The Trout River Blue Whale

In May 2014, two blue whale carcasses washed up on the beaches of Trout River and Rocky Harbour. They were incredibly big, indescribably smelly, and unbelievably rare. These two, in fact, were part of nine that had died in the ice that spring, a real tragedy which made global headlines. There are only 250 estimated in the North Atlantic, perhaps 20,000 worldwide.

For the full article and more photos, pick up The Newfoundland Quarterly’s Summer print edition. On sale in Broken Books, Johnny Ruth, Chapters, The Travel Bug, Afterwords, and other retailers across the province. Newfoundland Quarterly: Summer 2017, The Trout River Blue Whale.
Photo © Royal Ontario Museum, ROM Exhibition, 2017.

NORTHERN DETACHMENT

BY Clancy Margaret

The wind was still, but the cold was biting all the same. Stepping outside made her sinuses burn and her eyes water. She brushed the snow off the seat of her snowmobile—a mid-nineties Ski-Doo, always giving her trouble. She surveyed the town as she waited for the engine to warm up. It’s squat vinyl sided homes glowed amidst the dim winter daytime. Snowmobile tracks crisscrossed on the road but not a person was in sight. She checked her handheld GPS. The coordinates lined up with somewhere northwest, about a forty-five minute ride under the blanket of dark. There were no stars today. It was always cloudy.

Is a seal a fish?

We’ve often heard that none less than the Pope, or a pope, or the Bishop, or a bishop, decreed that seals were fish – not meat – opening a food…