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January, 1959 PUBLISHED MONTHLY BY THE DEPARTMENT OF FISHERIES OF CANADA CON T EN TS VOL. 11 NO. 7 FEATURES Newfoundland Schooners Made History 3 Vanishing Banking Fleet 6 Work of Fisheries Scientists Lauded 9 CANADIAN FISHERIES NEWS Departmental Officials at 10th Annual Meeting 12 New Recipe Booklets 12 Vessel, Gear Conference 13 Fisheries Coin 13 Murals in Lunenburg Memorial Chamber 13 Federal, Provincial Officials Discuss Inland Fisheries 14 Fishery Figures for November 15 FISHERIES NEWS FROM ABROAD The Mexican Market for Fish 17 Atomic Energy and World Fisheries Development 18 CURRENT READING 19 COVER PHOTOGRAPH: An old picture of Lunenburg harbour, taken when that Nova S c o ti an port was the home of a large schooner fleet sailing to the Grand Banks. See articles starting on pages 3 and 6. The contents of TRADE NEWS have not been copyrighted and may be reprinted although ref ence to the source would be appreciated. For further information regarding TRADE NEWS w to the Director of Information and Educational Service, Department of Fisheries, Ottawa, Can. In the Changing Deepsea Codfishery Newfoundland Schooners Made History By BRUCE WOODLAND ONG BEFORE any serious attempt to establish L permanent settlement in the New World, New- foundland coves and inlets were shore stations for Europe an fishermen, chiefly French and Portu- guese, who fished the Grand Banks. Indeed, it is the claim of some historians that Portuguese fish- ermen discovered and fished the Banks around the year 1450 and established stations in Newfoundland as early as 1493. It is a matter of record that, in the very early 1500's, fairly large fleets of French and Portuguese vessels were actively fishing the Banks adjoining Newfoundland. The French operated out of harbours along the south coast of the Island while the Portu- guese located on the Avalon Peninsula. Both these fleets had ample supplies of salt used in the curing of fish. Consequently they were able to make longer voyages than the English fishermen, whose supplies of salt were limited. The latter group were to de- velop a shore fishery and the well known light salted cure of fish. A typical Newfoundland banking schooner. as in 1775 the British Government offered bounty The French banking fleet, enjoying an eager payments to encourage the expansion of the off- and large home market for its catch, gradually be- shore fishery. The effect of the bounty payments came the dominant fleet on the Banks. In the early was minimized by the activities of New England 17th century, well over 300 vessels sailed each year privateers who were a scourge to fishing fleets on from France for the Newfoundland Banks; the port the Banks during and after the American Revolu- of St. Malo alone had 120 ships there in 1617. tion. The Banks fishery was practically abandoned and some of the larger vessels are said to have In the 1700's, English ships from Newfound- moved to northern ports to engage in the seal fish- land moved to the "offer grounds" in search of cod. ery, which was then assuming some importance in This is said to have resulted mainly from the fail- Newfoundland. ure of the shore fishery. More than 200 ships out- fitted for the Banks and sailed from such ports as Although no statistical record is available Bay Bulls, Cape Broyle, Ferryland, Fermeuse and there was evidently a remarkable upsurge in inter- Trepas sey. est in the Banks in the 1800's. In 1889, Newfound- land boasted a banking fleet of 330 vessels. In the The steady growth of the Banks fishery, which annual report of the Newfoundland Department of permitted year round fishing operations was bound Fisheries, 1894, reference is made to a rapid de- to have an influence upon Newfoundland. Dean H.A. cline in the number of vessels prosecuting the Bank Innis in his book "The Codfishery" (1954) observes, fishery. In that year there were only 58 bankers. "The development of the Bank fishery .... and in- Evidently the Department felt that the American and creasing difficulty with the settlements, particularly Canadian banking fleets were doing much better than in the winter season, made the demand for an im- their own and this concern was reflected in a rather provement of Government machinery inevitable". unusual report which pointed out that Newfoundland It was in 1729 that Captain Henry Osborne was ap- "bankers" had dwindled in number "due to the fail- pointed the first Governor of Newfoundland. ure of making (the Banks fishery) a paying busi- ness". The report went on to list the numerous The Newfoundland Bank fishery appears to opinions of owners and ex-owners on the one hand have declined somewhat during the late 18th century, and those