A Commercial Fisherman's review/expose of
"The Perfect Storm"

He falls short however when he attempts to humanize it using the offshore sword fishing fleet out of Glouscester, Massachusetts. As far as commercial fishing in particular and fishing boats in general he is nothing more than a superficially informed ignorant who brought considerable prejudice and anti-fisherman bias to the book. He did a good job of discussing storm formations and especially the physics of waves. As I wrote my son (an avid every day surfer in San Diego) "........Be well worth your while to read for that alone via your surfing interests........"

He takes innumerable slams at commercial fishing in general, emphasizing only the worst aspects, ignoring (or paying short shares to) the compensating side of it, and slanders particular fishermen (some of whom died in his storm) and their families. Not so much by telling lies, but by emphasizing short ugly episodes (i.e. drinking) in their lives and not bothering to look further, making implied patronizing moral judgements.

Furthermore he describes in brutally clinical detail how drowning occurs and affects the body. Survivor families (whom, I'm sure befriended and trusted him) will find it particularly disturbing. He repaid them poorly. I wonder if he'll share with them any of the 30 pieces of silver he's getting from being on the NYT Best Seller list.

He makes assumptions on how fishermen would react in a given situation that don't ring true to me. I've been in my share of hard weather (certainly nothing like he's describing, but hard enough) and had more than a few close calls. It's a deceptively dangerous business and few are good enough to master it. Those that aren't often have to make excuses for why they don't measure up. Mr. Junger strikes me as one of those.

Commercial fishing strikes me in a lot of ways like professional sports. There's damn few who can make it at the top. Further down the pyramid there's marginal players who only last a year or two, wannabes, weekenders, parttimers, onetimers, sailors, sportfishermen, writers, ..... Most can't admit to themselves they didn't make it because they ain't good/tough/smart/talented enough or just don't have the "Right Stuff", so they make up all kinds of rationalizations..

Yes there can be big money in offshore sword fishing, but he glosses over the "brokers" (trips when expenses aren't met) and ignores completely the probably 4 or 5 boats who tried it and failed for each one that's even marginally successful (damn damn few are "highliners", boats or captains who consistently make decent/big money. He makes it sound like they all are.).

To be fair, that's probably not his fault. Fishermen NEVER talk about brokers, especially to outsiders. It's not in their nature. As for the complete failures, invariably because it looks easy to greenhorns and "investors", they don't like to talk about it either, if he could even find them. If he did find any, they wouldn't have failed because they couldn't measure up in a fiercely competitive tough physical business in an incredibly unforgiving environment. They would have failed because "fishermen are greedy" and "there oughtta be regulations" or ....



As for the "overfishing" aspects of it, I would just like to make two points (though I got plenty more):

1. The average size of landed fish is coming down. Naturally it's coming down, what else would you expect? As big fish get caught, the overall average size of the "herd" has to diminish. If the average size is coming down, that is a good sign (though not for "sportsmen" trophy hunters). It also means there is healthy new recruitment to the stocks. This happens to all biological species. A population with low predation grows until it reaches "maturity" (when only enough are newborn/spawned to replace losses due to aging) and the overall population ages (while growing in average size overall). (Actually it "overgrows" until it reaches the limits of its environment (food, etc) and then stabilizes (or "matures")).

   As a population gets reduced (fishing, other predators, natural causes, ...), recruitment explodes correspondingly (Don't forget, ocean species (especially fish) spawn by the 1'000's or even 1,000,000's per animal though few survive early stages.). More new (younger) fish, average size goes down. It's important to not ignore (unless you have an agenda) that very few 70lb fish will survive to become 700lb fish (even without ANY fishing (sport or commercial). 99 (or even more) will succumb to any number of disasters (sharks, whales, bacterial infections, parasites, starvation, .....) for each one that does. Think about it, is it better to harvest 100 70lb'ers (7,000 lbs) or one 700lb'er to feed the world?

2. Overfishing by greedy commercial fishermen is the only reason for stock reduction. It's my contention (based on a lifetime of experience) that unquestionably the major, by far reason for stock reductions and threatened populations is the absolutely astonishingly Environmental Degradation.

   Mr. Junger, unwittingly most eloquently makes my case for me (and probably wouldn't have had he realized it, given his obvious prejuduce and willful ignorance toward commercial fishing) on page 121 (where he discusses possible reasons for the overall increase in the size of waves in the last few decades) when he mentions "the dramatic decline of plankton in the North Atlantic".

