People of the Fishery

The cod fishery placed great demands on the human resources of Île Royale. A large portion of the town's population was involved in the cod fishery, as boat crews, on shore workers, fishing proprietors and merchants.

The manpower demands required for the total dried fish production exceeded the human resources available for this employment. It was for this reason that a migrant fishery existed. This seasonal fishery was composed of fishermen from France.

Both resident and migrant workers operated out of Île Royale. The migrant fishery boosted the colony's total fish production by supplementing the production of the resident fishermen. The resident fishery came to depend on these transient workers from France who served as an important source of supplies and labour during the summer fishing season. The migrant workers who operated solely during the summer fishing season were prohibited by law from engaging in the winter chaloupe fishery. It is not surprising that the resident fishery, which operated during both seasons, gained supremacy over their migrant counterparts. Members of the resident fishery were able to own land along the coast on which to build their fishing establishments, while migrant fishermen had to either make seasonal establishments on unclaimed land or rent them from residents.

Though both groups used chaloupes and goélettes, the residents favoured less expensive chaloupes which they could operate for two seasons, while the migrants preferred the more expensive goélettes which, although only operated during the summer fishery, had a greater level of productivity. During the 1730s and 1740s the resident fishery accounted for 2/3 of the total dried cod production.