The Sea and River Fisheries of New Brunswick/West Isles

West Isles

This Parish includes Indian Island, Deer Island, and a great number of small Islands and Islets, in Passamaquoddy Bay, east of the Boundary line of the United States. The inhabitants are fishermen almost exclusively, somewhat peculiar in their manners and habits, but most industrious, hardy, and exceedingly hospitable people. The best fishing grounds are on the British side of the boundary, which is an imaginary line, passing down the middle of the channel called Quoddy River, and out to sea by the western passage, between Lubec and the western end of Campo Bello.

The fishing boats from Eastport, and other places within the limits of the United States, fish equally, and mingle freely with the British boats on their fishing grounds, near West Isles, where the fish are most numerous ; especially near Black Rock, Casco Island, and the big eddy near Indian Island. It is a very gay scene on a fine day, to mingle with some two or three hundred boats fishing in the big eddy, lying so closely together as to leave little more than space between to pull up the fish. The writer joined this animated throng more than once, in August and September, when pollack were taken of large size, and in great abundance. The fishing began either just before high water, or just before low water, on what are called '* the slacks" of the tide. The boats then lay at anchor ; as few anchors as possible are dropt to avoid fouling the fishing lines, the boats making fast to each other, stem and stern. Thus they lie until the tide begins to run too strong, when the anchors are lifted, and the boats then swing about, almost in a body, with the different sets of current, through the passages between the Islands, fishing " on the drift," as it is termed—the fish below appearing to move about in the same manner as the boats above. This continues until the tide begins to set too strong, when the boats proceed to the coves and eddies near Campo Bello, or some of the small Islands or rocky islets, where they drop anchor and fish out the rest of the tide.

While the boats are congregated together fishing in close column, they appear to attract the fish by the number of baits which are let down at the same time. There are generally three men in each boat ; all is life, bustle, and animation. The line is scarcely down, when the fisherman commences drawing up a fish ; the depth varies from 14 to 28 fathoms, and very often the hook is not half way down, when it is seized by a fish. While fish are being thus rapidly drawn into the boats, jokes and gibes are freely bandied ; any lively story, or piece of stinging wit, passes quickly from boat to boat, and laughter, cheers, and almost invariable good temper, prevail among all, whether British or Americans. If one boat falls short of bait, it is supplied from another which is better provided ; and civilities sometimes extend to an interchange of hooks, snoods, and fishing leads. When the British boats go over to Eastport, as they generally do, to dispose of their fish, no questions are asked as to the character of the boat. If the American boats enjoy the privilege of fishing on the best grounds within the limits of New Brunswick, those of West Isles can sell their fish at Eastport without payment of duty or charges. The good feel- ing which springs from this state of things, causes the fishery business to go on smoothly and quietly along the frontier, where, under other circumstances, there would almost to a certainty, be constant quarrels and collisions. To an amateur, the pollack fishing in the Big Eddy, with the crowd of boats to be found there in the season, is extremely amusing and highly exciting ; but when the fish bite quickly, and are taken of large size in pairs, as frequently happens, the work soon becomes exceedingly severe. With the pollack, small cod and haddock are also taken, with now and then a dog-fish, and sometimes a sculpin or a skate of large size ; the variety of fish tends to keep up the excitement, and lends animation to the fishery. In a Lecture on the Fisheries delivered a few years since by Mr. Lorenzo Sabine, of Eastport, who had paid great attention to the subject, the following description was given of the fishermen of West Isles

