Do You Keep Fishing Logs? Hemingway did—some of the best in history

I am quite the Hemingway fan, as much as for the things he enjoyed in life as for his writing, including his love of the sea. So it was with interest that I came across an Associated Press article, dateline Cojimar, Cuba.

It is well-known to Hemingway biographers and aficionados that the writer kept copious notes and logs of many things. (Another reason I feel an affinity to the man.) From 1939 to 1960, Hemingway lived on villa in San Francisco de Paula, southeast of Havana, and he often went fishing out of Cojimar on his boat, the Pilar. (These trips, the boat, and his first mate inspired his The Old Man and the Sea.)

The fishing logs kept by Hemingway during that time survive in the National Cultural Heritage Council of Cuba. Scientists believe that a review of the logs could provide data about deep-sea fish populations in the area, and give them comparative data for research into over-fishing problems. This would aid officials in finding ways to protect and sustain the fishing industry in Cojimar. Scientists, along with two Hemingway grandsons, recently travelled to Cuba in hopes of seeing those logs. The Council refused, but there is hope that Cuban officials will allow access at a later date.

Associated Press article, Cojimar, Cuba.

Today, fishing logs are kept by commercial and private fishing boats to provide just this sort of information. But there are few logs kept from previous decades and centuries. Hemingway’s penchant for logging everything may inadvertently help the fishing industry in the area. I suspect Hemingway would be quite happy about that.

Aboard the Bannockburn, I keep logs of my fishing sites (though I am nowhere near the fisherman that Hemingway was): time of year, latitude and longitude, conditions, and what I caught. I didn’t realize that fisherman of the past did not do so, and only recently have commercial and serious private fishermen done so. I hope the Cuban government allows access.

Here are some of my favorites of Hemingway.

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