Goderich tornado: tent banking, postal service resumed and getting around town

My sister, Anne, our intrepid front-line reporter in Goderich, was to visit my parents yesterday. Once again she has vividly chronicled her day doing chores with my mother and sent along some pictures to show how the town is managing. What is clear is that Goderich is managing, and doing so with grace and care and determination. It was heartening to know, that along with repairing damage to homes and businesses, there is a plan to plant large trees on the square. It looks so desolate without them.

You can click on the pictures to enlarge them.

I left home today for my visit with Mom and Dad in Goderich with an agenda. Take Mom to the TD Canada Trust Bank, which is a three sided tent in the parking lot of the Suncoast Mall, and take her to the new Post Office which opened yesterday.

It is not often you enter the bank and the staff hug you but they did today. They are so glad to see us and while they may not have any wickets, in fact they have a table and chairs, a cell phone and a lap top, they were helpful. They also offered us lunch, a sub sandwich, which we declined. They told us they hoped to have two wickets open in the old bank by September 12th. They warned that the repairs would not be done yet and it may be dusty and dirty but would we mind? Would we use the bank anyway? The answer of course was sure. A little dirt and dust is a small price to pay for the convenience of having the bank open. There is a lot of dust and grit flying around in the air all over Goderich, why not in the bank too.

The new Post Office opened yesterday and is a very small storefront inside the Suncoast Mall. You can’t enter the Post Office as every square foot is filled with boxes of mail and parcels. The last mail delivery in Goderich was on August 19th. You line up outside the storefront, a snaking line down that wing of the mall and around the corner to the main corridor. The wait yesterday was one and one half hours but today we lucked out, only waited in line for 35 minutes. Waiting is a curious thing lately. Nothing happens quickly, line ups are usual and everyone is patient. I wonder if that will be a lasting part of the new normal that is emerging? We saw a few people we knew in the mail line. Lou Petrie, a seasonal at Shelter Valley and a member of Mom and Dad’s church was in line. Lou’s daughter lives on Picton Street, near the salt evaporator plant, she lost her home in the tornado while her son, who lives a block from his sister had no damage. Things were so random! All in her family are doing OK.

After the mall, we drove to the town square, or at least as close as we could get to the square. The locked down area is shrinking as the clean up progresses. We were able to drive up Colborne Street to within one store of the square. We walked the short distance to the lock down barrier and I had my first close view of the courthouse and store fronts. The courthouse had all it’s windows blown out and it will be four months till repairs are done. Goderich was the county seat so court has been moved to Walkerton for the time being. The debris has all but vanished. Workers were loading the last pile into a dump truck while we were there. It is very bare. The gazebo in courthouse square that offered Sunday afternoon concerts under shady maples lays on the ground like a flattened pancake. You could never see across the square for as long as we have lived here but now, you can spot a sparrow clear across the courthouse mews. One of the first projects to be undertaken by the parks department is to plant trees. There goal is to have enough new trees planted on the square by late fall so they can decorate for the Christmas Parade and Pageant. And not just small trees, but BIG trees. The list will have to include maple, oak, chestnut, pine, blue spruce, linden and walnut to replicate the old canopy. There are a few young small trees that survived the gale. Like all things young, they were obviously supple and resilient.

The lovely, usually overflowing lamp post plant hangers are dry and brittle. You could hear the rustle of the long dry fronds in the brisk wind we had today. The wind pulled up swirls of grit from the street that blew in our face and eyes. There is grit and dust everywhere. They were sweeping the square and washing the street with big machines. A good sign. The mayor, Deb Shewfelt said on the radio yesterday that they were trying to have the square open for the weekend. There will not be any stores open and there will be nothing to buy but that really isn’t very important. There will still be some barricaded areas, part of West Street and East Street where the heritage buildings were severely damaged, but one could stroll, or should I say circle the square in an afternoon walk this Saturday if that goal is met.

That was our day. I dropped Mom off and came home and picked my tomatoes and green peppers and canned stewed tomatoes with lots of celery and onion for winter stews and soups. Tomorrow I will pick pears and make pear marmalade.

Hope the sun has found you again and that the wind has waned.

I almost forgot, Jimmy Johnson, our friend who was badly injured at the main beach in Goderich when the fish and chip wagon was picked up by the tornado and rolled over him, was transferred by ambulance from the Health Science Center in London to hospital in Clinton on Sunday. He will spend his long recovery closer to home and friends. Peter was in to visit him on Monday and reports while he is in a lot of pain yet, his spirit is strong and his outlook positive.

