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    It is nonetheless certain that an economic motive prompted France to insist on her rights. The northern part of the French Shore, called "The Little North" (Le Petit Nard) between Cape St. John and Cape Norman, was a most fruitful fishery which was in the hands of St. Malo fishermen. Cod was plentiful, of a uniform size, smaller than the cod taken on the Grand Banks. It was a fish ideally suited for export to the West Indies.

    If the Petit Nord fishery was controlled by St. Malo fishermen, it was St. Pierre merchants who, after 1816, acquired the monopoly of rights on that part of the coast between Cape Norman and Cape Ray. Links between the islands of St. Pierre and Miquelon and the West Coast of Newfoundland were forged after the repossession of the archipelago by the French in 1816, from whom the English had taken it in 1793. This St. Pierre interest in the West Coast was of an essentially practical nature.

    Every five years, fishing boats leaving France-from Brittany and Normandy especially-took part in a lottery, the purpose of which was the allocation of harbours on the French Shore. St. Pierre merchants complained of the difficulty they had in taking part in the lottery, and consequently were granted certain bases on the southern part of the coast, notably at Codroy, Bay St. George, Port-au-Port and Red Island. Metropolitan interests acquired part of this monopoly, on condition that they make use of local manpower. If, during the nineteenth century, the French fishery on Newfoundland's West Coast became less and less important, Red Island remained a centre of St. Pierre exploitation untill 1904, and served as a springboard for most of the French who were to settle on the Port-au-Port Peninsula.