I have spent a month living with my wife in the small first nations community of Hartley Bay, BC.

It has been an amazing time. I loved the chance to go out on a skiff to go fishing for halibut and salmon and crabs, helping out with baiting hooks, dropping crab traps and hauling in the line. I watched first-hand as the skipper landed a 100+ pound halibut, and held on while the skipper chased down a huge red snapper as it popped up to the surface when it came off the line of a nearby gillnetter.

I had to adjust to the slowed pace, and nt use the computer or watch tv- it was not as hard as i thought it would be. We did end up taking hundreds of photos and a handful of video clips to capture the highlights.

I had to get used to the water, for one thing, and have a healthy respect for the native fishermen who go out to get food for the families. There is so much work involved with tending the lines, mending the nets, setting the hooks, and most of it is done by hand. I learned a bit about how they smoke the salmon and dry out the halibut, and how the live bait is used in the traps. I got plenty dirty, and needed to get used to the slime and blood of the fish. I would get cuts, or plunge hooks into my fingers or hands, or feel the burning from the slipping rope, or the sting of the jellyfish from the line I am pulling, and learned to keep going - doing the fishing with my soft hands (more suited to office work) was tough, though - and the best way to deal with any discomfort was to plunge my hands into the bracing cold salt water.