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 Pontifical Council for the Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People

People on the Move - N° 88-89, April - December 2002

Globalisation and Fishing Chaplains!

Rev. Fr. Brian MCMAHON,
AOS Chaplain, Fleetwood, UK

[French summary, German summary]

Britain is regarded as a Christian society but that is more in name than in fact. Yet, it carries on a proud tradition dating back to the early Christian community.
Travel the roads of Britain and on the rear window of many cars is a symbol – the outline of a fish. As the fish was one of the sacred signs of Christianity 2000 years ago Christians continue to publicly proclaim their faith.

IXTHUS – Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour.

Fishing communities are very conscious of the close connection between their vocation of fishing and the Christian way of life:

  • They are proud that the first four apostles were fishers as Our Lord recognised the sacrificial nature of the work.
  • Is it the same elsewhere as in Europe that as long as people can remember small trawlers have fished from the starboard side; a vivid reminder of Our Lord telling Peter and John to cast on the starboard side after they had fished all night and caught nothing?
  • On the body of the haddock there is a mark that fishers explain is the thumbprint of Peter collecting the tax shekel.
  • In days gone by, Isle of Man fishermen, frustrated by poor fishing, filleted a cross shaped bone from the rock wrasse fish which was thrown on deck and they fished where the bottom of the cross pointed. 
  • It would be no surprise if throughout the fishing world there were a multitude of images reflecting Christian values and traditions.

Two other images spring to mind, one obvious the other not so obvious that demonstrate the Scriptures come alive every day within the fishing community but more about that later.

Unfortunately, Christian traditions cannot help fishing communities survive in a rapidly changing world where globalisation is the new God regardless of effect on people, communities and countries. 

The seas of plenty are in danger of becoming empty seas, leaving fishing communities devastated with perhaps worse to come. This creeping problem is leaving the industry frustrated, anxious and fearful of an uncertain future as already experienced in the depressed fishing communities of North East Canada and North West/East of England. They are a warning of what might and could be.

Although the causes are complex they can be easily identified.

  • Lack of planning in the industrialised world with some countries still building trawlers, even though their regions are over-fished; but once built, trawlers need to be utilised and political expediency always comes first.
  • Traditionally, the fisher was a hunter depending on traditional skills passed from generation to generation but today, sonar and radar technology can determine shoals, and their size, leading to over-fishing. The honed skills of the hunter are reduced to that of a harvester.
  • Industrialised fishing by nations who, having over-fished their own waters, encroach on small fishing communities who have to sail further away from their home shores in boats that may not be sufficiently safe for longer expeditions.
  • Over-fishing through illegal approach to quotas recommended for areas under threat; use of illegal sized mesh nets so that immature fish cannot escape resulting in a much needed breeding capacity lost.
  • In countries with established quotas, fishing communities are destroying their childrens’ future by selling quotas to other countries for short-term financial gain. They are selling their traditional rights because the quota cannot be returned without heavy financial investment.
  • Longline fishing, which can involve nets 50 miles long, cannot distinguish between species.
  • Many argue that the over use of beam trawlers, plus other methods, involves the destruction of sea beds.

Whatever the reasons it is the fact that is important. From the Baring Sea to the North Sea there are less fish to be caught.

Two examples highlight this problem.

  • The International Council of Exploration of the Seas reported in 2001 that 30 years ago there was an estimated 1,000,000 tons of cod in the North Sea. The estimate is now 54,000 tons. Cod can live up to 20 years, yet 90% of cod caught are under four years old, so the natural cycle of breeding cannot be sustained to survive in this area. Also in the past ten years the sea temperature is two degrees warmer, so surviving cod don’t come as far south.
  • The American based organisation “National Coalition for Marine Conservation” reported in 2001 that exotic species of blue marlin, sailfish, swordfish and bluefin tuna face extinction, through longline fishing, leading to economic difficulties for fishing communities who rely on tourists to supplement their income.

