It was fish that attracted French and Basque fishers to the shores of Richmond and Guysborough counties in the early 1600's. These nomadic Europeans fished in the waters of Chedabucto Bay and dried or salted their catches in temporary settlements before departing for Europe to sell or trade fish for other goods. As the value of fish increased, more fishers came to set up crude fishing operations among the deep harbours and lucrative fishing grounds adjacent to places like Petit de Grat, Arichat, Canso, and Guysborough Town.

These temporary settlements ceased in the 1700's as the French started to build a permanent empire in North America. Forts and permanent settlements displaced native villages throughout Atlantic Canada and around the Bay. This empire unravelled with the French granting concessions to the British under the Treaty of Utrecht in 1713, and it declined further with the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of French Acadians in 1755. In Guysborough, this resulted in the formation of staunch Acadian, enclaves like Tor Bay, Larry's River, Charlos Cove, and Port Felix(i.e.francophone). In Richmond, the expulsion exponentially increased predominantly French areas like Isle Madame and boosted the populations of L'Ardoise and St. Peter's.

With the British Crown galvanizing its hold on North America, more English settlers moved into Chedabucto Bay. They included the "nine old settlers" of Guysborough and the Channel Island merchants of Richmond who helped introduce the free market system to the area. No longer would people have to fish or farm to subsist, now they could make a healthy wage in a fish plant or they could form their own business, all of which profoundly benefited their communities. Unfortunately, Acadians in the Bay, because of their language and religion, were forbidden from participating in commercial activities until the next century.

By the end of the 1780's, Guysborough's largest group of settlers arrived in the wake of the American Revolution, as British Loyalists were weeded out from the newly established United States of America. Loyalists, black and white, slaves and free men, flooded into Guysborough. Blacks survived harsh winters and discriminatory land and supply entitlements to prosper in communities like Sunnyville, Birch Town, Cook's Cove, Canso, and Country Harbour.

With time ethnic groups like the Irish and Scottish descended upon the Chedabucto Bay area as the crumbling state of their domestic economies drove them from their homelands. Fish plants and boat building enterprises developed, as did the triangular trade route between Nova Scotia, the United States and the Caribbean which brought employment and prosperity to communities like Arichat and Canso. As the 1800's progressed, these communities built many beautiful churches, modern schools, several taverns, and large post offices, in addition to a multitude of five-star restaurants and hotels.

In 1855, Arichat became a town with a population of 2,000. Soon it was named as the seat of the new Diocese of Arichat and the recently established St. Francis Xavier University in Arichat began to instruct priests from Canada and the United States, in Arichat. The town, along with the growing villages of West Arichat, D'Escousse, River Bourgeois, St. Peter's, and L'Ardoise, built hundreds of sailing vessels and the area was described by one Maritime historian as "one of the most important and thriving ports in all of Cape Breton."

By 1901 Canso, with its many successful fishing and shipbuilding businesses, was incorporated as a town. The town contained a modern Western Union Telegraph Office, which served as a vital link between Europe and North America, especially during World War I. There were also four churches and a state-of-the-art theatre, among other amenities. Guysborough County's many spacious harbours encouraged the growth of industries like trading and lumbering. Soon merchants from Halifax set up businesses, trading schooner-loads of merchandise for cured fish and other foods.

The rest of the 20th century has not been kind to this area. The advent of the steam engine killed the thriving shipbuilding industry and choked-off Nova Scotia's valuable triangular trade route. As the Depression worsened, many left their homes for employment in central Canada and New England, a trend of out migration that has remained steady throughout the century. This resulted in Arichat losing its township status and both counties losing some of its best leaders and brightest young minds.

The closure of the Atlantic Canadian Groundfishery in 1994 threatened the livelihood of thousands around Chedabucto Bay. On Isle Madame, the Richmond Fisheries plant was closed and demolished, putting 500 people out of work. Recently, Richmond has taken major steps to turn around an economy that lost hundreds of workers and now boasts a massive aquaculture site in St. Peter's and a plant in Arichat that employs 250 people between them. This, in addition to an industrial build-up in the Point Tupper area in 1970's which saw the construction of a modern pulp mill, a now defunct oil refinery, a Nova Scotia Power generating station, and an ill-fated heavy water plant. Today, the pulp mill and power station are still prospering, along with Statia Terminals within which local oil spill response capabilities are developed.

Despite the downturn in the Atlantic Groundfishery, Canso still has one of the largest fish processing plants in the Atlantic Provinces. In operation, this facility employs between 300 and 500, and there are plans to expand the workforce and capabilities of Guysborough's main employer. When the possibilities from natural gas being pumped from Sable Island to Goldboro, Guysborough County are calculated, it appears the Bay area's future may be brighter than its tempestuous past.