{"id":232,"date":"2008-06-21T15:53:44","date_gmt":"2008-06-21T19:53:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hub-dev.bates.edu\/magazine\/?page_id=232"},"modified":"2017-09-06T11:38:38","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T15:38:38","slug":"a-hard-days-night","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.bates.edu\/magazine\/back-issues\/y2008\/summer08\/features\/a-hard-days-night\/","title":{"rendered":"A Hard Day’s Night"},"content":{"rendered":"

A commercial fishing trip with Eric Hesse ’86 and the Tenacious<\/strong><\/p>\n

Photographs by H. Lincoln Benedict ’09<\/p>\n

Miles off Cape Cod aboard the Tenacious, <\/em>commercial fisherman Eric Hesse \u201986 takes a minute to e-mail his wife, Lee Ann Swan Hesse \u201986.<\/p>\n

“4000# ETA6,” he writes. Translation: 4,000 pounds of fish caught, home by 6 for dinner with Lee Ann and their two young boys. “GR8!” replies Lee Ann, keeping the exchange brief due to the pay-per-character satellite service aboard the Tenacious<\/em>.<\/p>\n

On this fishing trip last Nov. 8\u20139, Hesse leaves his West Barnstable, Mass., home around 9:30 p.m. and is under way from Harwichport about an hour later. The Tenacious<\/em> heads 50 miles offshore to fish the 4 a.m. “slack” tide \u2014 when the current slackens near high or low tide, in this case the latter.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

A fish-eye lens \u2014 no pun intended \u2014 captures the action aboard the Tenacious <\/em>as Eric Hesse ’86 (left) gaffs\u00a0the fish coming through the de-hooker, then\u00a0tosses\u00a0them to\u00a0crewmember Jeff Sampson (right) for processing. Meanwhile, a variety of sea birds, mostly shearwaters,\u00a0catch a meal.<\/strong><\/p>\n

A longline fisherman, Hesse puts out mile-long demersal (sinking) strings with thousands of hooks baited with mackerel or herring. Before a hint of daylight, he and crew member Jeff Sampson have already put out and hauled back two strings. “It seems like it\u2019s always dark in November,” says Hesse.<\/p>\n

By 2 p.m., the Tenacious <\/em>is back at Harwichport to offload the catch \u2014 mostly haddock, plus some cod and other species \u2014 which is trucked to auction. Some is purchased directly by a local upscale restaurant.<\/p>\n

Says Eric with a laugh, “People tell me, \u2018If you love what you do, you\u2019ll never work a day in your life.\u2019 Well, I\u2019ve worked plenty of hard days. And I still love what I do.” (See PreAmble\u00a0for more about what Hesse does.)<\/p>\n

Fishing long, odd hours creates an unusual family routine, but it\u2019s part of what brought him and Lee Ann together. “It\u2019s what I first loved about Eric \u2014 the passion he has for it,” she says.<\/p>\n

\u2014 H. Jay Burns<\/em><\/p>\n\n\t\t