For too long we have declared the best conservationists were the fishers but scientific research contradicts this and so, looking at the worst possible scenario, we could be facing a social and economic disaster for our fishing communities who are ill-equipped and ill-prepared for such a scenario. Are our present day successful fishing industries preparing for a future that may not be as successful as now? Other successful fishing industries of the past no longer survive due to not reading the signs of the times. How does a fisher, who has sailed the seas all his adult life searching for the ultimate catch, cope with little or no work in the strange (and hostile!) environment of factories or dole queues?

In the late 1980’s the European Community commissioned a report by Oxford University on the fishing way of life. Their report surprised no one in the AoS who is associated with the fishing world. Just over 90% of fishers live within five kilometres of their boats. Unlike the merchant navy chaplain who visits a seafarer and may never see him/her again, the fishing chaplain has the opportunity of getting to know not only the fisher, but to experience the complete family socially, economically and spiritually.

The scarcity of resource is not just fishermen losing their jobs but their towns and village communities suffering dramatically. Fleetwood, where I worked, highlights this problem – in the 1970’s we had 89 deep-sea trawlers with an average crew of fifteen. For each fisherman who went to sea five worked on the land based associated industries.

Today, all these trawlers are gone and Fleetwood is the poorest economic town in its provincial region with the highest unemployment coupled with stress related problems. The consequence for the AoS chaplain is startling and we may need to promote unpopular causes among the fishing fraternity. We need to learn new skills of helping deprived families in facing up to unemployment, the complexity of social benefits (if any!) and campaigning in a political context – without being political - for this deprived community to receive financial aid and proper levels of redundancy.

Unpopular? Many within the industry so concerned with the needs of today still have the traditional fishing optimism and are unable to envisage a future without fish. Hence the rejection of scientific data and their unwillingness, or inability, to listen to an unpopular message which can be difficult for the chaplain who has listened and understood.

In an age of dwindling fish supplies we need to return to basics. We are associated with modern day apostles who fished all night and caught nothing. Unless we conserve fish, the fishing life, as we know it, is doomed. If there are no fish there are no fishers. We must support conservation recognising the consequent problems for the fishing communities we love and support.

We need to emphasise that to pass on our fishing traditions to future generations our care (not just catching) of fish is essential. The majority of fishers wish to pass on their skills to their children but there is a real danger in some areas that this may not happen.

In Britain one of the reasons we have so many problems is that for too long we refused to believe the marine scientists who warned us repeatedly that our present approach to fishing would ultimately deprive us of what is supposed to be so precious to us. Added to this, political expediency demanded that scientific findings were not fully implemented. But conservation is not a popular message but when was any message of the prophet? In some communities that may mean not being the most popular of people but what is the alternative if we believe the scientific data.

If we are willing to take on this new role with our fishing families we can play an even greater part in being the social expression of these wonderful people. With our faith and vocation we have the humbling privilege of being even better apostles.

I speak from personal experience and it is up to you to determine whether all or part of it applies to you. 

  • We need to reappraise and adapt our chaplaincy roles so as to be prepared for enforced changes within our community structure that previously seemed permanent.
  • We can live with our fishing families as they struggle to come to terms with the changing patterns in their ancient traditions of the sea.
  • We can stand with them campaigning to defend their dignity and rights.
  • We can be a voice, hopefully not in the wilderness, demanding a fairer future, and recognition of what they have suffered in the past to bring fish to our tables. (Fishing is recognised as the most dangerous occupation in the world)
  • We can introduce them to other communities whose plight is similar, so that sharing inner strength and resolve we can campaign in a common cause.

I mentioned the particular cause I was part of. Working with other fishing ports we spent 20 years battling against refusals by the government of the day to compensate fishermen who lost their jobs in the 1970’s due to political agreements that took no account of the needs of people. I shared their frustration and despair but never a thought of abandoning the struggle to be adequately compensated. Persistence paid off and we were successful. Recently, thousands of fishing families throughout Britain, who received no compensation or redundancy when they were thrown on the scrap heap so long ago, have been reasonably compensated.

