Newfoundland fisheries

“ The fisheries have always been a leading subject in the government policy of seaboard nations. They are a prime source of revenue, and have been the cause of numerous wars. The serious controversy between the United States and Great Britain concerning the Newfoundland fisheries, is still fresh in the memory of our readers. ”

“ The fisheries of Canada are the most important in the world. True as this statement is, it needs some explanation. In the first place, Newfoundland is included, in accordance with its inclusion under all other headings in this book. Then, all the wholly or partly unexploited waters are taken into consideration, including Hudson Bay and the Arctic ocean. And, thirdly, the catch made by foreigners in all waters neighbouring the Canadian coasts is not left out. Thus the Canadian fisheries are held to mean all the fisheries, fresh and salt, in or nearest to the whole of British North America. ”

“ Our fishermen from Boston, Salem, Newbury, Marblehead, Cape Ann, Cape Cod, and Nantucket, have frequently gone out on the fisheries to the Straits of Belleisle, north part of Newfoundland, and the banks adjacent 487 thereto, there to continue the whole season, and have made use of the north part of Newfoundland, the Labrador coast, in the Straits of Belleisle, to cure their fish, which they have taken in and about those coasts. I have known several instances of vessels going there to load in the fall of the year, with the fish taken and cured at these places, for Spain, Portugal, &c. ”

“ Nova Scotia is second only to Newfoundland in her exports of dried cod, and all her fisheries combined earn more than twelve million dollars a year. They include cod, haddock, mackerel, herring, halibut, pollock, and salmon. Lunenburg, down the coast toward Boston, is one of the centres of the deep-sea fishing industry, and its schooners compete on the Grand Banks with those from Newfoundland, Gloucester, and Portugal.
I talked in Halifax with the manager of a million-dollar corporation that deals in fresh fish. ”

“ Although in recent years Canada has given an increasing amount of state support to the investigation, control and assistance of her fisheries, an amount actually and relatively far exceeding that given in Great Britain, the fishing industry of the United States still far exceeds that of Canada. A considerable bulk of fish, taken by American ships from the Newfoundland coasts and from those of other British provinces, is landed at American ports, but as the following recent table shows, it is much less than that taken from American waters. ”

“ The herring, salmon, and lobster fisheries are all of more or less importance, and the perils attending the prosecution of the former are many. The herring-fishing industry is subject to fluctuations every season. At one time there was a great trade in the famous Labrador herrings, but this has practically dwindled to nothing. This disappearance of large and well-known schools of herring from the Labrador coast has called forth many explanatory theories. ”

“ Another source of international complication arose out of the Atlantic fisheries off Newfoundland, which is not part of Canada. It is off these shores that the most important deep-sea fishing takes place. This fishery was one of the earliest American sources of wealth, and for nearly two centuries formed a sort of keystone of the whole commercial life of the United States. When in 1783 Great Britain recognized American independence, she recognized also that American fishermen had certain rights off these coasts. ”

“ The right to make regulations as to the exercise of the liberty to take fish, under the Treaty of 1818, is inherent to the sovereignty of Great Britain; (2) The United States has the right to employ non-Americans in the fisheries, but they are not entitled to benefit or immunity from the said Treaty; (3) While American fishing vessels may be required to report at colonial ports when convenient, such vessels should not be subject to the purely commercial formalities of report, entry, and clearance at a Custom House, nor to light, harbour, or other dues not imposed upon Newfoundland fishermen ”

“ Only one sixth of Newfoundland is fit for agriculture. One half of .t is rough and broken. One third is covered with lakes. The value of the fisheries in 1909-10 was over $9,000,000. About $300,000 worth of lumber is exported yearly. There is an enormous quantity of small spruce and fir near the lakes and rivers. Its total exports exceed its imports in value. A large part of its food and manufactured goods it uses are bought abroad. Its export of copper and iron ore in 1909-10 amounted to $1,368,367. Exploits River (the chief center of the salmon-fishing) is the largest in Newfoundland. ”

