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Travis Paul
Captain of his own destiny
Life on the water is peaceful. There's the fresh air; the freedom of the open water.
Travis Paul
The entrepreneurial spirit came early to Travis Paul. At 18, Travis took over his father's chimney sweep business in Membertou First Nation, located within Sydney, Nova Scotia. That was more than ten years ago, and since that first venture, Travis hasn't looked back. The 29-year-old Mi'kmaq now owns a skate-sharpening business and a tobacco shop in Membertou. He credits his dad for demonstrating the importance of personal independence and a need to always work towards a better future.
"Growing up, peer pressure was a problem," he says. "I managed to escape that pressure later on in life, but reserve life was tough," he says.
"Segregation made things difficult." The drive to succeed pushed Travis to explore new opportunities. Despite the success he achieved through entrepreneurship, it is his most recent accomplishment of which he is mostproud: returning to school to become a fishing captain for his band's commercial fishery.
Travis had been out on the water before, but starting out in the commercial fishery under new DFO regulations meant starting from scratch. In 2002, he enrolled in NSCC's Deckhand Training program. Upon graduating, he was ready to hit the high seas. Fishing is dangerous, back-breaking work, but that didn't seem to bother Travis.
"Being a deckhand was fun," he laughs. "There was lots of excitement. There were a few close calls but for the most part it was great."
With a few years of deckhand work under his belt, Travis was ready for the next challenge: becoming captain of his own fishing vessel. This past winter, Travis returned to NSCC - this time to obtain his Fishing Master Class Four certification.
Today, Travis is the proud captain and operator of The Crack Corn; a lobster fishing boat owned by Membertou Natural Resources. He can't wait to get back out to the ocean to drop his traps when the lobster season begins on May 15th.
"Life on the water is peaceful. There's the fresh air; the freedom of the open water," he says, "But more importantly, there is the knowing I've done something to secure my future, for me and my three kids."
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