The grateful fishing community recognises we are with them for the long haul. We may have to support unpopular conservation methods but fishers appreciate we will not abandon them. We are the privileged ones working among the “apostles of the sea”.

Earlier I mentioned two other Scriptural images that have meant much to me in attempting to understand the inbuilt philosophy of fishing tradition.

I think of Peter who, recognising the frailty of human nature and the laws of science, began to sink rather than putting his trust in the outstretched hand of the Loving Lord. But, in desperation, his faith surfaced and he was saved. Fishers of the future will be no different from the fishers of the past in their determination to ensnare the greatest catch. In so doing they endure mountainous seas that their frail boats have no right to be on; summed up in the Breton prayer, “The Ocean is so vast and my boat is so small, so protect me, O Lord”. As one old fisherman put it, “in a storm more prayers are said on the bridge than in any church”. They recognise the frailty of their trade but somewhere deep down they believe that somewhere there is an outstretched hand seeking to protect them. It is a situation that every fisher, like Peter, can face up to and cry out for help. Every time we walk among fishers we walk the shores of the Sea of Galilee and see a Peter who may have to reach out in faith – a faith we can help nourish.

The other reference is one that permeates the four Gospels as we follow the journey of Our Lord to Calvary and beyond. It is a presence that has made me conclude the real heroes of the Scriptures, and the seas, are not heroes but heroines and what has been wonderfully reassuring is that not one fisher with whom I have shared my thinking has disagreed. 

Who were these saintly women who were always there for Our Lord and the disciples? They were the ordinary women who did the ordinary things so extra-ordinarily well to help make the difficult life of the Master that much easier to bear. 

As Our Lord’s first apostles were fishers, I like to think that many of these supportive ladies were fisher’s wives who know what it is like to scrimp and scrape to make things good. The mother, wife, sister, girlfriend who sit at home know the storm on land is a mere breeze compared with the storm at sea. They watch their loved one sail away and live out every fear while the fisher realises the reality of the storm is less than the over-active mind at home. Spending 15 to 18 days waiting for the home coming and then hiding family difficulties for 3 days so as to protect the fisher before he renews his vocation. They see their loved one toil tirelessly and often come home with little which means they have to borrow once again and to do without, what many of us think are, the basics of life. In the most unfortunate of circumstances, they stand, like the women of Jerusalem, and “weep for their children” trying to come to terms that the sea has won another battle.

And to think that if we are willing to make the effort they are willing to allow us to be a part of their lives, to share their joys and sorrows. The world constantly changes but we have the spiritual joy of reliving the Scriptures and in these heroines see the loving care bestowed upon Our Lord by the good ladies of his day. Is there any other chaplaincy that can get as close as this – recognising the first apostles, and the women, always there in their faithfulness.

All of us will continue to be affected by globalisation and in ways that we cannot begin to comprehend but in this rapidly changing world there are two constant factors – the fisher wishing to fish and the strong fishing family support at home. These wonderful people of the sea have something special to offer us. They feel we have something special to offer them, something no others in the fishing world can offer. We share a Christian commitment upholding the dignity of fishing families. We share a common bond. We are attracted to FISH – IXTHUS – Jesus Christ, Son of God, Saviour

Appendix 1:- Compensating fishing families

Until the 1970’s British deep-sea trawlers from Fleetwood, Hull and Grimsby fished off the twelve-mile Icelandic limit. Iceland declared a 200 mile limit and after the “cod wars” the mainstay catch of these ports had disappeared leading to mass unemployment. Losing their livelihoods, fishers discovered they were not entitled to redundancy payment even though some had fished for 20, 30 or 40 years. 