“ England would not recognize the island as a colony, but persisted in regarding it as a mere fishery. The substitute for government was probably the rudest device which has ever been adopted by any civilized country. 1690 A.D. The master of the fishing-vessel which arrived first on the coast was the “Admiral” for the season, charged with the duty of maintaining order among the crews of the other ships, governing the island from the deck of his vessel. The great industry of Newfoundland—her fisheries—was always prosperous, and yielded large gains to the mother-country. ”

“ Its spring is late, its summer short, but the frost of winter is less severe than in many parts of our own Northern States and Territories. It is only 1665 miles distant from Ireland. It possesses a large trade with various countries, including Spain, Portugal, Italy, the West Indies, and the Brazils.
“The chief wealth of Newfoundland and of the Labrador coast is to be found in their extensive and inexhaustible fisheries, in which the other Provinces also partake. The future products of these, when properly developed by human ingenuity and industry, defy human calculation. ”

“ In Rorqual fishing, off Newfoundland, the harpoon is tipped with a bomb and time fuse. This explosive harpoon is discharged into the whale from the deck of the whaler—a fast steamer—and explodes with fatal effect.
The chief whale fisheries are carried on off Greenland for the Greenland whale, off the coast of Newfoundland for Rorquals. There is the Norwegian bottlenosed-whale fishery around Iceland, and the American Bowhead-whale fishery in the Behring Sea. In Southern Seas the Humpback, Fin whale, and Blue whale (Sibbald’s Rorqual) constitute an overwhelming majority of the whales captured. ”

“ Placentia Bav on the south is noted for its
valuable fisheries of cod, salmon and herring. St. Pierre and Miquelon Islands on the south belong to France, and trade heavily with Newfoundland and Canada. They are valuable as fishing-stations for French fishermen on the Banks. The fogs on the eastern coast are caused by the cold waters of the Arctic current meeting the warm waters of the Gulf Stream, The Banks of Newfoundland (elevations of the ocean-bed, 600 miles long and 200 broad) are about 100 miles from the shore. ”

“ The more important species are the common cod, haddock, pollack, and hake. The countries principally engaged in the cod fisheries are Newfoundland, Canada, the United States, France, Great Britain, and Norway and Sweden, with a total annual product worth about $20,000,000. In the United States the number of vessels of not less than five tons burden which are engaged either wholly or largely in cod fisheries is not less than 600, with a total tonnage of 25,000 tons, representing a capital of over $3,000,000. Besides these there are many smaller vessels. The number of men engaged is over 7000. ”

“ The fisheries.—The importance of the fisheries increased greatly after the War of the Spanish Succession. From the Newfoundland banks were derived the chief products for foreign trade. Almost every coast town had its fishing fleet, Gloucester alone boasting nearly a hundred vessels. The cod was the most important catch, but as the century progressed whaling became a more and more important industry.
Commerce.—With the West Indies the New Englanders carried on an extensive trade, lumber, fish, and rum being exchanged for sugar, molasses, and other tropical products. ”

“ There were, and still are, swarms of small craft in Canada and Newfoundland which belong mostly or entirely to the fisheries, and which, therefore, will be noticed in another {101} chapter. The schooners along the different coasts, up the lower St Lawrence, and round the Lakes; the modern French-Canadian sailing bateaux; the transatlantic English brigs that still come out to Labrador; the many Britishers and Yankees that used to come to Bluenose harbours and to Quebec; the foreigners that come there still ”

“ Malo, and who have in the Gulf of Newfoundland two small islands, which they use for fish-curing. You get an idea of the extent of these fisheries, when I tell you that the total p. 31value of them amounts to three millions a year, and that the supply seems inexhaustible. Romanists and High Churchmen who indulge in salt cod in Lent have little cause to fear that that aid to true religion will cease—at any rate, in our time. The fishing season lasts until November, when the shoals pass on to their winter quarters in deeper waters. ”

