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About Newfoundland and Labrador
Cod Fishery in Newfoundland Waters
The earliest Europeans to visit Newfoundland claimed that codfish could be pulled into fishing boats by simply lowering baskets into the sea. While this was probably an exaggeration, no doubt the fish were plentiful around the coast of Newfoundland when John Cabot discovered the island for Britain in 1497.
For some years following the discovery of Newfoundland the British continued their established fishing routines in European waters while the French, Spanish, and Portuguese took advantage of the Newfoundland cod fishery. They caught the fish from lines dropped from the sides of the ship in which they travelled from Europe in the spring or early summer. After the fish were prepared (gutted, headed, and split) they were laid flat in the hold of the ship where they were heavily salted and left until the ship returned home in the fall.
Later in the 16th century the British developed an interest in the Newfoundland fishery and subsequently pursued it aggressively. Because of their limited salt resources they had developed a different method of curing cod fish that required less salt than their competitors but required onshore drying of the salted fish. They would sail into a Newfoundland harbour in the spring and moor their ship, then proceed to construct onshore facilities unless facilities were available from previous seasons. They then pursued the fishery from small boats brought along with them from England. When they returned from the fishing grounds and the fish were prepared for salting they were covered with less salt than that used by the other Europeans. After curing in the salt for about three days the salt was washed off and the fish spread to dry in the sun. When the fish were fully dried after several days it was stored for transfer to the sailing ship at the end of the season for the return trip to England.
The handline method of fishing whereby fishermen used a line with a baited hook or a jigger continued into the 20th century. When a lead or stainless steel jigger is used, no bait is needed. The jigger is lowered close to the bottom then given an up and down motion. Cod are attracted to the metal and are caught by the hooks imbedded in the lead or steel. The other handline method uses a hook baited with squid although artificial coloured bait is also used. A heavy lead weight keeps the bait near the bottom and the line worked similar to the jigger. The line is pulled into the boat when the movement of a fish is detected.
Various other methods were developed for catching codfish but it remained a back-breaking effort to catch and cure the fish to the marketable state. Nets were used to catch the fish as they moved around the fishing grounds while the seine was used to surround and trap a school of fish. Pulling the drawstring at the bottom of the seine brought the netting together and brought the fish close to the surface which permitted dipping the fish into the boat. The trawl was another improvement. It was simply a rope anchored at both ends and identified by buoys. Baited hooks which lay on the ocean floor were tied to this rope with short lines about five or six feet apart. When the fishermen returned to the trawl they started at one end to remove the fish from the hooks, re-baiting the hooks before returning them to the ocean, and continuing to the other end of the trawl.
The cod trap was the next improvement in the cod fishery. It appeared in the fishery during the second half of the 19th century. The cod trap is a mesh box with a floor resting on the bottom and an open top at the water surface. The perimeter of the top is suspended by many small floats with large buoys at the corners, sides and back, each moored by a heavy anchor. As cod fish swim parallel to the shore, possibly following capelin, they are diverted in the trap door by the leader which extends from the door toward shore. The average trap is 60 fathoms around and 15 fathoms deep with a 50-fathom leader (one fathom is 6 feet). When the trap is hauled the door is closed first by hauling up a rope attached to the bottom front. Then the front corners are hauled up, and fish are gradually concentrated along one side or the back of the trap by hauling in the mesh bottom. The catch is removed to the boat by a dip net.
Not all fishermen used the trap because of the cost and the manpower required. However, the trap proved to be an effective means of harvesting a lot of fish in a short time. Yet the fish still had to be transferred from the boat for processing in the customary manner; a very significant manual effort that required every family member to contribute to the work.
The uses of engines to propel small fishing boats were not used until about 1915 to1920 when the two stroke gasoline engine became available. Steam engines available earlier were much too large and heavy for the small craft used in the Newfoundland inshore fishery.
The arrival of freezer plants in the 1940s resulted in a revolution in the fishing industry. Fishermen could now deliver their catch directly to the freezer plant (or to buyers that carried out the transportation to the plant) without the extensive effort that had been required to process dried salt cod.
Because of the significance of the cod fishery in Newfoundland life most Newfoundland books by Newfoundland authors will have some reference to the fishery. However, A History of Newfoundland, Two Outports, Vignettes of a Small Town, and The Oldest City, offer some detailed discussion on specific aspects of the fishery.
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