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Lifelines: Canada's East Coast Fisheries

The Cod Rush
The European Fishermen, 1497-1763
 
The Fishing Community
The Cod Rush: The European Fishermen, 1497-1763



 

Fishing Proprietors

After 1660, fishing proprietors occupied the beaches on a permanent basis and fished year-round.

Under the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), the French proprietors from the colony of Placentia in Newfoundland were given the best beaches on Cape Breton to compensate for the losses they suffered when they were deported. The size of the property they were allotted reflected the extent of their activities, and they were supposed to manage it themselves. However, proprietors sometimes leased or sold their beach to non-residents. Unoccupied beaches remained accessible to European ships.

The life of the fishing proprietors was based only on the cod fishery. They exchanged their dried cod for imported goods such as fishing gear, salt, rigging for boats, food, beverages, clothing and household utensils.


Fishing proprietors - 
National Library of Canada

Fishing proprietors, 18th century
Detail of an image from Traité général des pesches, by Duhamel du Monceau, 1772
(National Library of Canada)

Fishing properties were run by families, often extended families. The men, women and children all worked on the beach. To make a profit, proprietors needed at least two fully equipped shallops. Several had three to five shallops with hired crews, including shore workers.

See " The Fishing Property "



Design


THE SHIPOWNER | THE CAPTAIN AND THE PILOT
THE SURGEON AND THE CHAPLAIN | THE FISHERMEN


 

 
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