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fishing vbl n Cp OED ~ sb1 1 b (c1300-1814), DAE (1622-) for
sense 1; for combs. in sense 2: OED admiral: ~ admiral (1708), DC Nfld
(1718-); DAE ~ bank(s) (1789-), DC (1765-); DC ~ berth (Nfld: 1916);
OED ~ boat (1732-), DAE (1705-); DAE ~ boot (1894); OED ~
ground (1641), DAE (1668-); DAE ~ lead (1661); DC ~ post (1807-);
OED ~ room (1879), DC Nfld (1713-); OED ~ season (1699), DAE
(1656-); DAE ~ shallop (1704-26); OED ~ ship (1785), DAE
(1637-1708); OED ~ smack (1876-), DAE (1819-); DAE ~ stage (1705-),
DC Nfld (1715-); DAE ~ station (1828-), DC (1832-); OED ~
trade (1662-), DAE (1636-); DAE ~ vessel (1684-); DAE ~ voyage
(1682-).
1 The action or occupation of prosecuting the marine
fishing industry, specif the cod-fishery.
[1578] 1895 PROWSE 34
The English are commonly lords of the harbour where they fish, and use all strangers'
help in fishing if need require, according to an old custom of the country. [1583] 1940
Gilbert's Voyages & Enterprises ii, 406 Also Cod, which alone draweth many
nations thither, and is become the most famous fishing of the world. 1620 WHITBOURNE 34
... those Ships and men so sent, may be so fitted and provided with Salt, Nets. Hooks,
Lines and such like provisions, as those Ships and men are, which yeerely saile thither a
fishing. [1653] 1895 PROWSE 168 That all provisions imported for sale necessarye for
fishing be free for any person to buy. [1715] 1976 HEAD 79 It is almost entirely
different from ye common way of fishing in other places. There must be large Boats to
carry off ye fish taken by ye Little Ones. [1877] 1895 PROWSE 505 In return Great Britain
had conceded to the United States the right of fishing in ... Newfoundland waters in
common with British subjects. [1929] 1933 GREENLEAF (ed) 241 "The Crowd of Bold
Sharemen": For we were bound fishing in the Strait of Belle Isle / Our skipper wouldn't
give us one stain of our ile. [1951] 1965
PEACOCK (ed) i, 105 "The
Banks of Newfoundland": 'Twas east-be-south we steered. me b'ys, the Grand Banks for to
find. / To prosecute the fishing there we all felt well-inclined. [1952] ibid i, 58 "Hard
Times": Oh now comes the merchant to see your supply: / 'The fine side of fishing we'll
have bye and bye, / Seven dollars for large and six-fifty for small.' / Pick out your
West Indie, you got nothing at all, / And it's hard,. hard times. C 71-98 When you ask
someone how the fishing is (in reference to trouting in a pond or stream), they won't
understand. To them fishing is strictly from the ocean.
2 Attrib,
comb, cpd fishing admiral: the master of the first English migratory fishing
vessel to reach a harbour in Newfoundland. exercising certain privileges for the season;
ADMIRAL.
[1693] 1793 REEVES xii Any difference or controversy ...
shall be judged and determined by the fishing admirals. [1706] 1895 PROWSE 267 Fishing
Admirals and masters of ships do not exactly observe the Rules of the Act. [1810] 1971
ANSPACH 7 With respect to the provisions in the 10th and 11th, of Wm. the 3rd. relative
to the fishing Admirals, which, it is represented have long since... 1895 PROWSE 226 Mr
Pearce, of Twillingate, who died not long ago, remembered as a boy seeing a man
triangled—tied by the outstretched arms—and whipped by order of a fishing
admiral.
fishing bank: an underseas elevation or shoal
forming a fishing ground; BANK.
[1766] 1973 Can Hist Rev
liv, 268 One of Cook's major discoveries was 'a fishing bank (hitherto unknown by
fishermen),' located between the Penguin and Ramea Islands. and 'abounding with very
large cod and at a time when they were very scarce on every other part of the coast.'
1818 CHAPPELL 51 In the fishing season, it is resorted to by at least 10,000 people, on
account of the fishing banks. 1837 BLUNT 58 The whole bay and the adjacent coasts abound
with cod, and extensive fishing banks lie all along the coasts. 1865 Sailing
Directions 57 Off this point is a fishing bank ... having from 20 to 36 fathoms over
it. P 102-60 [The vessel] would steam out to the fishing bank and heading the tide at a
very low speed ... the twine would follow of its own accord.
fishing berth: a particular station on the fishing grounds
assigned to or claimed by a vessel, boat, crew, or family; BERTH 3.
