Activity One

Introduction: The Contemporary Fishing Industry

These photos were taken on site in Galilee, Rhode Island, a contemporary fishing village in New England. Much of what you see shows that the fishing industry still requires significant individual labor to bring home the catches of the sea. Study each photo carefully.

	A Visit to Galilee, Rhode Island July 2004 photographs by Helen Johnson
Look at each photograph and try to match it with the statements below. (Click on each image for a larger view.)
A	B	C
D	E	F
G	H	I

1. Bags of this mineral are used to preserve the bait for catching the lobsters.
   
   
2. Mending needles are used to repair holes in the fish nets.
   
   
3. Buoys identify where the ends of the lobster pot trawls are located. They have the name of the lobsterman's vessel painted on them.
   
   
4. Salted bait is placed in onion bags to be put into the lobster traps.
   
   
5. This fishing trawler reflects back to a time of "wooden ships and iron men."
   
   
6. New technology such as this conveyor system has replaced the back-breaking work of using a fish pick (seen in the foreground).
   
   
7. Nothing much has changed over time; the tieing and repairing of nets is done painstakingly by hand.
   
   
8. These metal lobster traps have a "double-entry and double-parlor." They now commonly replace the old wooden ones used a generation ago because they last much longer.
   
   
9. Many barrels of salted bait are prepared prior to departing on a three-day trip when lobstermen might haul as many as one thousand lobster traps.
   

Overview  |  Teacher's Guide  |  Activity Two