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Toward the Loss of the French Shore and of Red Island

    Toward the end of the second half of the nineteenth century, the French fishery off the French Shore began to decline. The reasons for this were many: ships of the time were large enough and sturdy enough to be technically capable of pursuing a campaign on the Grand Banks without having to land their fish. Whelk caught on the banks replaced the traditional bait - herring, capelin or squid - thus avoiding the potentially devastating effects of the Bait Bill, a law passed by the parliament of Newfoundland which prohibitted the sale of bait to French fishing boats. The boats no longer needed to put-in to Saint-Pierre to buy herring, capelin or squid, nor to travel to St. Georges Bay to fish for their own bait. Green cod (that is to say washed and salted) had become more popular than dried cod. There was much progress in fishing methods.

    In Newfoundland, relations between English and French festered. Increasingly, English fishermen established themselves on the coast. The two groups bickered about every aspect of the fishing - above all about the lobster- troubles were daily, losses of equipment significant... in short, co-existence became increasingly difficult.

    Consider an example reported by Daniel Prowse in his book A History of Newfoundland: in 1888, a Mr. James Baird, of St. John's, Newfoundland, had a lobster pound at Black Duck Brook on the Port au Port Peninsula. The men there fished in the bay but this was not to the liking of the fishermen of Red Island, 18 miles away, who insisted that the lobster traps interfered in their seining for the herring which served them as bait. According to Prowse, the French fishermen went to Black Duck Brook and destroyed equipment. "Their complaint was proved to be ridiculous", adds Prowse, "and I am informed they were punished for the outrage committed. The manager, Mr. John Halliburton, informed me he would move further north next season."

    Weary of this hostile environment and, no doubt because the bays proved less abundant, the ship-outfitters of metropolitan France lost interest little by little in this coast which nonetheless had assured prosperity for many among them. "In 1894, fifteen ships only prepared for the coast fishery, in 1904 that number was reduced to six". The loss of the French Shore was imminent.

    There remained, however, several years reprieve: in embassies and consulates, the English and French governments tried to implement the modus vivendi while seeking a solution to the question of fishing rights. In Saint-Pierre-et-Miquelon they decided to fill the void left by the fishermen of France. In 1983, the Regional Council of Saint-Pierre decided to hand out a bonus of fifty francs to any fisherman who wanted to go to the French Shore.