1916 DUNCAN 175 It is a long way for fame to carry—north to
the uttermost fishing-berths of the Labrador.
fishing boat:
a fishing craft of variable size, design and rig, used in the inshore fishery; BOAT.
1613 Willoughby Papers 17a, 1/2 We maye serve the fishinge
fleete with boords to make fishinge boats whereof they bringe good store yearely from
England. 1620 WHITBOURNE 63 There are many men, yeerly, who unlawfully convey away other
mens fishing boates. from the Harbour & place where they were left ye yeere before.
1819 ANSPACH 300 They even now, with evident signs of dread and horror, show a cove where
upwards of two hundred fishing-boats perished, with all their crews. 1866 WILSON 287 The
boats that used to be employed in this hazardous voyage [sealing] were open
fishing-boats. 1954 INNIS 155-6 The fishing industry depended upon the initiative of the
individual fisherman, and for the old incentive of profit sharing in the fishing ships,
new devices were found. The fishing boat became the basic unit, and the wage or truck
system was in part an adaptation to this unit. 1960 FUDGE 2 [The merchant] had one large
fishing boat ... of 20 tons.
fishing boot: a high leather
boot formerly worn by fishermen. See also SMALLWOOD BOOT.
1936
SMITH 12 I shall never forget my first crop that I had--one pair of long-tongued fishing
boots and a suit of oilskins, including a sou'wester. 1975 BUTLER 88 My son, you are
going on a rough trip. Put on your knee high leather fishing boots and your heavy woolen
cap, and strap your oilskins on your suitcase.
fishing crew:
a group (of persons) engaged or 'shipped' by a merchant, planter or skipper to
conduct the various branches and operations of fishing, usu on the share system. See also
CREW.
1882 TALBOT 22 The vessel contained the principal portion of
his own family ... there, with his fishing crew of seven to eight men. 1966 PHILBROOK 60
Nipper's Harbour crews engaged in catching and curing fish are of two types: the trap
crew made up of a skipper and three to five crew men; and the fishing crew, usually two
men and formed by pairing of trap crew members. 1973 HORWOOD 11 The fishing crew, with
the exception of Harry, abandoned the voyage and went home.
fishing establishment: in a coastal settlement, the business
of a fish merchant, usu the branch of a firm with headquarters in St John's or Britain,
comprising the premises and the operations of taking and shipping the catch in exchange
for supplies to the fishermen; ESTABLISHMENT.
1846 TOCQUE 278
Rove-beetles are now swarming every fishing establishment. 1861 DE BOILIEU 44 The
Labrador Fishing Establishment is also a general store, and when any one requires
supplies the mode of dealing is entirely by barter. 1895 PROWSE 598 Cartwright and Darby
had a fishing establishment at Cape Charles, beginning 1767. 1951 Nfld & Lab
Pilot i, 318 Job's room, consisting of a fishing establishment with several prominent
white houses and a flagstaff, stands on the eastern entrance point of the Rivière
Blanc Sablon, on each side of which are wharves.
fishing fleet:
the West Country-Newfoundland migratory fishing vessels. See also fishing
ship.
[1583] 1940 Gilbert's Voyages & Enterprises ii,
401 [Hayes' narrative] Whither also came immediately the Masters and owners of the
fishing fleete of Englishmen, to understand the Generals intent and cause of our arrivall
there. 1610 Willoughby Papers 17a, 1/2 When a saw-mill is rected here we maye
serve the fishinge fleete with boords to make fishing boats whereof they bringe food
store yearely from England. 1626 [VAUGHAN] The Golden Fleece 26 After the
Fishing Fleetes are returned homewards, we are safe, for the windes are commonly
from August out Westerly, whereby none can come to us.
fishing ground: an area of shoal water with abundant
bait-fish, plankton, etc, where fishing is successfully carried out; GROUND.