Love you,

Annie

Goderich update: service alternatives

My sister, Anne, who sent the early reports from Goderich post-tornado, has sent an update on how people are managing and how businesses are trying to accommodate their customers. Many banks and services are located on the gorgeous and now ruined city square. As Anne mentions, the bank, the post office, the credit union as well as the lovely Victoria St. church all suffered damage, some of it very extensive. The photos show an old picture postcard of the square taken even before the storm several years ago had leveled most of the trees in the heart of the city, and a photo from the London Free Press that shows the square after the tornado. You can click on the photos to enlarge them.

Here's Anne's latest front-line report:

I will visit Mom and Dad tomorrow and have a look around town. They bank at TD Canada Trust and it will be some time before the TD branch is open in Goderich again. The TD is right across the street from Victoria Street United Church, the church that was so extensively photographed. Needless to say, the TD Bank also had extensive damage. They have a contingency plan that I located on line and have printed out for Mom so she knows what she needs to do. TD customers can use any ATM in town that is working and all fees charged by an ATM or any other financial institution will be fully reimbursed by TD for as long as the Goderich branch is closed. The are also running a free shuttle service every hour on the hour starting at 10 am Monday to Friday to the TD bank in Seaforth for any customer who needs to visit a TD branch. I thought that was very nice and unexpected.

Mail service, or a fashion of same began again in Goderich today. You need to pick up your mail at the Suncoast Mall as there will not be home delivery for some time to come. I expect the line ups were very long today. Mom thought she may wait until tomorrow to go as she did not want to wait in an hour long line. I can take her there tomorrow morning and we can wait together.

Our next door neighbor visited yesterday. He works for a large construction company here in Huron County. He was telling me that they had a meeting Friday at the end of the work day and were advised that as of today, there will be work available 7 days a week and they would like them all to consider a 7 day work week as so many buildings need repair before the snow flies. They have already replaced trusses and the roof on the Goderich Credit Union and there are many more to do.

There is a Goderich town counselor who reports all the new developments each day on the local radio at 8 am. He is homeless due to the tornado and sleeps and takes his meals in the homes of various people around town. He is a remarkable individual. He is always upbeat, always laughing and quick to find the humor in almost any circumstance in spite of his current situation. Today, after his official report he explained that he went to London on Sunday for the day. He needed to get away, have a bit of a break. I can understand that, being in Goderich day after day affects you emotionally. He said he went to the Masonville Mall in London and was stopped by people in the mall parking lot when they saw his Goderich license plate. He was overwhelmed by the concern and good wishes he received from total strangers when they saw where he was from. I thought that was nice. It sure made him feel better. I doubt those people who took the time to speak to him have any idea how much that meant to him and how deserving he was of their good intentions.

A good friend of ours, Doran Love, the retired manager of the Goderich Scotia Bank has been chosen as one of the representatives on the Goderich Reimbursement Committee. The committee will be mandated with the task of allocating disaster funds granted to Goderich by the provincial and federal government based on an application process. People who have no insurance, not enough insurance to rebuild their homes, as well as heritage building restoration requests will be reviewed by this committee. It will be a difficult, unenviable task but Doran is well suited to the job. He is a lovely man, well respected, hard working and very community minded aside from being a good businessman.

Hurricane Irene, mending an apple tree and a Goderich postscript

After drowsing through the off and on rain during the night, more off than on, the wind started blowing hard around 4 AM and that was it for me. It wasn't pounding nor even ominous, but the gusts rattled the blinds and there was a certain heavy, wet energy (maybe due to the Coke I shared with Andy during the movie The Help) that made me restless. I finally stuffed some tissue in my ears and slept a bit, but was up around 6:15 for good.

Indoors everything felt damp, the chair cushions, my clothes, my skin, Honey's hair, the towels especially, as the air was thick with humidity. Outside was warm and soupy, low and grey with cloud, the occasional mist drifted past us on the wind. Over the ocean, the sky was beginning to lighten, clouds scuttling in the wind, and the day looked promising enough. Strong, knock-you-over gusts alternated with a steady stiff breezes, everything was in motion, blades of grass, every leaf twirled, flowers danced, spruce needles and debris churned in the wind.