of the skippers and crews on the other. -3- Some rather interesting reasons were given by both it had only 10 bankers. These were subsequently sides. The ship owners suggested that the food bill equipped for the Labrador fishery and other opera- of the Newfoundland B anke r s was too high; that tions so that by 1903 Catalina had no bankers what- "Frenchmen spoiled the Banks by fishing up so soever. much periwinkles", and that the system of paying wages was wrong; at St. John's, men were paid so Grand Bank on the Burin Peninsula became much per 1,000 fish and this resulted in "nothing but the "capital" of the Newfoundland Banks fishery be- small fish being brought home from the Banks". fore the turn of the century. There, several firms, The owners also contended that "the men best suited whose willingness to gamble on a most speculative for (the Banks fishery) had left Newfoundland for venture was only exceeded by their business acu- America and British Columbia". (Large numbers men, created one of the most prosperous fishing of Newfoundlanders moved to far-off British Col- communities in Newfoundland. Not only did Grand umbia in the 1880's and 90's to engage in the whale Bank fall heir to much of the vanishing glory of fishery, and most of them stayed on. In 1957, New- older Banking towns like Lunenburg and Gloucester, foundland seamen were again recruited by B.C. but also, many of the larger and better equipped whaling interests). vessels from these ports were brought in. Scores of old and new banking schooners were purchased The skippers and crews suggested "that the from Lunenburg, particularly, and this in turn cre- Newfoundland mode of living on beef and pork ated a shipbuilding boom at Shelburne, N. S. The largely meant more expense than the American trade in vessels was one which continued to com- 'sweet living' but that the Americans had better paratively recent years. In the ordinary course of cooks". Some skippers urged "married men should events, the Lunenburg bankers were operated in the be avoided as much as possible.. after taking up a Banks fishery for a period and subsequently sold to load of goods in advance they become careless, get firms engaged in the Labrador fishery or coastal tired of the vessel and want to leave." freighting. Several of them are still freighting in Newfoundland and, in 1958, two former Lunenburg THE AMERICAN OPINION bankers, the "Isabelle Spindler" and the "Lila A. Boutillier", were among five vessels in the Labra- In the Newfoundland Government's anxiety to dor "floater" fishery. It is a fact that most of the find out why the Banks fishery compared unfavour- schooners owned and built at Lunenburg and Shel- ably with that of the New England States, the Boston burne since the turn of the century, eventually came Fish Bureau was asked for an opinion. It replied, into Newfoundland ownership. "It is because the Americans are very particular about their fishing gear and have finer vessels and go on a long voyage". The success of the Bank Fishery created an era of unprecedented prosperity along the south Most of this effort to determine the causes of coast of Newfoundland. Breaking the St. John's the decline in the numb e r s of the Newfoundland monopoly on the fish export trade, several south "bankers" appears to have little justification in re- coast firms made direct contact with foreign mar- trospect. For in the '80's and early '90's there were kets and shipped fish in their own vessels. Grand several poor fishing seasons and market prices fell Bank alone exported 126,000 quintals of salted fish off drastically. This inevitably led to financial in one good season. chaos and many firms declared bankruptcy in this period, directly as a result of their speculation in Quite often the men who shipped the "foreign Banks fishing, a gamble at the best of times. Nova going" vessels had but the bare rudiments of navi- Scotian and New England fishing fleets also were gation. The story is told of one skipper who took a reduced in number in this period. The United States load of fish to Italy before World War I. He could New England fleet dropped from a total of 339 bank- neither read nor write and knew little of the signif- ers in 1888 to 82 in 1894. icance of charts. However he succeeded in making the run back and forth across the Atlantic in excel- Despite the sharp decline in the numbers of lent time. When asked how he did this, he replied, Newfoundland vessels engaged in the Banks fishery "I stopped everything I saw on the ocean and asked in the period 1889-94, it was roughly at this time the way." that the Banks fishery was developed into an im- portant business on the Island.

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