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Orleans fisherman, Kurt Martin, owns and operates one of the last weirtrap fishing outfits left on Cape Cod. Weirs are an ancient form of trapping fish. They were used by Native Americans hundreds of years ago and have changed little since. They're an environmentally friendly form of fishing as, unlike in other forms of commercial fishing, undersized fish are not caught alongside adult fish.
European Americans adopted weir fishing when they saw how effectively the native Americans used it and during the eighteenth century, hundreds of weir fishermen set up their traps in Cape Cod Bay. Weir fishing became less popular as fishing technology advanced and off-shore fleets increased in number. Today there are only three weirfishing outfits left who set up their traps off the shores of Cape Cod. This spring, I followed Kurt Martin and his crew as they set up their weirtraps and fished using this ancient, labor intensive and fascinating fishing technique.
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