Honey and I did the rounds of sheds and gardens and the only damage was to one of Mackenzie's little apple trees, the one most laden with apples of course. The swirling winds made the heavy branches twist and turn until the wood split where the branch met the trunk of the tree. I have just finished reading the Stieg Larsson trilogy and in one of the books Blomkvist tapes up Lisbeth Salander's gunshot holes with duct tape, so with that in mind I hauled out the duct tape and found a long 2 X 2 and repaired the wounded tree. Three times the branch gave way again until I finally pounded the shaft of a broken golf club (remember that Daniel?) deep into the ground and taped the stake to the club. So far, so good.

After breakfast we drove down to Little River wharf to check on Kestrel, which was safe and unruffled. The harbour water was dark grey, wavy and stippled.

While Andy bailed the boat, Honey and I went to the open side of Little River Harbour looking toward Breton Cove.There were low waves sheered by the wind, and a dog with flapping ears looking for loot, crab bits, lobster shells, anything remotely edible thrown up on the beach. She was good enough to sit and pose for me before she devoured the crab shell.

This afternoon the sky cleared completely, the wind lessened but remained fierce enough to remind us there had been a hurricane around. My friend, Marion, and I swam with Bev Brett at Little River beach, forced into the water by the minute glass-sliver shards of sand being driven into our bodies by the wind. The tide was low, the expanse of sand endless and lovely, the water churned up (no jellyfish)and warm and the beach empty but for one other couple. There were waves of course, the kind that catch you off guard, but no matter. After swimming we lay on the wet sand (so the wind-driven bits of dry sand wouldn't be tormenting us) and talked for an hour, a lovely end to a post hurricane day.

On another note, as a postscript, I spoke to my parents in Goderich yesterday and they are managing well. They had an opportunity to get out to have a look at some of the areas that had been cordoned off previously. My mother wept as she explained how deeply they were affected and saddened by the ruin of their lovely, prosperous city, and the sorrow in the lives of people who have lost their homes, some of them their friends. She said the enormity of the devastation and the task ahead of the reconstruction teams sank in and laid them low. Then her voice lightened as she spoke of the good will that abounds still, despite the frustration of business people around the square who, up to that point, had not been allowed into their businesses to assess damage and begin the work of rebuilding their shops and enterprises. Then she told of a team of students from Toronto who had taken time off their summer jobs and come to Goderich where they arrived at my mother's friend's house and offered to help clean up her yard. They had chain saws and other equipment and spent the day chopping branches, piling debris, raking and picking up broken glass. Life is good.

Goderich: power restored to some areas & toad returns

Last report for now. My folks are home, the power is running on Waterloo St. though still not up everywhere yet, and for those of you who know the story, my mother's friend, the toad who lived in her sneaker at Shelter Valley, showed up in her planter of hens and chicks this morning. Wonders never cease, as my grandmother used to say. Anne said, "Well I guess you could call him your toadem."

Finally, Hurricane Irene seems to be tracking west of us for now, which will likely mean we'll get rain and winds, but not feel the full brunt of the storm.

Goderich: the morning after the new warning

My sister, Anne, picked up my parents and took them to her home in Brucefield last night while tornado warnings and alerts from the weather office spread throughout southern Ontario. The London Free Press noted that four possible touchdowns were reported but none confirmed. Goderich and area experienced high winds, very dark skies and no doubt a tremendous amount of worry last night. Heavy rains, lightning, and hail also fell in areas. My parents will return home today.

Some showers today then good weather predictions over the next few days should allow clean up work to continue in Goderich. Meanwhile, the Maritime provinces have been warned that Hurricane Irene might pose a threat. We'll just have to wait and see.

Tornado alert for the Goderich area today

The weather office has posted this alert for the Goderich area. Let's hope really hard that it's cautionary and does not come to anything, though the expected thunderstorms will make matters onerous for those working so hard at the Goderich clean up.

From the Government of Canada National Weather Office:

Goderich - Bluewater - Southern Huron County
10:54 AM EDT Wednesday 24 August 2011
Tornado watch for
Goderich - Bluewater - Southern Huron County issued

Risk of severe thunderstorms and isolated tornadoes developing this afternoon.

This is an alert to the potential development of severe thunderstorms capable of producing tornadoes..Monitor weather conditions and listen for updated bulletins.

A line of thunderstorms is expected to develop over Michigan this afternoon then track rapidly eastward into Southern Ontario. Some of these storms are expected to be severe with large hail damaging winds torrential downpours and frequent lightning. These storms will also be capable of producing tornadoes.

The threat for severe weather is expected to reach areas near Lake Huron near mid afternoon and the remainder of the regions in the late afternoon or early evening.

