on northern cod. Before the moratorium occurred the Penney’s discovered firsthand Gilbert Bay’s uniqueness with respect to its cod stock. The Penney’s have accumulated a wealth of knowledge about Gilbert Bay and its marine life. This knowledge comes as a result of observations made over many years of fishing for codfish in Gilbert Bay, during which Gilbert Bay was home to the family for up to six months at a time during the fishing season.
How the Penney’s Started Fishing Cod in Gilbert Bay
The Penney’s first discovered the presence of codfish in Gilbert Bay in the 1960’s when Melvin Penney was taking tourists, from the wood boats that would come to Port Hope Simpson, out to Gilbert Bay to fish for salmon and trout. The anglers began catching fish that they referred to as cunnors, but were in fact Gilbert Bay codfish. After this the Penney’s noticed that they were catching a lot of codfish in the trout nets that they had set in Gilbert Bay. As a result of these observations, the Penney’s started fishing for codfish in Gilbert Bay. Melvin Penney noted that at times while fishing in Gilbert Bay he has seen the codfish as thick as the water is deep and that he can remember catching as many as three cod on the one jigger while jigging for cod within the Bay.
Living and Fishing in Gilbert Bay
The home of the Penney family while they fished in Gilbert Bay was located in Peckham’s Cove, a small isolated cove that is located midway along the length of Gilbert Bay on its southern shoreline. Although isolated, the Penney family did have one major convenience while living in Peckham’s Cove during the fishing season, and this was a steady supply of running water at their summer home. At a time when running water was a rare commodity in most coastal communities, particularly in summer fishing homes, this was a common occurrence at the Penney home. They accomplished this by running an 1,100-ft hose from a brook located on the other side of Peckham’s Cove, across the cove under the water, and up to their home. Pressure on the water was maintained by gravity flow, and as a result of the hose crossing the cove underwater, the water they received was icy cold even on hot summer days.
The Penney’s fished Gilbert Bay in a 19 ft speedboat with a crew of two. The location of their fishing gear ranged from Rexon’s Point near the outer portions of Gilbert Bay, up into the most inland reaches of the bay. The fish they caught were preserved by salt and were usually sold later in the season; however, on occasion some of the fish caught were sold fresh to local buyers. In the summer fishing season the Penney’s would catch between 150 and 200 quintals of cod in Gilbert Bay. In one cod trap that the family had set at a location in Gilbert Bay known as Crow Head, they had 25 quintals of codfish in one haul.
From their home in Peckham’s Cove the Penney family would fish for cod in Gilbert Bay from the end of May up into November. After July, however, the cod in Gilbert Bay would not net well, and so from this time until November the Penney family would rely primarily on baited trawls and jigging to catch cod. Melvin Penney noted that at times the trawls he used to catch cod in Gilbert Bay were so successful that he would have a codfish on almost every hook. Melvin also noted that the codfish in Gilbert Bay were very easy to jig when bait was used and that after the codfish were starting to go for the jigger, bait was no longer needed.
Melvin Penney noted that there were times in Gilbert Bay in the early spring when the ice pans in the bay would have to be pushed away in order to get their nets in the water there. Noting that at this time of year the fish were concentrated near the shore in shallow water, and that a lot of the fish would be caught in the shoreward portion of the nets. He contributed this near shore concentration of cod to the water in these shallow regions being warmed up more quickly by the sun. Melvin also noted that first in the spring when he would start fishing in Gilbert Bay, the codfish would be spawning. He noted, however, that spawning did vary at times, saying that in some years spawning occurred slightly later.
The Importance of Coral in Gilbert Bay
The Penney’s feel that one of the things that contributes to Gilbert Bay’s unique cod population and high species diversity is the presence of large amounts of live rock (coralline algae) in the bay. Noting that in the spring the stomachs of the fish they would catch were full of the same worms that could be found living within the rock. Melvin Penney noted that during his last few years of fishing in Gilbert Bay, when scallop dragging was going pretty steady in the area, he could notice a change in the shape of some of the banks in Gilbert Bay due to scallop dragging. Noting also that a lot of these banks were where large amounts of live rock (coralline algae) were also found. Also within the last few years of fishing in Gilbert Bay, the Penney's noticed that there weren’t as many capelin being sighted as there had been in previous years.
Observations
The Penney family has made many observations concerning Gilbert Bay while living there and these observations are not limited to just the codfish in Gilbert Bay, but to other marine organisms as well. For example during their time in Gilbert Bay the Penney family has noticed large numbers of jellyfish and lance in Gilbert Bay. Noting that the trout they caught in Gilbert Bay were often full of lance. The Penney family has also noticed that in the spring the waters in Gilbert Bay become crowded with marine organisms (zooplankton) that look similar to Timber flies seen on land.
The Penney’s have made other observations on the marine life in Gilbert Bay that seem to suggest that certain fish, other than the codfish which inhabit Gilbert Bay, are different from other populations of the same species. For example the Penney’s say that the herring and capelin caught in Gilbert Bay are different from those caught along the coast, noting that the capelin in Gilbert Bay appeared to have a different type of fin along the dorsal region. The Penney’s also made note that the salmon they caught in Gilbert Bay were different from outside salmon. They noted that the salmon caught in Gilbert Bay had a bluer back than outside salmon, and their bodies were thicker from the dorsal region to the ventral region.
The Penney’s say that there are as many different types of fish in Gilbert Bay as there are found out along the coast. Some of the fish the Penney’s have caught in Gilbert Bay besides codfish have been dogfish, ocean catfish, maiden rays, and large flatfish, which measured up to, and over two feet long. The Penney’s also noted catching a fish that they could not identify in Gilbert Bay. This fish had silver scales, and was similar to a herring, but with a pointier anterior region. Its body was also thicker from the dorsal region to the ventral region.
In speaking with the Penney’s, they also made mention of the fact that they suspect there is a fault line running through the Gilberts. In support of this they say that when they were living in Gilbert Bay they found a strange type of rock in Gilbert Bay that a friend geologist, named John Hill, later told them was a type of volcanic rock.
A Note of Thanks to the Penney Families
I would like to thank Melvin and Marilyn Penney for taking the time to talk about their family’s experiences in Gilbert Bay, and for sharing their pictures of Gilbert Bay with the GBSC so that they could be put on the Gilbert Bay website. I would also like to thank Brian and Ruth Penney for sharing their pictures of Gilbert Bay with the GBSC, so that they too can be placed on the Gilbert Bay website.
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