A new film, released today by McIntrye Media and
Canadian Geographic, puts the east coast cod fishery collapse back in the spotlight, nearly three decades later. Funded by the Canada Council for the Arts, the animated short film called
Last Fish, First Boat recounts the 1992 cod moratorium, from the perspective of fifth-generation fisherman, Eugene Maloney.
Film synopsis
When the cod fishery collapsed, fisherman Eugene Maloney’s livelihood is yanked out from underneath him. All his pride, all his life, everything he’s ever known is suddenly gone. Gene doesn’t recall spending days and weeks on land, certainly not in summertime. But here he is with fishing gear that’s no longer of any use. In the spring of 1992, when the Canadian government shuttered the cod fishery, Gene had fished his last cod, marking an abrupt end to a five-generations-old way-of-life for the Maloney family. But every bit the enterprising Newfoundlander, Gene turns the end of the fishery into a new beginning. He pivots to boatbuilding, a self-taught practice he continues today, in his eighties. Set in Bay Bulls, Newfoundland and Labrador, Last Fish, First Boat revisits the 1992 cod moratorium through a fisherman’s eyes. It’s an old story that holds new meaning in 2020, as a global pandemic put Canadians from coast-to-coast-to-coast out of work, stuck at home and needing to pivot. Like Gene’s story, where there’s will, Canadians will find their way.