Goderich tornado: the clean up, a personal account

Here is another account from my sister, Anne, about what's happening in Goderich since the tornado. As Andy commented this morning, it's the best kind of front line journalism. Shelter Valley is a campground outside of Goderich along the Maitland River that Anne & Peter owned and ran for many years, and where my parents spent their last 36 spring, summer and falls, and my kids spent part of their summers, until they sold their trailer this spring.

Hello All,

Had a busy day. Up early to make a pot of chili for supper for Mom and Dad. I loaded the car with a solar lantern, butane indoor cook top we use when we are camping and all the coolers we own because today the fridge and freezers MUST be emptied. I stopped at Zehrs and picked up today's groceries for them. Milk, bread, 4 bags of ice and more batteries.

I got into Goderich with no problems but had a difficult time getting to Mom and Dads. The north west part of Goderich was one of the worst hit and the new road blocks today, set up to accommodate the massive clean up effort forced a few u turns. I eventually got there after driving around a bit. The town was a buzz of activity today. Gangs of men cutting downed trees, lines of hydro repair trucks and trailers full of wire, big loaders and lines of dump trucks scooping up tree limbs and debris from the street, skid steers piling up bricks and cinder blocks, shingles and twisted steel. The big boys and their toys ruled the streets today.

Waterloo street was a mass of activity. New power poles were erected today and wire was strung. By 4pm you could look down Waterloo Street and see the boulevards as the debris and fallen trees were cleared. It was very busy and very noisy. The whine of chain saws and big trucks drowned out the!!! I almost said birds but in fact there are no birds. Its strange but there have not been any birds in town since the tornado, nor any squirrels, or insects, or flies. I guess the tornado scooped them up as well. Oh I forgot, Mom and I did see one spider today.

We emptied the freezers today and I brought what was salvageable home till the power is back on. You have probably guessed by now that Mom and Dad did not return with me today. Tomorrow is church and they wanted to go to Wednesday mass. Tomorrow is another day but I expect their resolve will persist.

The town’s Emergency Management Team sent an army of teenagers out today with a printed fact sheet. It provided an update on Gas Service, Hydro Service, Drinking Water, Garbage Collection and Food Safety as many residents are still without power and that will continue for a few more days.

It was the first official notice that has been issued as most of the town and county web sites as well as hydro and gas websites and phone systems have been down. There is a promise in the last line that another update will be delivered on Thursday. Hopefully it will have some firm answers as this one had no real dates for reinstatement of services. One thing is for sure. There will be no garbage collection on Wednesday of this week.

Mom and I went for a short walk and watched big machines dredging the harbor near the grain elevators. There is a ton of debris from the salt mine in the inner harbor and they must clear an area for ocean tankers to enter the harbor to take on soya beans and corn. Combining corn, soya and white beans will begin in a few weeks and the harbor is the gateway for the salt mine and elevators, two of the largest employers in Goderich. A large number of the population of Goderich will be out of work for the next few weeks and after the restoration of hydro and gas service, rebuilding those areas of town that employ the residents are high on the list.

I left town at 4pm and it took 35 minutes to get out to Zehrs. The lines of dump trucks with debris were staggering and they got the right of way. We are watching the Blue Jays, a home game; we never miss a game but I don’t think I will see the ninth inning. I am tired. Will email tomorrow with Wednesdays news. At least we don’t have to put the garbage out.

Jackie, You know Jimmy Johnson from Shelter Valley, he was severely injured by the tornado at the main beach in Goderich on Sunday. The fish and chip wagon was picked up by the tornado and rolled over on him. He was air lifted to London and will have a long recovery. Many broken bones. You also know Ross and Joan Hallam from Shelter Valley, they live next door to the salt evaporator plant in Goderich which was leveled, they lost their home on Sunday. There are a hundred tragedies these are a few.

Talk to you tomorrow.

Annie

The London Free Press has an excellent and large photo gallery of tornado pictures:

http://www.lfpress.com/news/london/2011/08/21/18582706.html

Goderich tornado aftermath: a personal account

My sister and brother-in-law, Anne and Peter, live in Brucefield just outside of Goderich and were not affected by the tornado. They have lived in the area a long time though and this is Anne's account of trying to get to my parent's apartment in Goderich yesterday, the day after the tornado.

Hello All,

Just home from a day in Goderich with Mom & Dad. They are doing fine and are more relaxed today. The situation all around them is very grim but they are determined to stay for one more day in spite of the lack of hydro. I get that! It is their home and no one else is jumping ship.