“ But even more astonishing is the statistical fact that the fishermen of all nations in Newfoundland waters catch each year nearly 1000 cod-fish for every single individual person there is in the whole population of the island. After this, numbers seem rather to weaken than strengthen the argument. But it is worth mentioning that there are nearly 80,000 local fishing boats of all sorts actually counted by the governments of Canada and Newfoundland, from little rowboats up to full-powered steamers of considerable tonnage ”

“ Newfoundland is the most dangerous fishing ground, as the men have so much to contend with—the passing of transatlantic liners and the cold, thick fogs which come up off the banks—all of them prefer the Iceland fishing. The cold is greater, but there is much less fog and very few big boats to be met en route. Few of the Boulogne boats go to Newfoundland. It is generally the boats from Fécamp and some of the Breton ports that monopolize the fishing off the Banks. It seems that men often die from the cold and exposure in these waters. ”

“ For many years we must be content with the knowledge that the fishing resources of Newfoundland were growing in reputation and popularity. Now and then the curtain is lifted, and we catch a glimpse of life on the island. ”

“ They are not sought assiduously by sportsmen, but they supply the woodmen, farmers, and fishermen with a very acceptable dish.
More than one-quarter of Newfoundland is covered by water, and all the lakes and fiords are stocked with fish, thus making them an angler’s paradise. Some anglers prefer travelling from 50 to 200 miles from St. John’s in order to whip the rivers and streams that are known to yield excellent salmon. Nevertheless, good salmon-fishing can be procured within a few hours from the capital. ”

“ The Newfoundland Government prides itself on all the rivers being open to every one. For the first time, in 1910, a fishing licence of $10 was imposed on the visitor, and this gave him the right to fish any river in the island. ”

“ Indeed, I am prepared to believe, after what I have seen, that the Newfoundland fisherman is the world’s greatest “handy man.” He builds not only his house, but also his boats, landing stages, and fish-drying platforms; he makes his own nets, raises his own vegetables, and often has a sheep or two to furnish wool, which his wife will spin and weave into a suit of clothes or a jersey. ”

“ There by agreement he was discharged from the ship and entered himself for eighteen pounds per annum into the service of a planter in that country in order to serve him in fishing and furring, the chief trade of that place; for Newfoundland abounding with excellent harbours, there is no country in the world which affords so large and so plentiful a fishery as this does. ”

“ Long ago, before the days of the factories, many ships sailed away from New England ports after whales in the Arctic waters. Now-a-days whale-bone is still valuable, but the oil is not needed so much as in the old times before gas and electricity came into use, so that whaling is not so common. But many men are still busy fishing for herring, halibut and cod, which are plentiful in the waters along the northeast coast and off the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. ”

“ Conversely, land words have sea meanings, and a 'planter,' which meant in the eighteenth century a fishing settler as opposed to a fishing visitor, meant in the nineteenth century—when fishing visitors ceased to come from England—a shipowner or skipper. The very animals catch the infection, and dogs, cows, and bears eat fish. Fish manures the fields. Fish, too, is the main-spring of the history of Newfoundland, and split and dried fish, or what was called in the fifteenth century stock-fish, has always been its staple, and in Newfoundland fish means cod. ”

“ A cold polar current brings yearly quantities of seal, cod, salmon, herring, and lobster down to the banks of Newfoundland, where more than fifty thousand fishermen are engaged in catching them. As the fish brings in yearly a revenue of several millions, this easternmost island of North America may well be called a gold mine too. ”

“ Pierre's wealth had been drawn from finny depths, so it dwindled, not through lack of cod, but through want of small fish to bait them. For without herring upon the hook, what avail the hordes that swim the shallows of the Banks? Newfoundland was the traditional source of dependable bait supply, and Newfoundland, long resentful at having to compete in open market with French codders who benefited by a Government bonus, took her revenge. A law was enacted making it illegal for her fishermen to sell bait to any vessel of a foreign nation. ”