fishery n OED ~ 1, 2 (1677-; 1699-); DAE ~ 1 a, b, (1677-; 1699-; 1682-); DC ~ 1, 2, 3 (1765-; 1807-). See also FISHING.
   1 The marine fishing industry; freq qualified by the location where fish are caught, the season of the operation, the technology used, and the species caught. See also BANK, BOAT, COAST, COD, FALL, INSHORE, LABRADOR, NORTHERN, SEAL, SHIP, SHORE, SUMMER, TRAP; WESTERN, WINTER.
   [1637] 1895 PROWSE 143 And also shall have full power and liberty to build any fort or forts for defence of said Country and fishing and shall have timber where it may be spared to the least prejudice to the fishery. [1653] ibid 167 You are upon the close of this surners fishery to returne back into England. [1732] 1976 HEAD 57 Many People from Bonavista being removed to Fogo, a Harbour 30 or 40 Leagues to ye Northward ... & being very Successful in the Fishery there, tis Expected yt Many More will soon follow. 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii "Labrador: A Poetical Epistle" [4] The Codfish now in shoals come on the coast, / (A Fish'ry this, our Nation's chiefest boast) / Now numerous Caplin croud along the Shore; / Tho' great their numbers, yet their Foes seem more. 1839 MURRAY ii, 186 The fishery ... decidedly rivals the timber-trade, especially when we include the capture of seals, which in mercantile language is considered a branch of it. 1852 ARCHIBALD 3 In the year 1850, the outfit for this [seal] fishery from Newfoundland consisted of 229 vessels, of 20,581 tons, employing 7919 men. 1873 CARROLL 39-40 If it is a winter fishery, very little salt is used. 1883 Our Country 23 Nov, p. 2 The fishing [in the herring fishery] was attended to by the cod fishermen as an adjunct to 'the fishery,' as codfishing was termed. 1907 ibid 24 May, p. 2 A considerable number of men were employed in the prosecution of these salmon fisheries, which were at first very lucrative. 1902 Christmas Bells 14, 19 On a lovely morning in August, just after the close of the lobster fishery three summers ago... A schooner, bound to Fortune Bay to engage in the herring fishery, happened to call into the harbour. 1912 Christmas Chimes 11 They had a hard time of it for the first few years, but eventually became the most important firm carrying on the seal, codfishery and also herring fishery in Newfoundland. 1924 ENGLAND 15 A bumper 'fishery,' as they call it—for Newfoundlanders insist that seals are fish!—feeds thousands of hungry mouths ashore. 1954 INNIS 496 The extension of trade in the outports and the development of industries subordinate to the cod fishery ... have offset the trend toward centralization. P 82-72 'How's the fishery this year?' 'Not so good. Them that get ar'n, ain't no better than them that get nar'n.'
   2 Attrib fishery servant: a man or woman indentured or engaged on 'shares' or wages for a period in the fishery.
   1887 Colonist Christmas No 7 The merchants of St John's memorialized the Governor, expressing their sorrow that the number of public houses had been reduced from twenty-four to twelve, 'which has considerably decreased the strength of civil power in this place, as every publican served the office of constable,' and fishery servants waiting their passage 'home' cannot find houses enough for their entertainment, and lie about the streets and under flakes, 'endangering the town to fire and continued broils.' P 102-60 Two of the firm's sealers would be at Blanc Sablon for the summer and if a poor fishery around the first of August would be fitted with cod traps, boats, splitting tables, etc, and a number of fishery servants with sufficient supplies for a month or two.

Go Back