[1683] 1976 HEAD 35 Though there be Harbours and conveniences on
shoare for the making of Fish there is not fishing ground or can constantly be fish
enough for so many Boates as they have kept. [1763] 1973 Can Hist Rev liv, 252 The
island of St Pierre was 'as subject to fogs as any part of Newfoundland, yet if we may
credit the late planters it is very convenient for catching and curing of cod fish, there
being good fishing ground all round the Island.' 1819 ANSPACH 285 [There] is an elevated
space giving from ten to twenty-five fathoms, which is designated by the appellation of
Rough Fishing-ground. 1861 DE BOILIEU 27 You may observe some two hundred boats or more
on the Fishing Ground, the occupants sitting, still and dark, against the clear,
sparkling atmosphere. 1898 PROWSE 316 Any one who shall throw overboard or deposit upon
any fishing ground or ledges in or near the coasts of Newfoundland or Labrador, any
heads, entrails, bones or offal of codfish. Penalty, not exceeding $200, or in default of
payment, imprisonment not exceeding 60 days. [1900 OLIVER & BURKE] 36 "Lines on the
Sad Drowning": They left home Saturday morning, / On the fishing ground to go. 1937
DEVINE 62 'Cape St Mary's will pay for all.' A saying of the large number of fishermen
who frequented this favourite fishing ground. 1960 FUDGE 10 We secured a baiting from the
netters there, and in a short while were anchored on the fishing grounds. 1975 BUTLER 105
The island, situated out in the bay as it was, was much the same as a vessel anchored on
the fishing grounds.
fishing jack: schooner-rigged decked
vessel of from five to twenty-five tons; JACK1.
[1883]
1898 Nfld Law Reports 516 This was a case of collision in which the plaintiff's
fishing jack was run down by the defendant's schooner, and her hull damaged, and mainsail
carried away &c. 1916 GRENFELL 137 It were only a fishing-jack, t' old
Dayspring, us had. 1944 LAWTON & DEVINE 14 [Sealers could] tell how fast a
vessel was going by listening to the swish of the log line over the taffrel. They could
handle a brig like a fishing jack. P 243-56 ~ Boat next in size to the bully boat,
usually about 10 tons, rigged with fore and aft sails.
fishing
lead: a lead weight used in hook-and-line fishing; LEAD1.
[1751-66] 1954 INNIS 181 [inventory] To fishing Leads 56 pounds.
[1771] 1792 CARTWRIGHT i, 94 The woodmen were employed in new-casting, and ganging
fishing leads. M 68-7 The fishing lead is used to sink the line and bait when you are
fishing with a hand line. The lead varies in weight. If you are fishing in deep water a
heavy lead would be used but in shallow water a lead half its size would be used.
fishing ledge: an underwater elevation, steep-to frequented
by cod; LEDGE.
[1778] 1863 PEDLEY 132 We ... inform you of the
dangerous situation which we at this time are in, as the enemy (say a brig of twelve
guns) has been on the fishing ledge, and destroyed eight large shallops and craft. [1863]
1954 INNIS 397 We attribute the cause mainly to the custom adopted, of using Cod seines
along the shore here, which runs almost in close proximity with our fishing ledges,
impeding and proving a complete obstacle to our mode of fishing.
fishing plantation: area of foreshore and buildings upon it
for the landing and curing of fish; PLANTATION, ROOM.
1828
MCGREGOR 209 [The Newfoundland dogs] are very serviceable in all the fishing plantations,
and are yoked in pairs and used to haul the winter fuel home.
fishing post: see fishing station.
[1785] 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii, 72 I had informed my assignees, that
the fishing-posts and the buildings thereon, were well worth a thousand pounds. [1862]
1878 TOCQUE 294 The proprietors of the vessels of these various classes draw lots every
five years for the right of occupying the various fishing settlements on the coast; the
best numbers select the best fishing posts, and so on to the least advantageous.
fishing premises: the waterfront stores, sheds, wharf and
other facilities of a merchant or planter; PREMISES, ROOM.
1895
PROWSE 183 [He] thus put an end to the constant fighting that went on about the
debateable subject of fishing premises, known in Newfoundland as rooms. 1938
FPU (Twillingate) Minutes 29 Dec It is impossible for fishermen to exist under
present conditions and keep fishing premises, boats and gear in repair. 1975 BUTLER 60
Most were employed as fishermen while three or four worked on the room or the fishing
premises as the merchant's premises were called in those early days.
fishing punt: an undecked boat, 20-25 ft. (6.096-7.62 m) in
length, round-bottomed and keeled, driven by oars or sail; PUNT.
1849 [FEILD] 98 At St Jacques we found a fishing-punt waiting for
us. 1871 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 9 In running up the Tickle we passed a fishing
punt in which a man and his wife were trying for cod. [1952] 1965 PEACOCK (ed) i, 137
"High Times in Our Ship": We started to scrape down the last of the month, / We hoist Joe
aloft in the big fishing punt.
fishing room: a tract or
parcel of land on the waterfront of a cove or harbour from which a fishery is conducted;
the stores, sheds, flakes, wharves and other facilities where the catch is landed and
processed, and the crew housed; ROOM.
