Fishery and Settlement

By: Ryan and Gabrielle Furlong

Migratory Fishery

French Fishery

Took place on the Grand Banks

Started in January and Fishermen would fish for a supply of fish for Lent.

Ships would rarely return to port, only to store fish.

The fishery later moved closer inshore to the north and west coasts

English Fishery

Fishermen would travel from the UK to fish in Newfoundland and Labrador

This fishery was “inshore”, meaning it was close to land

Fishery would return back to land everyday to cure their fish and spend the night

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dmOSxrkLXmM

Basques Whaling

Took place from the 1500s-early 1600s, mainly in Labrador

Whalers would harpoon whales that were migrating in the Strait of Belle Isle

Whalers usually only hunted right and bow headed whales

Economics of the Fishery

RiskFishing is a risky industry because;

no granted catch

storms

shipwrecks

pirates

Merchants

Could give fishermen as much as they wanted.

Owned the only supply stores and could charge

the fishermen whatever they

wanted.

Governing the Fishery

Britain ruled the Newfoundland’s fishery until 1832

The Reason for this was that Britain wanted NL to remain a seasonal

fishing station because setting up a colony would cost too much

money. PROIR TO THIS:

The law then stated that the FIRST captian into port at NL would be

the person responsible for enforcing the rules.

This often didn’t work because most captions were more concerned

about getting fish then enforcing rules

Settlement• People do not settle here because it would cost too much to set up

a colony to run a summer fishery AND there were no winter jobs.

PLANTERSIn small numbers people began to move to NL

-> Merchants hired workers to protect fishing gear and stations

->”Planters” who moved to NL to work in the “shore” fishery. This was the same as the Inshore Fishery, except they did not

return to English at the end of each season

The first census show people first moved here in 1675

Sponsored Settlement

After England’s war with Spain in 1604 investments were made to set up towns in NL The most famous being Cupids established in 1610.

The French also followed suit and set up a charter colony in Placentia.

Both colonies failed to make profits but were major roles in populating NL

Bibliography

www.heritage.nf.ca

Newfoundland and Labrador Studies Text Book Culture, Heritage & Identity

ULIMATE NLS