'* Tn cloising my remarks on the fisheries, I feel bound to give you some idea
of a Bay of Fundy, or as we call him, a 'boat-fisherman.' In commencing his
picture, I cannot say that he is either so moral, so intelligent, or so industrious, as ho might be; but jfet, I can say, that he is an improved, and an improving man. Bred to the use of boats from his earliest youth, be displays rare skill in
their management, and great boldness in his adventures. He will cross from
island to island, and go from passage to passage, through frightful whirls of a
tide which ordinarily rises and fall twenty five feet, in alarming proximity to rocks and bars, and in the stormiest weather. As a whole, he is a singular, and
withal an interesting being ; and none who have once learned his peculiarities,
will ever forget him. If he be naturally shrewd, (most of them are,) and past
the middle age, occasional intercourse with him will amuse, if not instruct, the
wisest and most polished. " He is neither a landsman, nor a seaman, nor soldier, nor marine ; yet, ten
to one, if in the course of conversation with him, you do not find that he has
figured in them all. He is neither merchp.nt nor mechanic, bU no man better understands buying and selling, or meni'iinn, altering, and making. He is no
doctor, but he will out-talk a medical graduate, and will shame him in a knowledge of ' livers,' 'back bones,' the means to cure ' rumatiz,' and the like. He
is no astronomer, and holds nautical instruments in high derision ; but he knows
all about the moon, and let him but hear the moaning of the sea
—listen to the scream of the gull—or the sound of the surf—and watch the cat's paw, or ' glim,'
in the sky
—and he will reveal secrets, and disclose truths, which put him in high
conceit with his own wisdom, and shame the landsman. " And then, seat yourself beside him, and hear him comment upon his dream
book. Listen as be tells you of the feats of the witch, that lives in his particular harbour—or of the accidents that have happened from doing things on Friday
or what have followed the signs and omens that he believes in. Then, there are
his tales of wonderful escapes
—his 'fish stories,' and his sage conclusions in
politics
—his notions of religion, or his profound speculations on the causes of
the high price of bread-stufis, or of the means employed to keep down the price of fish. " But of bis dress, and his professional gear—who shall do justice to them ? "The oiled garments which cover his upper and nether man, he calls his • ile-suite.' The queer shaped thing which he wears upon his crown, he names a ' sou'-wester.' An article, neither mittens nor gloves, which protect his hands,
he calls ' nippers.' The matted and tangled mass which grows upon his bead,
and the long red hair, which under his chin answers the purpose of a neckcloth,
and in,(^Dnt of his ears, renders him impervious to a dun, he calls < bruslu' His
boots, he says, are * stampers;' and lest he should lose the moveables he carries in his pockets, he has them fastened to his person by a string, which he calls a ' lanyard.' He nses one knife which he calls ' cut-throat,' and another that is 8
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a ' splitter ;' his apron is a 'barvel'—the box, or compartment into which he
throws his fish as he catches them, is a ' kid.' When he means to go for herring, he sa3'she is 'agoing-a-driving'—the state of the moon favourable for this purpose, are 'darks' —the bent-up iron hoops, which he uses to carry his burning torch, bears the name of ' dragon ' —the small net, with an iron bow and
wooden handle, which he uses to seci ;he fish that his torch attracts, is a ' dipnet.' To another and a larger net, with leads on its bottom edge to sink it in the water, and with corks fastened along its upper edge at regular iniervals, to buoy it up, and preserve it in nearly a perpendicular direction, that the herrings
may strike it and become entangled in its meshes—to this be gives a name
indicative of its use—he calls it a ' set-net.' " Nor ends his dialect heri-, Chebacco boats and small schooners are known
to him as 'pinkies,' ' pogies,' and 'jiggers.' All vessels he calls 'craft,' and
the only distinction he will condescend to make, is to append the adjective ; such
as larg^". small, nice, poor • craft.' He knows nothing about the hours of day or
night ; every thing with him goes by tides. Thus, if you ask him, about what
time he was married, he will ^.erhaps say—' tother night, about half-flood !' —o» what time he saw a certain mn:\, his reply will be, ' this morning about low water
slack,'—or, 'on young flood '—or, 'just as the ebb tide made.'
" If he has fish to sell, and you ask him their size, he well tell you they are
' two»quintal fish,' by wl :h he means, that fifty of them will weigh 1 12 lbs. His
boat anchor he call a ' killock,' and the rope attached to it he styles a ' rode.' If he speaks of the length of line required on different fishing grounds, he will say that on the Banks and in the Bay of Fundy, 'two shotts' are.used, and at the Labrador but ' half a shott," and by a ' shott ' he means a line of thirty fathoms. • " Lest it should be thought I have made too much of this original, I beg to remark, that !>culd any who doubt his existence ever shake me by the hand at my own home, I promise to show them the very man ; and I Lave bestowed the more attention upon him, because many of his qualities of character and forms of speech are common to all fishermen, and because the knives and other gear
are in general use. Should any of you go with me to the house of this singular
being, he will probably ask us to slay to dinner—let me then give you the form
of invitation, that you may remember it. "He will probably have provided something extra ; it will consist of bis favourite dishes, to-wit—the three p's,—a potpie of sea-fowl, pudding, and pancakes. The proper moment arrived, he will say—' come skippers, down with your killocks and get some grab ; don't know as you'll like it, but our woman has got us some fresh smothers, some duff, and joe-.floggies."

