A vanishing legacy

Documentary recounts fishing industry on the South Shore

When Suzanne Pasternak moved to Long Point in the 1980s, it soon became apparent to her that she was witnessing the end of a way of life that had nurtured families for more than a century. The fishing industry was in decline, and there were fewer and fewer families who plied the waters of Lake Ontario from the south shore of the County. “My neighbours, who were elderly, were still doing commercial fishing, and I realized I was witnessing the last breath of that culture. These folks, their dads had sailed in the schooners, or were lighthouse keepers, so it was a very rich maritime culture that was disappearing. So I started to collect their oral histories, and then in conjunction with Cable 13—now Cogeco—in Kingston, I made a documentary in 1995 and 1996, in Long Point, interviewing these fellows,” said Pasternak. She also wrote the accompanying music to the documentary. As part of Flashback February, the South Shore Joint Initiative (SSJI) will be screening Pasternak’s documentary, The Vanishing Legacy, on February 23 via Zoom. It tells the story of the men, women and children who made their living harvesting the bounty of Lake Ontario, and who contributed to a unique maritime culture.

In the middle part of the last century, the fishing industry on the south shore was a very lucrative one. It was hard but rewarding work. But by the 1980s, the industry was in serious decline. The eel fishery was practically non-existent, with the near generation-long drop in eel numbers after the installation of hydroelectric dams along the St. Lawrence. There were eel ladders to help bring eels from their ocean birthplace back to Lake Ontario. But few mature eels made the journey back to the ocean, most of them being killed by passing through the turbines. Slowly but surely, the eels very nearly disappeared from this region of the world. Changing regulations and different lifestyle choices also had an impact on the number of fishers on the south shore. There are now only a handful left, and Pasternak is still following the stories of these families. She said there is still some hope that the fishing tradition will continue, as there are some young people who are interested in this way of life.

Thanks to a grant, Pasternak has been able to digitize her entire body of work, of which The Vanishing Legacy is only a small part. Hours of videotape that were used to make the 15-minute documentary have been digitized, and Pasternak will initiate discussions with the Prince Edward County Archives to make her work publicly available.

Many of the people she interviewed for the documentary were then in their eighties, and are no longer alive. In addition, most of the buildings used by the fishing families at Long Point have been demolished or are in a state of decay and are slated for removal by the federal government, which owns the property. Pasternak’s archival footage—which contains the full interviews— is the last remaining link to the vibrant maritime history of the County. To register for the Zoom event, please visit ssji.ca and click on the Events tab.