Fogo is an Island stuck out in the North Atlantic off the northeast coast of Newfoundland. It has a very rugged coastline, rough seas at times, and numerous shoals that have sunk ships, blocked in with heavy Arctic ice three to four months of the year.
Fogo Island is made up of several communities — Fogo, Joe Batt’s Arm-Barr’d Islands-Shoal Bay, Seldom-Little Seldom, Tilting and the Fogo Island region.
Why would anyone settle there? The simple answer was fish.
I have visited Fogo Island four times before this year, twice sealing and went in there for shelter, and twice for fishery conferences.
This past year, with an invite from Phil Barnes, manager of Fogo Island Co-op, which was celebrating 50 years of operation, I decided to visit again. I knew three of the founding members of the co-op and a few fishermen from days gone by. This time I got a chance to visit most of the communities.
It was like stepping back in time to see all the fishing stages, some probably 80 to 100 years old, jewels for the tourist industry.
Source: The Telegram