Loss of beloved fisherman still felt two years on
Tyrone Sock often thinks of his father when he looks at his son.
Grief is a strange combination of what has happened and what won’t. Craig (Jumbo) Sock, who died after his fishing vessel went down off the coast of Nova Scotia in 2021, had two grandchildren he’ll never get to see grow up, Tyrone said.
Jumbo’s loss can be felt throughout the entire Elsipogtog First Nation community, where he was a councillor and minor hockey league coach.
“He was loved by everyone he crossed paths with,” said Tyrone, who spent a decade fishing with his father. “He was loved by every teammate, every player, every parent. You know what? Even the opposing teams loved him. That’s how much joy he brought to a room.”
But Tyrone doesn’t just think of what he’s lost when he looks at his son — he thinks of the person he wants to be, how he hopes to be just like his father, and the future he wants for First Nations in Canada.
The rights of Indigenous people is something that’s on his mind after the release of a report from Canada’s transportation agency about the capsizing of the Tyhawk, his father’s snow crab fishing boat.
The Tyhawk capsized off western Cape Breton on April 3, 2021. The snow crab season had opened three weeks earlier than usual, and the five-member crew had to fight rocky waters after the vessel overturned.
Jumbo, who was the captain, was swept away into the waves after fighting to get a crew member to safety.
His body has never been found. The four remaining crew members were rescued by the fishing vessel Northumberland Spray, but one of them, 39-year-old Seth Monahan, later died in the hospital.
The Transportation Safety Board released its report on Wednesday, outlining recommendations to prevent a similar accident from happening in the future. The report says that a deck modification is part of what led the Tyhawk to capsize, and that Transport Canada needs to improve how it assesses vessel stability before boats go out on the water.
The report also says the federal Fisheries Department opened the snow crab season three weeks earlier than usual without thoroughly assessing the safety risks.
Tyrone said he respects the report, but he thinks it focuses on the wrong narrative. He wanted to know more about why the season opened early, despite warnings of frigid temperatures and hazardous conditions from Mi’kmaw fishers.
Featured VideoElsipogtog First Nation lost a leader when Craig (Jumbo) Sock died after his fishing boat Tyhawk capsized on the first day of snow crab season in 2021.
“Our nations knew there was ice on the water,” he said. “If our nations were respected, and approached as equal decision-makers over fisheries, the season would not have opened in such dangerous conditions.”
What people have to understand, Tyrone said, is that snow crab boats are smaller than most fishing boats. The stakes are high not just in terms of safety, but also economics, and the intention behind adding a removable deck to the Tyhawk was to create more room.
Derek Sock, Jumbo’s brother and fellow snow crab fisherman, said that kind of modification calls for disaster, and that after the accident, many fishermen removed similar decks from their boats.
Still, he thinks Transport Canada has dropped the ball on safety by allowing such small boats to go out on the water in the first place. Like Tyrone, though, he respects the report and the work investigators put into it.
“It’s a big industry, and it’s very dangerous,” he said.
At the time of the capsizing, concerns were raised about the early opening of the season. One harbour master, Jody Pratt of the Richibucto port authority, cited the “infinite wisdom” of the Fisheries Department and its efforts to protect North Atlantic whales from getting tangled up in fishing gear.
Derek agreed opening the season early played a significant role in the Tyhawk going down. The coast guard and Department of Fisheries and Oceans weren’t prepared, he said, adding there should have been more help waiting on standby in case things went wrong.
Other changes are happening among fishermen since the accident, Derek said, including getting life insurance and cutting down on alcohol consumption while fishing.
There’s a shrine for Jumbo at the local hockey arena, and since there’s no grave site for him, Derek hopes to someday have a lighthouse down by the water where people can pay their respects.
“Jumbo will continue to live on as a hero,” he said.
Tyrone said the report doesn’t show the heart his father had. He recalled a time when his father’s cousin, also a fisherman, was ill leading up to the season opening, so Jumbo used his own time and resources to help him fish his quota.
“He’s willing to help anyone in any given situation.”
For Tyrone, the report didn’t bring closure, but inspiration. Its release sparked something in him, he said, and although he left fishing behind to go to school — something his father always wanted him to do — he hopes to fight for First Nations rights in the industry.
“If our voices had been heard at that table, two lives would not have been senselessly lost in the early opening of a crab season.”