Getting into town this morning was an ordeal that took about an hour and required that we drive around a few road block barriers but we did not get caught. Once we got into the locked down area of town we were not challenged by the police and explained why we were there and they tried to give us the best route we may take to get to Waterloo Street. We got within two blocks before we could not go any further due to the debris fields on every street. I got out of the car to walk the rest of the way and Peter took off in the car to try and find a route that would let us get the car up to the apartment. There was no way Dad could have walked to the car over those two blocks. The debris was waist high in place. I bumped into Jim Farrish, Helen's son and it was a good thing as I was lost. I completely lost my bearings as there was nothing familiar. All the houses in that areas were destroyed and there were no street signs or markers you could use to know where you were. He carried the groceries and stuff I had that Mom needed and he got me there safely.

Peter found a way in and arrived about 15 minutes after me with the car. We spent the morning cleaning up their patio and the front and side yards of the apartment building. We piled all the limbs and debris on the boulevard and raked Dad’s yard and swept all the sidewalks. That one little patch of Waterloo Street was rather tidy by the time we left. Peter ventured out to the Tim Horton’s out by Zehrs (one of the few places where you could get prepared food) and bought sandwiches for us for lunch. Alex found his way to Mom and Dads and we had a visit. After lunch Mom and I went for a walk. All the pictures I have attached were taken within one and a half blocks of Mom and Dad’s apartment. (the two pictures in the post below this one are Anne's.)

I took them a radio with fresh batteries so they can listen to the news and will deliver more water and candles tomorrow. They have tentatively agreed to leave their apartment and come here tomorrow if the hydro will not be on by tomorrow night. We will see if they will follow through on that. At the very least I need to get their freezer emptied tomorrow. Zehrs has brought in a reefer and will store anyone’s frozen stuff as long as it arrives in a box with your name on it. I can’t think of anything else I can say. Everyone is helping each other. The sight of it all made me weep. It is had to imagine how long it will take to clean it all up and fix it. No matter what happens the town will never look the same again. Many of the heritage buildings that gave it that special look will need to be torn down and there will be wide open spaces where there once were majestic maples, oak and chestnut trees.


Here is a little story today from my mother: While my parents were sitting on their patio having a cup of barbecue coffee, a young man and his dog passed on the street pulling a wagon. He held up a thermos and asked if they wanted a hot refill and they gratefully accepted. He then brought out a container of wonderful brownies and sat with them and chatted while they ate and had coffee. Turns out he lives around the corner and he has a generator so is reasonably well off right now, so he makes coffee and treats and heads out with his wagon and his dog and walks the streets offering his goodies to those who might need them. He also gave them his address and said if they needed anything to stop by and he would do what he could.

Makes a distant daughter's heart happy to know good people are helping her parents and others.

Jack Layton and the Goderich tornado

My elderly parents live in Goderich, Ontario, where much of the city was devastated by a tornado yesterday. My parents are fine, their apartment building narrowly missed by the tornado. They are cooking meals on their barbecue, making due without services as are so many in Goderich today. A big thanks to those who have called or stopped by to make sure they are OK, especially to Stewart, a new young friend of my dad's, who stopped by with his mother this morning, and to Pete and Lou who do a daily check-in. A heartfelt "so very sorry" to those who have lost homes and businesses, and to those injured and most especially to the family of the worker who died.

While checking online pictures, videos and news stories about Goderich early this morning, the death of Jack Layton appeared in the breaking news sections of papers. Though I can't say I was entirely surprised, I had hoped Jack would be in Parliament in September, there in opposition with his passion and commitment and optimism. Jack Layton was a class act to the very end. I will miss his personal and political energy and his deep love for Canada, and Canada will miss him. Jack's openness and ease made politics seem like a wonderful, worthy profession, a calling actually, one good for his soul, for his party and for the people he served, qualities not often noted in politics or politicians much these days, though I know there are many, many dedicated people working for their constituents. I hope Jack's joy and dedication has made some fine young people think not just I could do that, but I'd love to do that. And perhaps made some jaded, old pols renew their vows.

My condolences to his family, and to his colleagues.

The Globe had a PDF copy of Jack's letter to Canadians and I'm providing a link here:

http://beta.images.theglobeandmail.com/archive/01310/Jack_Layton_s_lett_1310744a.pdf

Garlic and golf

The summer has been pretty grim, cold, not much sun, too much drizzle and fog, but the last few days have been glorious. The good weather didn't come soon enough for my garlic, which decided to stop growing last week and this week lay down for good, so I took advantage of the sun to harvest the whole patch, then yesterday took advantage of a pre-golf tournament weekend rest day for Andy to coerce him into helping me clean up the bulbs and set them out to dry (actually, I only asked for help when the black flies came on in force around 4 PM and started driving me crazy).

