A budding filmmaker with a big story to tell visited Grand Manan during the first week of September to learn about the local lobster industry and promote his project. Brad Rivers, a film school graduate from Waterloo, Ontario, is working on a feature‑length documentary titled Lobsterland and is looking for investors to help him finish the film.
     "I'm just a guy from Ontario who didn't know anything [about lobsters] three years ago," Rivers says. "I walked onto a wharf with a camera and started asking questions." Now he is "trying to do something that will make a substantial change in the industry."
     The idea arose two and a half years ago, when he came to the Maritimes with a film school friend. It started as a vacation, with about $2,000 raised to do some filming. Two weeks turned into four, then six, and he decided to move to the East Coast. Along the way he has worked in marketing and made documentaries about bullying and mental disabilities, as well as a short film.
     Why lobster fishing? Rivers says, "I'm interested in the people who fish, the hard work, facing death. And there's a spiritual aspect around the water." Fishermen have told him they would still fish even if they had to pay to do it, and he is struck by their passion, noting that few workers in other industries would say the same. The culture intrigues him. Small fishing communities hold traditions from generations past with their extensive family connections, yet the latest technology is also present in big boats and modern electronics. He is also fascinated by the beauty of the region. "In Ontario we don't know about lobster. Most Canadians think the East Coast ends at Ontario. I want to take the fishing culture back and show the kind people and beautiful land."
     Rivers came to Grand Manan at the invitation of Stephen Robinson, a lobster fisherman who runs Top of the Island Boat Tours during the summer. "I'm passionate about what I do and where I live," Robinson says. Interested in ways to show Grand Manan and its lobster fishery to the world, he was researching possibilities for reality TV shows or documentaries. Although he discovered "it's not that simple" to get a network interested, he came across Rivers' project via the Internet and contacted him.
     "This is the healthiest fishery in the world," Robinson argues, with high per‑capita catches. "It's the last stronghold not controlled by quotas and large companies." In his 18 years fishing, he has seen license prices rise from $50,000 to $500,000, and lobster prices fluctuate between $2 and $14 per pound. However, he has concerns about the future. Because of high costs and difficulty getting loans, it's hard for young people to enter the fishery unless they have a license passed down from a family member. He fears that big companies will ultimately control most of the fishery. As a lobster captain, "I'd be running a boat for someone else." Marketing is also difficult for individual fishermen, who don't have the time or resources to hold and sell their own catch.
     Rivers hopes to explore these issues in his film. "It's such a big story -- very broad. You have to talk about the collapse of the groundfishery because that's what made people go into lobster. You have to talk about how hard it is to do, that people die doing it." Conservation, competition with Americans for market share and supply and demand all factor into the story. He hopes to shed some light on the "mysteries" of quality versus quantity and what drives prices, to "lay down a lot of concrete information that fishermen don't have." A graduate student he met on his travels will help with this part of the project by sharing research.
     "This is the last independent fishery, but it's starting to go the way of the groundfishery at its peak, before its collapse. There are rumblings." Rivers wants fishermen to "do due diligence" now to keep it independent. Robinson adds that young fishermen who haven't worked through the collapse of other fisheries may not be aware of the history or be concerned while catches are good.
     Both men share the desire to promote the area and the fishing lifestyle. "We have a billion‑dollar industry on the East Coast, but you only hear about oil and [similar] industries," Robinson contends. This is "an opportunity to show the rest of Canada what we're about." Rivers points out that lobstering can be a "sustainable, renewable, clean industry."
     About 20% of the filming is done. Rivers has visited Prince Edward Island (PEI) and interviewed Nova Scotia fishermen in Wedgeport, Pubnico, Yarmouth and Digby. One of his biggest challenges is building trust to get interviews with buyers. He also intends to visit a cannery and a PEI lobster veterinarian, as well as filming more of the beautiful scenery that has enchanted him. He plans to return to Grand Manan in November for the season opening and is considering looking for a lobster‑banding job. He has met Grand Manan Fishermen's Association and tourism members, and hopes that the connections he is making will lead to "the right person" who will help finance the film's completion. He estimates a cost of $85,000 and would like to finish next year. Then he hopes for university and film festival screenings, as well as local showings. "A lot of people see the value of the project. It'll be something fishermen can use as an educational piece" as well as a potential draw for tourism. Ultimately, "I would like to have the project in the hands of someone it matters to."
     For more information and to view trailers for Lobsterland, visit <www.flowproductions.ca/portfolio/lobster‑land/>.