Mr. Junger does a yeoman job of describing Herculean rescue attempts by the Coast Guard and National Guard (the real (and deserved) heroes of his story). The book is worth reading for that alone.

Mr. Junger does a decent job of describing the confluence of weather patterns that make up great storms. The book is worth reading for that alone.

Mr. Junger does a decent job of describing wave generation and their making. The book is worth reading for that alone.

Mr. Junger wrapped the above around a compelling story. The book is worth reading for that alone.

Mr. Junger, as for your commercial fishing depictions, and your characterizations of commercial fishermen, I will say to you, as most any self respecting fisherman would anywhere (if he didn't smack you first), you are an unscrupulous exploitive cad and should be ashamed of yourself, but I know you won't. So I will say to you, as a fisherman would much more succinctly - "FUCK YOU. You ain't worth powder to blow over the rail."

(Note, When I finished the review, I printed a copy and sent it to Mr. Junger. I got an immediate response. It follows.)

1. You no doubt spent a lot of time in Gloucester and with the fishermen there. And I don't doubt that you heard everything you printed. But I'll bet you heard a hellava lot more but you chose to emphasize the ugliness, or portray it as ugly.

   You are a writer and know full well the power of words and how they will be perceived. You chose the low road. I have no doubt the fishermen of Gloucester befriended you. I can even see you bellying up to the bar, buying drinks and being one of the boys. All the time thinking what wonderful rich material this is going to make and how awesome and courageous you are going to appear among your politically correct and eco-nazi crowd. Living among the great unwashed. A fucking Quisling sir, that's what you were.

   Much easier it is to impose draconian regulation and control on a drugged drunken population. "No sense listening to them. You see what they are. Look at what Junger said."

2. You unquestionably parrot fisheries propaganda from government sources (no doubt) clearly designed to further restrict fishing further without even rudimentarily understanding what you are talking about.

   If you were a real man and truly cared about fishermen and the ocean, you would apply whatever talent you may have to investigating the true full causes of stock reduction (start with the astonishing amount of ocean pollution there is every year and how that affects reproduction rates). Investigate the REAL motivations behind stifling fisheries regulation in the US (Import fees going directly into the coffers of NMFS and universities. Fees that probably run higher than the total value of commercial landings in the US every year and rising as your types force landings down).

Judging by the almost hysterical character of your response ("Call the harbor master. Call Ethel Shatford. Call .. Call .. Call ..") I would say I hit a nerve and am not far off the truth. If you are feeling pangs of guilt then I would also say that is to your credit. I had you pegged as just another amoral self serving journalist.

As for any face to face meeting, I'm not hard to find. Just ask around the docks in Point Pleasant Beach and ask for "that Fucking Swede". You'll run across someone who knows me quick enough.

Oh and one other thing. I'm going to send a copy of this Internet page to the Crow's Nest in Gloucester. If they disagree with me, I'll print their response as well.

Kent Leonard kent@world.std.com , 07/22/97, rating=2:
One sided view of the evacuation of the sailboat Satori

I am the son of Ray Leonard, the captain and owner of Satori. The Coast Guard "rescue" of the crew and captain of Satori, as described in part of this book, is based on one crew member's account and doesn't give an accurate impression.

The captain never wanted a rescue attempt. He knew that the small, solid boat could withstand the conditions it was in. The crew, in contrast, were very frightened and apparently issued the mayday call. When the Coast Guard came to the boat they ordered everyone off.

Even after she was abandoned, Satori continued through the storm with no damage, eventually being recovered from a Maryland beach. Another sailboat, the Stafka I, also sailed safely through the same part of the storm.

The author never contacted Ray Leonard, even though he devotes many pages to the "rescue" from Satori.

(Note there was a picture of Ray Leonard aboard the undamaged Satori in the Times article. He didn't look like a coward to me.)

A Full Account of the Satori adventure can be found here. Myself I believe it rather than Junger's account. Damn shame Junger was so lazy reportingly. It could have enhanced his book rather than cheapen it. But that's the point, he was out to sensationalize, not give an accurate portrayal.



A Boston Phoenix interview with Junger. I guess I'm in the minority.

From a surfer - "The entire Columbia University Journal Review review of Junger's crap is at http://cjr.org/html/98-07-08-errors.html. The page addresses "Reporting Standards" (of which Junger appears to have none) and also errors in other reports and publications." Maybe I'm not in the minority after all.



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