Mermaids, Fishing and Witchmarks

Wednesday 20 December 2017
Waxing Crescent
So..I have a lot of hobbies and passions. Some of them are more mainstream than others...some not so much.

I do barebow recurve archery (and sometimes longbow), mermaiding, creative writing, witchcraft, fishing, gardening and cooking.

I also draw and occasionally sew.  Come winter I am planning on learning how to spin.  I also have a ukulele that I pretend to learn. I work full time but my kids are, mostly, off my hands. Every two weeks, The Duke arrives.  This is both most excellent and an unholy distraction (mostly the former).

Yesterday I had virtuous intentions of doing some preparation paperwork for our impending battle on Friday...

But the day was fine and the sea was calling......

Mermaiding is something I have discovered only recently.  I am trying to complete my PhD - (The Anatomy of Mermaids: a creative exploration of post-structuralist theories of desire as absence through the metaphor of the siren).

Earlier this year I was googling (ahem - its research!) images of mermaids and I came across a photograph of a woman in a fabric mermaid tail, in what was clearly a suburban backyard pool.

Now I've seen professional mermaids from almost every decade, but what was different about this image, is that the woman was clearly not a professional and, while her tail was lovely, it was obviously not silicone or neoprene.  At that moment I realised,  Shit!  This is a thing!

From the moment I first tried on a tail I have been smitten.

Growing up in Western Australia, we spent every school holiday at the beach.  For nearly 4 years, from when I was 11 to 14, we lived only two blocks from the most amazing reef and I swam every single day.

Sometimes I feel like I have saltwater in my veins. My memories are awash with it.


Needless to say, when the siren song of the sea begins, she is difficult to resist.

So after a fabulous time mermaiding at Port Coogee, I had a shower and then needed a Nanna nap.  Woke up with my hair totally on point! (which doesn't happen very often) so it was clearly time to go fishing!

In Western Australia we have a heavily regulated fishing environment.  This is actually a good thing, as it means we have some hope of keeping our future fishing stocks sustainable. It also means, however, that netting is only allowed in certain areas on a Wednesday afternoon between 4.30pm and 11.00pm (closed for three months for the Cobbler breeding season).

Netting, for those who don't know, consists of running a net out with weights and floats attached.  The net must be monitored at all times and checked at regulated intervals.  Legally sized fish may be taken out of it (depending on bag limits for each species) but crabs must be carefully removed and released, even if they are legal size.  One also has to battle stingrays, pelicans and blowies for your catch.

On the inlet you can see seagulls, osprey, dolphins, shags (cormorants) sand pipers, spoonbills and black swans.  The bush is full of kangaroos, foxes, snakes and lizards.

 In winter, after dark, the water is alive with sea lice, baby garfish and prawns and, if you shine your torch into the grasses after dark,  the night is bright with the blue of tiny spider eyes.

At this time of year the shoreline is green with Samphire and the paperbarks and rushes are laced with the weedy detritus of receding tides.

We caught eight deep sea mullet before the net was even fully run out.  Then everything went quiet.  For another two hours.

Towards sunset, the net began filling up with crabs, getting themselves all tangled and caught in the nylon loops and, after pulling about ten out, we decided to call it a night.

After the net was pulled in, I took the scoop net out and caught twenty crabs, seven of which were legal size.

I have a birth mark under my right shoulder blade - it looks like a leopard seal.... I suspect in different times it would have been enough to condemn me as a witch.

Sadly, it hasn't given me a selkie skin or gills.