Icelandic fishing necessitated being away from home for an average of eighteen days with a home break of three days before returning to sea. Generally it was on the same trawler as before and, if not, another trawler belonging to the same company. But trawlers owners signed them off at the end of each trip and resigned them as they returned.

Due to this signing on/off the fishers were officially classified as casual labour even though they may have sailed for the same company all their lives. Hence, they were entitled to nothing. The owners were compensated with millions of pounds sterling. If there were an understanding some of this would be passed on to fishers, it didn’t happen.

After an unsuccessful court case, but due to fishers being wrongly advised, they were given an “ex gratia” payment, and those in authority washed their hands. But “ex gratia” implied they were only entitled to a charity payout, so in 1983 the British Fisherman’s Association was founded in the three ports. Later, I was appointed the Fleetwood chairman and chaired the national meetings. Our demand was simple, without being greedy. For each year of Icelandic service fishers should receive £1,000 per year up to a maximum of 20 years.

We won the case in 2000, and up to now more than £3million has been received in the economically deprived port of Fleetwood alone. We had demonstrated that the fishers had been unjustly treated and now many families, who had suffered years of financial deprivation, received a “nest egg”. Also, due to a direct intervention by myself, we established that if the fisher had died in the meantime, his family would receive payment.

The case highlighted the importance of the AoS as I was the only Committee member nationally who would not benefit from the scheme, and so any proposal put forward by me was treated with genuine respect – the AoS was the honest broker when the process seemed to have broken down.

Is it a hope for elsewhere?

Appendix 2:- How up to date is this Paper?

The paper is easy to write but how close does it correspond to reality? This “paper” was written December 2001. The weekly Fishing News is the Bible of the fishing community in Britain. Looking at the edition 15 February 2002 the following were the main topics:

  • Public Outcry at Dolphin Deaths (National media highlights slaughter) (This was the main headline p.1 and also the topic for the Editorial);
  • Flag Ships’ £390,000 fines (p.1)
    (This had to do with over-quota fishing and there have been more cases since);
  • EU plans ‘won’t save cod stocks’ (Reaction of fishing communities to proposed cuts);
  • Three fishermen jump to safety. (The following day three generations of a fishing family were lost at sea and so far their bodies have not been recovered). 

Appendix 3:- Fishing families at home

In 1992 the first AoS British Fishing Seminar was held at Fleetwood. The highlight of the Meeting was the presentation of life in a fishing home by seven wives. They talked openly about

  • Uncertainty
  • Role of the Wife
  • Local Community
  • Tragedy
  • Absence of the Husband
  • Return of the Husband
  • Family Problems
  • Debt
  • Who Cares?
  • How Faith helps one to cope.

Reporting the Conference the local paper – Evening Gazette – had a Banner headline on the front page.

Breadline Port Shock
Families living in dire poverty

The first two sentences read

The families of some Fleetwood fishermen are living in near poverty, a young mother has revealed. She told a maritime conference how her husband recently earned just £63 for a week’s work and the family is forced to live off a diet of mainly potatoes and porridge. (Thursday, 2 April 1992)

The Seminar was VHS recorded and the official report is with the AoS, England & Wales.


La mondialisation et l'aumônier des pêcheurs

Résumé

Les chrétiens n’ont pas cessé de proclamer publiquement leur foi par le symbole du poisson – IXTHUS – Jésus-Christ, Fils de Dieu, Sauveur.

Malheureusement les traditions chrétiennes ne suffisent pas à aider les communautés de pêcheurs là où le nouveau dieu est la globalisation, quel que soit ses conséquences pour les gens. Les mers généreuses sont en danger de devenir des mers vides, et ce problème grandissant a rendu l'industrie peureuse devant un futur incertain.

