Tita Bruce fishing in man’s domain

Although fishing is dominated by males Tita Bruce grew up in the fishing village of Clare Valley, where her great-grandmother, grandmother, and mother all caught from the bountiful sea. Now in her early 30s, the mother of five has been fishing since she was 15 years old and says she has no regrets.

With elation she stated, “Fishing is nice, because that help me to support my whole family for school and other activities where we want to go out. If fish and the fishing industry go down, I feel I go down with it too. {{more}}

Because I believe in the fish and I staying right here and I ain’t moving!”

Tita fishes from 6 a.m. and gets back to shore around 9-10 a.m. to sell in the market from Monday to Saturday each week. On good days she and her crew can catch up to 3-4 boats of fish and that makes her smile, but everything is not smooth sailing and this expert knows the signs of danger.

Tita admitted that fishing could be tiresome when the water becomes rough, and the tide so strong that she struggles with the seine. She said the most dangerous time at sea is when it looks calm but the tides would suddenly change and large swells threaten to capsize the vessel.

Despite these life and death challenges, this fisherwoman knows the value of staying calm under pressure and moving swiftly to bail out water from the boat so that she can make a living from the deep blue sea.