“Since 1497, when John Cabot claimed one could walk across the backs of cod in the Grand Banks, Canada’s Atlantic coast has been known for its fisheries. While the passage of time in Roberts’ sonnet inches the reader towards the death of nature’s bounty at the hands of one fisherman, the passage of time in Canada’s weir fishing industry has led to the destruction of a Canadian livelihood that has fed countless generations. According to the CBC article “Weir Fishermen Struggling to Catch Herring in the Bay of Fundy” (2015), last year, weir fishermen caught one quarter of the fish that were caught in 2013.”

““The Herring Weir” describes the struggles and pain of the sea, as it “forsakes” its bounty to the hungry humans who fill their “gaping tubs,” an ominous image reminiscent of gaping maws.”

““The Herring Weir” is a poem about man’s abuse of nature’s rhythms. There is a sense of loss in the poem, as the picturesque scene is disrupted by the removal of herring from the sea for human consumption. The herring are not pictured in Roberts’ poem, and neither are they pictured in Leblanc’s painting. Both their presence and depletion are understood by the scene around them.”

“I was deliberate in my choice of technique and point-of-view. I used a painter’s knife to create the scene, which lent it an impressionist-feel, with a hazy, almost dream-like image. This technique aided me in portraying Roberts’ feelings of uncertainty regarding humanity’s place in the world. The distanced, neutral point-of-view allowed the reader to associate with Roberts’ mindset, and allowed a much clearer dichotomy between the human and nature.”