Today is Andy's first of two days golfing in the Highland Links club tournament in Ingonish, the scent of garlic lingering on his hands perhaps helping to ward off the evil of the hook, the draw, the fat shot, the slice.

The pictures: our garlic set out to dry after harvesting and before cleaning

Yukon Gold potatoes, Susanna Moodie style

The land around our house is gravel mixed with clay and rocks, so to garden I have had to build upwards because digging down is not only torture, but fruitless (literally). My planting soil, starting with raised beds, is a mix of forest debris, household compost, garden waste, eel grass, seaweed, various scrounged manures and some soil dug from slightly more fertile areas and wheel-barrowed to my garden patches. That means I'm always looking for new ways to easily plant vegetables with less work and time spent on making a new bed. Last year we had spruce trees harvested from our land, most of them from a re-planted plantation that was overgrown and beginning to die (my glorious fairy forest). We also had several dying mature spruce removed from behind out house. The branches and needles lay on the ground through winter and this spring Andy burned various piles, and what he couldn't burn before spring burning season was over, he cleaned up into lovely piles. This May, when making a new potato bed -- I dug this one on a slope in the cut area behind the house -- I realized that there were nicely composting piles of small branches and spruce needles and I decided to experiment with a potato bed I call my "Susanna Moodie bed", for her book, Roughing It In the Bush.

I scraped the needles away from the earth and roughed it up a bit before laying Yukon Gold seed potato along the drill. I pulled a good layer of composting needles and woody branches over the potatoes and waited. Sprouts eventually came through the mulch and I treated the beds as I would a regular potato drill and hoed needle and wood mulch up around the plants. Yesterday we had friends in to supper and I pulled my first carrots, made a salad from our lettuce, tender kale, baby zucchini and onions, basil and dill and I dug some potatoes from my regular bed, lovely clean good-sized red potatoes. I decided to see if anything was growing in the spruce needle mulch and yes, dear reader, there were a plethora of wee yellow potatoes that, once cooked, were delicious!

Experiment successful, and I will plant potatoes in spruce needle mulch again next year. I do wonder though if the success was partly due to the amount of cool, damp weather we've had this summer, perhaps the only good thing to come of it because we North Shorers are pretty tired of the bad weather. A hot dry summer might not have been so kind to potatoes. But I'll let you know next year when I do hope we have a wonderful summer, warm and sunny beach and growing days with the exact right amount of rain falling only only after midnight and ending at 5 AM. Now is that unreasonable expect?

You can click on the photo to enlarge it.

Fate of a lobster: THIS FISH

On Saturday, at the lobster supper for the Lieutenant Governor's Community Spirit Awards presentation, lobster with tags saying, "THIS FISH" were cooked and consumed. A friend brought home one of the tags from his lobster and by entering the tag code -- L278973 -- he was able to get some wonderful information about the lobster he had just eaten, and about the fishers who caught the lobster, and even better (or more -- sorry Merrill), a little information about the boat used and the area fished.

Here is a bit of information about the THIS FISH campaign and how you can use the site to find out exactly where your seafood comes from. I've taken this excerpt directly from the This Fish web site.

"Learn all about the seafood you eat, and connect to the fisherman who caught it, by tracing its journey from the ocean to your plate.

Fishing is an ancient pursuit, steeped in legend and lore the world over. Yet nowadays most of us are disconnected from our seafood. Thisfish, however, brings you closer to your seafood by tracing its journey back to its origins: who caught it, when, where and how.

Thisfish is committed to helping you make more informed choices about the authenticity, quality and sustainability of the seafood you eat, while promoting the folks who proudly stand behind their catch. We want to make the seafood business more transparent and reward those who responsibly harvest and handle your catch. We believe there shouldn’t be anything fishy about eating seafood."

So now to have some fun and see how it works start to finish, click on the web page below and enter the tag number I've given you.

http://thisfish.info/ L278973

And if you're feeling a bit lazy today, you can go directly to the information about lobster L278973 by clicking on the site below and visit with some of our friends -- Merrill, Amy, Donnie and other crew and helpers aboard the Briton Cove Bounty out of Little River Harbour. Be sure to click on the plus ( + ) signs beside the headings for extra information and pictures. And you can get even more information if you also click on "more". It's worth it, I promise.

http://thisfish.info/catch/?code=L278973&x=15&y=14