I started fishing, I think, in '22. I fished all my life. Lobsters... I loved it. I miss it a fright. Getting up and going out in the boat. Expecting to get a fortune. Every day I was looking for a fortune. Never made it.

n some ways the fishery has come full circle in the past century. In the early 1900s, about $100 invested in a shoreboat, rope, traps and a few other bits of gear could get you started fishing lobster. By 1980 the basic investment had risen to $30,000 - although this much again might be spent on getting a license. The upward trend continues. Today, the few licenses that become available every year can cost over $100,000. Boats and gear have become very expensive - a new, well-equipped boat with all of the latest electronics can cost over $300,000.

Despite - or maybe because of - its early brush with disaster, lobster remains the backbone of the Prince Edward Island fishery. Today there are new challenges to meet. The collapse or decline of other marine harvests creates new balances in a fragile ecology. Native treaty rights to the fishery, recently upheld in the Supreme Court, must be accommodated without placing undue stress on the stocks. The history of the lobster fishery warns that collapse is a constant danger. But it should also encourage. If respected and protected, the fishery can prosper for many more generations.

Here ends the tale.