It may be remarked, that since Mr. Sabine gave this quaint description of the " boat-fishermen," which is copied from his own notes, the labours of the Sons of Temperance have been very successful, and have tended greatly to improve his condition in every way.

DEER ISLAND

This Island is broken and rocky, the central portion especially, and there is comparatively very little land fit for farming purposes; but such as is fit, is of good quality. Its harbours are good, and there are numerous coves which afford excellent shelter for boats, with deep water close to their shores. There is a very considerable number cf inhabitants on Deer Island, who are all more or less engaged in the fisheries, of which that for pollack, holds at present the first place, in this 1ocality ; the herring fishery is considered next in value, after which come the fisheries tor cod, hake and haddock, with mackerel fishing when it is to be had in the neighbourhood.

The boats generally in use at Deer Island are from 12 to 18 feet in length ; the 12 feet boat has one man, the 18 feet boat usually three men. These boats have sharp, or pink sterns, withone mast shipped very close to the stem, and a mainsail very broad at the foot, stretched well out with a light boom, and run- ning up to a point at the top. These boats sail uncommonly well, and lay very close to the wind ; they are exceedingly safe in the hands of the fishermen, who certainly manage them most admirably. The sail is usually tanned with hemlock bark, which imparts to it a reddish brown colour; a^5 the boats are generally |)ainted white, they have a very smart and somewhat singular appca:dtnce, as they dart through the narrow passages between the numerous small islands and reefs, or sweep down in little fleets of ten or twenty boats to tJie usual fishing grounds. The first place visited at Deer Island was Chocolate Covc, at which locality James M'Neal, Esq. J. P., and his son, both intel- ligent persons, furnished the following information; —They said that the most profitable fishing there, was for pollack and herring ; the pollack average fifty to the quintal. The Deer Island fishers have some difficulty in procuring bait ; Uiey are obliged to go over to the American «ide, and buy it there from the weir owners, who charge two pollack, green or dry, for a bucket full of small herrings. They said that herrings would mt "drive" as formerly ; that the Indians by continually firing at the porpoises, have destroyed or driven th^m off, and the herrings not being chased by porpoises into eddies near the shore, but keeping ouv in mid-channel, cannot now be "driven" with the torch as in the olden time. The mode of curing pollack and herrings on this Island, was stated to be as follows : —After pollack are split, tliey are washed, and lightly salted in tubs and hogsiieads. During the summer, they remain in salt three or four days ; in the autumn four or f ve days. They are tlieu washed in their pickle, and piled in h'th ^i to drain for 24 hours, after which they are put upon the flakes. At night, they are piled on the flakes, in heaps called " faggots ;" in fine weather, they cure in a week ; after this, they are spread out again during a fine day, to dry the sweat. In the autumn, the fish are not sweated. H Trings, rfter being gibbed, are washed in a tub, and then salted ; they lay in salt four days. If the pickle sours, the fish are spoiled, as they taint at once. When taken out of pickle, they are packe in barrels, on tlieir backs. Messrs. M'Neal said, that herrings had too little pains bestowed upon them, and very many were sent away to the country quite spoiled. From want of means to buy a stock of salt, the fishermen used it too sparingly, and hence, too often, the spoiling of the fish. The herrings here alluded to, are those called " Quoddy River Herrings;" they are taken from August until late in tbo autumn, by drifting at night, in the same manner as for shad ; those taken latest in the season are best and fattest, but it is then very cokl work sitting in an open boat all night, and the fishermen suffer severely. The smaller herrings, such as are generally cured by smoking, were formerly very abundant on the shores of Deer Island. The fiskermen of Campo Bello said, that the people of Deer Island had broken up the .^ohulls, and driven the fish away, by the excessive nse of small meshed nets. On the American side of Quoddy River, the use of such nets is altogether prohibited.

