21. Pierre (Pete) Arsenault

Pete, the youngest of the family, was born on 4 March 1927. At his birth, his parents were 46 years old and his eldest sister, Léna, was 26 years old, married and mother of five children.

In 1941, when he was 14 years old, Pete quit school to fish with his father. He was assigned to the engine which he had to shut off every time he needed to stop the boat so that his father could haul in a line of lobster traps. When he was 20 years old, Pete fished one of the two fishing gears that his father owned and finally bought the gear and the boat from his father in 1950. After having fished lobster, herring, and mackerel for a good number of years, he turned to dragging scallops in 1966. This fishery brought him to Miminegash, Wood Islands, Georgetown, Souris and Caribou, in Nova Scotia. In 1969, with fisherman Joseph Caissie, he was contracted by the Federal Department of Fisheries to experiment pair seining for cod and sole. During two consecutive winters in the early 1970s, he was an instructor for a course called "Net and Gear" offered by the P.E.I. Fisheries and Marine School of Summerside.

Pete and Catherine's Family in 1985. Standing: Michel, Raymond, Richard, Pete, Peter, Dennis, Elmer. Sitting: Carol, Norma, Catherine, Yvette, Stella.

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