Crabbing weather: Living through a tough fishery that kills

摘要

Isit in the morning gloom, with a hot cup of coffee and a woodstove's slow burn. Rain thumps against the south wall of the house. The hawthorn tree twists with each gust, explaining the spiral pattern on its trunk. The sky is a translucent gray bowl of undifferentiated clouds. A walk to the Cape D lighthouse would be a damp, blustery one, a fight to push the wind before me like a boat moving through waves. Crab season will open soon, and as happens so often, crab fishermen are welcomed by some of theyear's most demanding weather. November may not be the year's coldest month, but it is typically the wettest, followed by December, which is almost as bad. That rainfall comes on the skirts of gales, which produce giant swells that can break without warning.