Les causes en sont complexes : les pays qui construisent des chalutiers alors même que leurs régions sont déjà sur - pêchées, traditionnellement le pêcheur est un chasseur mais le sonar a fait de lui un récolteur; l’espace qu’on a pris aux petites communautés de pêche qui doivent donc aller pêcher toujours plus loin de chez eux; taille illégale des mailles de filet et manque de respect des quotas; vente des quotas, pêche au filet de longueur interminable; abus, par exemple, des chalutiers de face. Quelles qu'en soient les raisons, depuis la mer de Baring jusqu’à la mer du Nord, il y a moins de poisson.

Dans le passé on était d'accord pour dire que les meilleures conservationistes étaient les communautés de pêcheurs elles-mêmes, mais la recherche scientifique semble le contredire: un rapport de l'Université d'Oxford, commissionné par l'Union Européenne, déclare qu’un peu plus de 90 % des pêcheurs vivent à moins de cinq kilomètres de leurs bateaux. À la différence de l'aumônier de la marine marchande qui visite un marin et peut jamais le revoir, l'aumônier des pêcheurs a l'opportunité de relativement bien connaître le marin mais aussi toute la famille. 

La rareté de la ressource ne fait pas seulement que les pêcheurs perdent leur job, mais que leur communauté souffre de façon dramatique. Fleetwood (UK) confirme cela ; en 1970 il y avait 89 chalutiers de haute mer, chacun avec un équipage moyen de 15. Ils sont tous partis et Fleetwood est la ville de la province dont l'économie est la plus pauvre.

La conséquence pour l'aumônier de l’Apostolat de la Mer est étonnante. Il peut nous falloir promouvoir des causes impopulaires. Impopulaires ? Beaucoup dans l'industrie sont incapables d'envisager un futur sans le poisson. Et donc ils rejettent les données scientifiques et ne veulent pas entendre un message qui les contrarie.

À une époque où les réserves de poisson diminuent, il faut revenir au principe de base. À moins que nous ne conservions le poisson, la vie des pêcheurs tels que nous la connaissons est condamnée. S'il n'y a pas de poisson, il n’y aura plus de pêcheurs. Nous devons soutenir la politique de conservation en reconnaissant ses problèmes inhérents. Nous devons souligner que notre attention (pas nécessairement notre prise) de poisson est essentielle.

Sommes-nous prêts à prendre ce nouveau rôle ? Des aumôniers préparés aux changements qui s’imposent, être avec nos familles de pêcheurs qui acceptent ces changements, les soutenir dans leur campagne pour défendre leurs droits, être une voix qui demande un futur plus juste et une reconnaissance de ce qu'ils ont souffert par le passé, les introduire à d'autres communautés, dont le drame est similaire, pour former des groupes de support mutuel.

Ces merveilleux gens de mer ont quelque chose de spécial à nous offrir, ils sentent aussi que nous avons quelque chose de spécial à leur offrir, quelque chose que personne d'autre dans le monde de la pêche ne peut leur offrir. Nous partageons un engagement chrétien à défendre la dignité des familles de pêcheurs. Nous partageons un lien commun. Nous sommes attirés par le Poisson, IXTHUS, Jésus-Christ, Fils de Dieu, Sauveur. 


Die Globalisierung und die Seelsorger der Fischer.

Zusammenfassung.

Die Christen haben nie aufgehört öffentlich ihren Glauben zu bekennen durch das Symbol des Fisches – IXTHUS – Jesus Christus, Sohn Gottes, Retter.

Leider sind die christlichen Traditionen nicht ausreichend, um den Fischer- Gemeinden dort zu helfen, wo der neue Gott, die Globalisierung, auftritt, und harte Konsequenz für diese Menschen bringt. Die großzügigen Meere laufen Gefahr, leere Meere zu werden, und dieses wachsende Problem versetzt die Fisch-Industrie in Angst vor einer ungewissen Zukunft. 