At Leonard's Cove, the fishing establishments of Mr. George Leonard was visited. Mr. Leonard stated, that he had lived at this place thirty years. He fishes principally for pollack ; but in the autumn he takes small cod. He built a brush weir the past spring, which cost £75 ; up to the 9th September, it had only caught 75 boxes of herring ; but it had been exceedingly useful to the line-fishers in his neighbourhood, by furnishing them with bait. At Deer Island, there are oniy four weirs altogether ; in Leonard's weir there is four feet water, at low tide. It being near low water, the weir was vi«ted and examined ; in it were found a few vfery fine " Quoddy River Herrings," about a bushel of small cod, one lobster, eight mackerel, and som? small herrings, only fit for but. Mr. Leonard qi ite agreed with Mr. F'lagg, of Campo Bello, that herrings attain their foil growth in three years. The fishing establishment of Mr. James Neill, near the northern end of the Island, was also visited. Mr. Neill purchases many fish from the fishermen, which he cures himself; his dealings in fish are somewhat expeiisive. In his vicinity, hake are abundant, and also haddock. At the time this establishment was visited, (9th September), the oil made from the liver of. a hake, was more valuable than the hake itself. The hake here were better cleaned than at Grand Manan, but there was the same desire to oversa/t, and make the fish weigh as heavy as possible. Mr. Neill stated, .that the hake he cured went sometinr , i Cuba, but generally to the Foreign West India Islands; the cod to Boston and New York, for domestic consumption there ; the haddock were shipped to Cuba ; and the pollack were sold in Maine, chiefly for consumption in the forest by the lumbermen. At this establishment, 2621bs. of green fish were weighed as a quintal. The practice of taking herrings on the spawning ground, at the Southern Head of Grand Manan, was reprobated by Mr. Neill, as highly detrimental to the herring fishery generally ; the quality of the herring canght there, and thi? careless manner in which they were cured from want of time, were also stated to be highly injurious to the market, as depreciating the value of herrings which are really good and well cured. An inspection of herrings, Mr. Neill said, was greatly required, in order to raise their character in distant markets—the herrings taken on the *• ripplings," about six miles from Grand Manan, were said to be good fish, and needed only proper care and inspection to be highly prized abroad. A visit was paid at Indian Island to Mr. James Chaflfey, an aged man, of much intelligence, who has long resided ther*^. Mr. ChafiTey said, that herrings were not so abundant now, as twenty years since ; of late years the quantity has fallen off greatly, and they are now much smaller. He did not consider the weirs injurious to the herring fishery, but thought the mischief was done at Grand Manan.

When Mr. Chaffey first went to Indian Island, Britt were very abundant ; they averaged about three inches in length. These little fish were exceedingly valuable as food for larger fish, bnt from some unaccountable cause, they have altogether disappeared, not a single speutmen having been seen for the last ten years.

With some trouble the number of fishing boats and vessels, at the following localities in West Isles, was procured, viz:—Clam Cove, Cummin's Cove, Mill Creek, Chocolate Cove, Leonard's Cove, Lord's Cove, Bean's Island, Movvat's Harbour, Adam's Island, Parker's Island, Minis*^er'3 Island, Hardwood Island, Fish Island, North West Harbour, Northern Cove, and Indian Island. The whole number of boats was ascertaiiied to be 99 ; and of decked vessels, 27, of 577 tons i.glster.