Tom Smith is one of many commercial fishermen featured in the documentary “The Hand that Holds the Line.” Photo by Geoff Bassett and Kim Roderiques.
By Doreen Leggett
To create the documentary “The Hand that Holds the Line,” Geoff Bassett and Kim Roderiques spent more than a hundred hours with Cape Cod’s commercial fishermen, capturing life on the water, the impact of difficult weather, long hours, variable markets and onerous regulations. One thing stood out:
“They all have a love for it,” said Bassett. “That’s fantastic to see, the majority of the film is people smiling.”
Bassett said a quote from Captain Tom Smith stuck with him: “It’s my passion, but it is also how I make my living.”
Smith, of Orleans, is one of close to 25 people in the documentary that premiered at the Chatham Orpheum on Oct. 16 and has already sold out three times.
Bassett and Roderiques have made five documentaries together, including “The Way Home” that benefited the Animal Rescue League. Roderiques has lived in Chatham for 48 years, knows fishermen, but there is a lot she doesn’t know and wanted to learn.
“Why do they do what they do? This is the most dangerous profession in the world and they are in my backyard,” she said. “I want to bring people along on this journey of discovery.”
Roderiques approached the Cape Cod Commercial Fishermen’s Alliance about funding the film which captures commercial fishing, shellfishing and aquaculture from Yarmouth to Provincetown
“When Kim and Geoff brought the idea to us, we knew we had to support them,” said John Pappalardo, chief executive officer of Fishermen’s Alliance. “This documentary captures Cape Cod’s commercial fishing industry — a multi-generational way of life that produces food, sustains local jobs, and anchors our blue economy. The documentary celebrates the traditions and culture of our coastal communities while showing why our fishing heritage matters for the future.”
Pappalardo didn’t see the film before it hit the silver screen, but he made a request before filming started.
“There was one condition that we had: It’s not about promoting us. It’s not about our policies. It’s about the community,” Pappalardo said.
As Roderiques and Bassett began she realized there had been films about specific aspects of the fisheries, oyster farming for example, but nothing as broad in scope as “The Hand that Holds the Line.” With editing help from Hunter Bichao and a score by Paul Schuyler, they were busy editing in between full-time jobs and other commitments.
“We could do six of these documentaries with the footage we have,” she said, adding it is tough to do the fishing community justice in an 80- to 90- minute film.
Captain Keith Rose, with his boat the Kimberly Ann, holds a million stories. Over the years a lot of people have gone fishing with him, sometimes just for the summer, and the cabin walls are filled with hundreds of phone numbers.
“Keith’s boat has a lot of personality,” Bassett said. “Fishing with him was a lot of fun. He has a strong community around him.”
Roderiques was touched by her time with three generations of Linnells, John still shellfishing in his mid-80s, Tim of the F/V Perry’s Pride and his three sons, Sam, Caleb and Jonas, who all fish.
“I was in awe of what they had been through as a fishing family, as a fishing community,” Roderiques said.
She said even when they work on different boats there is a Team Linnell attitude.
“The pride they have for each other. They all root for each other,” she said. “To see that camaraderie, the love they have for each other. They worry about each other until they are all on land.”
They are also a family that is fun and quick with one-liners.
“I remember asking Tim Linnell why he had a hammer,” Roderiques said. “‘I am just anesthetizing the fish,’” he replied.
“I didn’t realize these fish could bite, or some had spines that could cut you open,” she said with a laugh.
Roderiques said she saw a similar close connection between Caitlin Townsend and her dad Chris. “The father-daughter bond between them, wow,” she said. “They finished each other’s sentences; they finished each other’s actions on the boat.”
Talking with Caity and her dad, Roderiques got a clearer understanding of the challenges of fishing on the Cape, how sometimes it is difficult to make ends meet and the ongoing effects of gentrification.
“People on the Cape either have two houses or two jobs,” Chris Townsend told her.
“People just have no idea of the intensity of this,” Roderiques said. Changing species, markets, regulations and circumstances mean fishermen may pivot but they keep fishing.
Voices of old timers in the film emphasize that work ethic.
Roderiques said Rob and Mike Stello told her that when they were growing up, weather forecasting wasn’t as advanced. Fishermen never really waited for the “right” conditions. Their father, John, went overboard during one February storm in the 1950s and almost drowned. They were told to prepare their mother for the chance he was lost at sea, but then he walked through the door. He was still blue; first responders had to do a lot to save him.
Roderiques hopes stories stitched together have an overriding message.
“I want (viewers) to have an appreciation for the fish on their table because it came from someone who worked tirelessly, sometimes in the worst possible conditions, to put that fish on your plate,” Roderiques said. “I hope people realize what fishermen take on, how driven they are, all the close calls, the terrible wounds, being stuck at sea, the rogue waves — it still leaves them with (the feeling) of this is what I do, and I would never do anything else.”
Those who see the film will get a close look at lives bound to the ocean, but will miss out on one perk that Bassett enjoyed from generous fishermen:
“One of the great things was I got fresh fish much more,” Bassett said.
Three showings of “The Hand that Holds the Line” have sold out, more showings are planned. Check here for updates.