Fishing the North Atlantic Border Seas: American Capital in a New Environment, 1818-1854

THROUGHOUT THE FISHING SEASON OF 1836, Liverpool fish merchant Philip Carten traveled through the small fishing villages of western Nova Scotia. Like other Nova Scotian fish merchants, Carten sought out inshore fishermen from whom he could purchase fish-bait, principally herring, in order to outfit his deep-sea fishing vessels for a voyage to the Grand Banks off Newfoundland. The deep-sea fisheries depended upon inshore fishermen to supply the bait needed for their voyages, thereby allowing them to concentrate strictly on the catching of ground fish such as cod and halibut. By 1836 this system had been the standard practice for several generations. Like the vast majority of Nova Scotian fish merchants, Carten purchased fish via company credit; instead of paying cash for his supplies he sought to extend store credit to the inshore fishermen. During this season, however, Cartin was unable to secure any fish from the numerous fishermen scattered across the coast of western Nova Scotia because they instead preferred to wait for the arrival of New England fishing schooners rather than to sell their fish to domestic merchants. In a letter to the Assembly of Nova Scotia, Carten complained bitterly that this trade practice threatened the complete collapse of Nova Scotia’s fishing industry. American trade challenged the historical relationship between merchants and fishermen in Nova Scotia, he argued, and the system of credit and debt in Nova Scotia was the basis upon which the entire fishing industry operated. Carten charged that the American vessels arrived in the harbors of Nova Scotia, “having onboard Gin, Boots, and Shoes, Apples, Soap, and other articles and open a regular Trade with the Fishermen and sold the above Goods, taking in return Mackerel”.1 While merchants such as Philip Carten deemed this illicit trade as disloyal, the extent to which it operated clearly shows that the fishermen themselves found it quite lucrative. Carten confronted the disloyalty of Nova Scotian fishermen and the legality of the presence of the Americans, and “feeling indignant at the preference given to Foreigners told them they had no business there . . . stated to the people that they were injuring themselves and robbing the Country of its living”.2 Yet the introduction of American goods and capital offered an alternative to the monopoly held by Nova Scotian merchants and provided another source of income for the small-scale fishermen of the province. The incursion of American capital into the local waters and markets of the British North American fisheries forced many operators of that industry to re-evaluate their

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