"Sculling the dory"

This framed print is a reproduction of a painting I just completed, "Sculling the Dory", an art not as common now, with outboard motors being used to propel a dory

This painting depicts a dory being used by weir fishermen to tend a Grand Manan herring weir. 

The two men in the dory are going into a herring weir, to make sure the fish are still inside and see how many are there.

Here, the dory is being manoeuvred into the weir between nets hung on the weir poles and the “drop”, a net across the mouth of the weir to hold the fish inside the weir.  

The fisherman with the oar is “sculling” the dory, working the oar back and forth, twisting it each way so that it cuts through the water like a propeller blade and pushes the dory forward.  The stern of the dory has a notch in it that acts as an oarlock for sculling.  "Sculling" allows a dory to be propelled in tight quarters where there is not room enough to spread oars to row.