Die Gründe sind komplex: die Länder, welche Fischerboote bauen, tun es weiterhin, obwohl in ihren Regionen der Fischfang bereits an der Grenze ist; der Tradition nach ist der Fischer ein „Jäger“, aber die Sonden- und Radar-Technik hat ihn zu einem „Sammler“ gemacht; der Raum, der den kleinen Fischer-Gemeinden genommen wird, zwingt diese dazu, immer weiter weg zu gehen von ihren heimatlichen Küsten, in Booten, die nicht sicher genug sind, für eine weite Ausfahrt; die nicht regulären Maschen der Fischernetze, und das Nichtbeachten der Quoten; der Verkauf der Anteile; der Fischfang mit unendlichen langen Netzen; Missbrauch verschiedener Art. Welches auch immer die Gründe sind, vom Beringmeer bis zur Nordsee, gibt es immer weniger Fische.

In der Vergangenheit hat man behauptet, dass die Fischer-Gemeinde die besten ‚Erhalter’ ihrer selbst sind, aber die wissenschaftliche Forschung scheint das Gegenteil zu sagen: Ein Bericht der Universität Oxford, von der Europäischen Union in Auftrag gegeben, erklärt, dass etwas mehr als 90% der Fischer weniger als fünf Kilometer von ihren Booten entfernt wohnen. Im Gegensatz zum Seelsorger der Handelsmarine, der einen Seemann besucht und ihn vielleicht nicht mehr wiedersieht, hat der Seelsorger der Fischer die Möglichkeit, den Fischer bald gut zu kennen, und auch seine Familie. Der Mangel an Ressourcen führt nicht nur dazu, dass der Fischer seine Arbeit verliert, sondern dass ihre Gemeinde in dramatischer Art leidet. Fleetwood (UK) bestätigte das; l970 gab es noch 89 Hochsee-Boote, jedes mit einer Besatzung von im Durchschnitt 15 Mann. Sie sind alle weggegangen und Fleetwood ist die Provinzstadt mit der ärmsten Wirtschaftsituation geworden.

Die Konsequenz für den Seelsorger des Apostolates des Meeres ist erstaunlich. Er kann für uns die unbeliebten Gründe vertreten. Unbeliebte? Viele in der Industrie können sich eine Zukunft ohne Fische nicht vorstellen. Und trotzdem nehmen sie die wissenschaftlichen Ergebnisse nicht an und wollen eine Botschaft, die sie stört, nicht hören.

In einer Zeit, in der die Fischreserve kleiner wird, muß man zu den Grundprinzipien zurückkehren. Wenn wir die Fische nicht erhalten, wird das Leben des Fischers, so wie wir es kennen, aufhören. Wenn es keine Fische gibt, braucht man auch keine Fischer mehr. Wir müssen die Politik der Erhaltung unterstützen und die damit verbundenen Probleme erkennen. Wir müssen hervorheben, dass unsere Aufmerksamkeit für den Fisch (nicht nur für den Fang) die Hauptsache ist.

Müssen wir Priester diese neue Rolle übernehmen? Gut vorbereitete Seelsorger für die sich ansagenden Veränderungen, die unseren, von den Veränderungen betroffenen Fischer-Familien beistehen, die sie in ihrer Kampagne für ihre Rechte unterstützen, die Stimme sein wollen, die eine gerechtere Zukunft und eine Anerkennung all dessen fordert, was sie in der Vergangenheit gelitten haben. Gut wäre es auch, sie mit anderen Gemeinden zusammenzuführen, die eine ähnliche Situation durchleben, um so Gruppen der gegenseitigen Hilfe zu schaffen.

Diese wunderbaren Menschen des Meeres haben uns etwas besonderes anzubieten. Sie fühlen aber ebenso, dass auch wir ihnen etwas besonders anzubieten haben, etwas, was andere Personen in der Welt des Fischfangs nicht für sie haben. Wir teilen eine christliche Verpflichtung, um die Würde ihrer Familien zu verteidigen. Wir sind durch ein gemeinsames Band verbunden. Wir sind angezogen von dem Fisch, IXTHUS, Jesus Christus, Sohn Gottes, Retter.

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