On Saturday morning he took Mommy and me
to Fishermen's Hall where it was quite plain to see
that the neighborhood fishers and local bait floats
had been mostly replaced by ten-man steel boats.

Daddy stood at the front without using his notes
and said, “There's a problem with ten-man steel boats.
They catch too many fish and they do it too fast.
The big schools of fish are a thing of the past.
We must catch fewer fish—immediately—
or soon we'll find no fish in the sea.”

The leader of the meeting listened and wrote,
but he was the owner of a ten-man steel boat.
He looked up at Daddy, cracked his knuckles, one, two, three.
I could tell by his face that he did not agree.
“What are you saying, no fish in the sea?
Is that crazy to anyone else, or just me?
My family has fished in the ocean forever.
Why should I stop because we've gotten better?”

Another man stood. “The boss is right.
There are plenty of fish, no end in sight.
For years we've tried finding a better way.
These ten-man steel boats are here to stay.”

Another man stood. “Catching fish is not bad.
Why I think there are even more fish to be had.
With a bigger boat and gigantic net,
we'll catch millions of fish, all we can get.”

“And a new kind of boat,"said the leader of the meeting,
“brings a smile to my face and gets my heart beating.
It drags a strong net along the seafloor.
That's a wonderful way to catch even more.”