Herring Hunt (1953)

Funnily enough I had a kipper for breakfast earlier, so was especially interested in this short feature depicting a day in the life of a small Canadian fishing fleet. With the salmon season now behind them, these hard working men have but a short time to land 40,000 tons of this staple before the catch quota is reached and they have to stop. After a little mishap from an over-enthusiastic rookie, it falls to the captain to use his skill and a their basic sonar to try and pick up a shoal. That can bring in as much as 1000 tons per haul - so a find can involve a fleet of up to half a dozen small boats and some skilful net laying if they are to get paid. Commission only here - no wages! The documentary is presented as if it were an extended news report with little time for embellishments as the single camera captures what they capture. It's worth a watch to see just how much hard work was required here.