An iconic Newfoundland and Labrador folk song will be inducted into the Canadian Songwriters Hall of Fame during the ECMA’s in May.

Let Me Fish off Cape St. Mary’s was written in 1947 by songwriter, author, and police officer Otto Kelland.

Kelland wrote the song after meeting a “desperately homesick” fisherman , who relayed that he had been fishing off the coast of Boston but would rather be fishing in his own dory off Cape St. Mary’s.

Kelland was a member of the Order of Newfoundland, and the Order of Canada. He passed away in 2004.

The song will be inducted into the hall of fame at the 37th East Coast Music Awards gala on May 8th at Mary Brown’s Centre.

The Irish Descendants, who recorded their own version of the song on their album Gypsies and Lovers, will perform it as part of the induction ceremony.

Jocelyn Kelland, Otto’s daughter, will be present for the ceremony. She says it is “heartwarming that this song and his works still mean something to people today.”