The History of Fishing in the Gulf of Maine By Paul Driscoll and Hishan Hassam

Pre 1800’s Lobster Fishing Lobsters were so plentiful Native Americans used them to fertilize fields and for fishing bait In Colonial time lobsters were poverty food served to children prisoners and indentured servants In Mass some servants rebelled saying they would not be forced to eat lobster more than twice a week

Pre 1800’s Cod Fishing Narragansett Indian word for Cod translates as “the fish that comes a little before spring” Cod were known to congregate in immense schools in shore; this habitat created a winter fishery in the gulf of Maine that was the foundation of settlement in the area during the early 1600’s John Smith explored the gulf of Maine in a small boat in 1614, and was one of the early popularizes of the idea of a cod winter fishery

1800’s Lobster In the early 1800 the lobstering was done by gathering them by hand along the shoreline Smackmen first appeared in Maine in the 1820’s because of the high demand for lobsters in New York and Boston Well smack: Smackmen's boats, Smacks were small sailing vessels with a tank inside the boat that had holes drilled into it to allow sea water to circulate. They were used to transport live lobsters long distances Lobsters began to be canned in 1836 in response to the high demand for lobsters that exceeded the range of the smack boats

1800’s More Lobsters! Lobster trapping came into existence in Maine in the 1850’s as well as the term lobsterman Kerosene soaked bricks were used to attract lobsters In 1860 James P Baxter recalled that 4 to 5 pound lobsters were considered small and the 2 pound lobsters were being discarded as not worth the effort to pick the meat for canning However in the 1880’s canneries were stuffing meat from half pound lobsters into the cans for processing In 1892, 2,600 people in the Maine lobster fishery caught 7,983 metric tons of lobster

1800’s Cod Fishing In the 1800’s cod was abundant as ever To give you an idea of what the abundance was like here is a quote from Edward Earl 1887… “the news spread rapidly, and soon all the shore fleet were in the bay, while vessels of 60 or 70 tons abandoned the other fisheries and fitted out for this locality. By the middle of February 104 boats were fishing within a radius of 6 or 7 miles and 20,000 to 25,000 pounds were sometimes taken by a single boat”

Early 1900’s Lobsters By this time Smackmen were replaced by land based buyers that served as a link between the harvesters and the public In WWII lobster was considered a delicacy

Early 1900’s Lobster Fun Fact! Lobstering is considered to be a family business A long generation of lobsterman in Maine is a standing tradition Should and outsider start lobstering his traps will be moved or tangled intentionally

Early 1900’s Cod Technological innovations brought newer, larger boats into the fishery Haddock Averaged 48 million pounds annually between 1917 and 1961

1960 to Present Lobster Throughout the 60’s per capita lobster consumption increased from.585 pounds to.999 pounds All states and the federal government share a minimum legal size, 3.25 inches from eye socket from head to tail After 1988 the minimal size increased

1960 to Present Cod Huge foreign fleets moved into prime Gulf of Maine fishing grounds Catches began to decline Landings peaked at 50 million pounds in the mid- to late 60’s Declined 13 millions pounds in 1973

1960 to Present Magnuson Act In 1976 the Magnuson Act was passed Preventing foreign fleets from fishing between 3 and 200 nautical miles off the shore Resulted in larger heavier and more powerful vessels Number of ground fishing boat doubled from 650 in 1978 to 1,021 in 1984

1960 To-Present In 1982 ground fish stock recovered Quotas and trip limits were abandoned In 1984 the world court settled the boundary dispute between the U.S. and Canada by drawing the Hague line across George’s Bank In 1991 the Conservation Law Foundation filed a lawsuit against the U.S. dept. a settlement was negotiated between the CLF and the natural marine fishery service. In may 1997 to give added protection to the stock trip limits were implemented

Sources 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) 7) 8) httbhttb p://atlas.islandinstitute.org