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Processing
At this time there were two types of cod fisheries. The first, a "green" or "wet fishery", involved heavily with salting cleaned cod in the ships hold to preserve them during shipping to Europe. The second type of fishery, the most predominant in Īle Royale, was the "dry" fishery. The fish were lightly salted then dried on shore by the sun and air, and produced the highest quality cure. The drying and/or salting of cod stopped the deterioration of the fresh fish by reducing the moisture content of the flesh. The whole fish was first "dressed"- the head and entrails removed - then the backbone was split near the tail and taken out so the fish would lay flat. After this the cod was washed, drained and salted and set out to dry on either beaches, flakes, or rances. The curing of salt fish was a highly skilled art and any mistakes made in the dressing, salting or drying process would lesson the value of the finished product.