[1652] 1954 INNIS 96 Every
planter in each harbour may take their stages and fishing room together in one part of
the harbour. [1713-14] 1793 REEVES 76 In such case should the ships fishing rooms of that
harbour be taken up before he arrives, they often remove some planter or other for him
(an acquaintance], pretending that the planter's title is not good to the room he
possesses, when the commanders of men of war, some years before, adjudged it to be the
said planter's right. [1785] 1792 CARTWRIGHT iii, 49 This harbour was formerly full of
fishing-rooms, but the very frequent depredations of the American privateers in the last
war caused every merchant and planter to abandon it. [1810] 1971 ANSPACH 5 But a spot of
ground of a limited extent might be annexed to each fishing room, for potatoes and
cabbage gardens to be held by lease from a yearly rent and in every other respect to be
held on the same tenure as the fishing room. 1870 HOWLEY MS Reminiscences 26 How
Spanish Room came by its name I could not ascertain but in all probability in olden days
during the earlier prosecution of the fisheries by foreigners some Spaniards may have
located here and established what was called a fishing room. 1916 GRENFELL 35 Once the
die is cast, a house built. a fishing-room established, a fur path secured. the settler
here, like the limpet on our rocks, finds moving to a distance almost an impossibility.
1936 SMITH 33 Mr Smith himself was on board to supervise the building of the different
fishing rooms at Edwards Harbour. 1960 Evening Telegram 11 Aug, p. 7 Eighty years
ago in summer there would be a regular exodus of families from Conception Bay to
Labrador. They had fishing room at the various harbours all down the coast from Battle
Harbour to Turnavik. T 54-64 That summer I fished ashore on th' easter side o' Hilliard's
Harbour, where th' only fishin' room was on th' easter side o' the harbour. T 192/3-65
There's only one or two fishin' rooms in this arm now.
fishing
salt: a kind of coarse salt used to cure fish; fishery salt; SALT n.
1977 BURSEY 32 He was sailing toward Labrador with his traps and
fishing salt aboard with supplies for six months.
fishing
season: the period of the principal fishery for cod from spring to early autumn;
SEASON.
[1652] 1895 PROWSE 153 These were ... young men who came
over as Servants ... divers of whom were brought from Newfoundland for the fishing
season. [1693] 1793 REEVES iv That (according to the ancient custom there used) every
such fishing ship from England, Wales, or Berwick, or such fisherman as shall, from and
after the said twenty-fifth day of March shall enter any harbour or creek in
Newfoundland, in behalf of his ship, shall be admiral of the said harbour or creek
during that fishing season. 1708 OLDMIXON 14 The Fishing-season is from Spring to
September. [1794] 1968 THOMAS 33 There were many Passengers on board, men who
engaged themselves in the fishing season at Newfoundland for a certain price. 1837 BLUNT
3 This is a snug and secure harbor, though small, and generally filled with vessels,
during the fishing season, considerable fisheries being carried on in its vicinity. 1895
PROWSE 602 Planters, with their families and household belongings, including their dogs
and goats, used annually to transport themselves to the Labrador for the fishing season.
fishing servant: a person indentured, or engaged on 'shares'
or wages, for a period in the fishery; FISHERY SERVANT, SERVANT1 .
[1794] 1968 THOMAS 113 My Friends are my Irish Fishing Servants now
in the Kitchen who, I am confident, will be as noisy and as merry and as friendly
with you as your best Friends in England, providing you pay for the Liquor.
[1867] 1899 Nfld Law Reports 215 If it were the law that a fishing servant would
not be bound by an agreement he should make with a merchant to accept an immediate
settlement of his wages in any particular mode agreed upon. [1896] SWANSBOROUGH 7 "May":
The fishing servants are shipped now [in May].
fishing
shallop: a large partly-decked boat used in the inshore cod and seal-fisheries;
SHALLOP.
1837 BLUNT 46 On its western side there is a small creek
admitting fishing shallops.
fishing ship: a British vessel
engaged seasonally in the Newfoundland cod-fishery; a large decked vessel.
1613 Willoughby Papers 17a, 35 Att our arrivall here we
found the fishinge shipps not departed, having ended there fishinge and expectinge a
faire wind, kept in by easterlie winds. [1676] 1895 PROWSE 206 English fishing ships
commonly all gone in September or quickly in October—not to sail out of England till
1st March. [1693] 1793 REEVES iv (quot at fishing season). [1701] 1895 PROWSE 228 These
bye boat keepers could afford to sell their fish cheaper than the Adventurers, which must
lessen the number of fishing ships. 1903 Nfld Qtly Mar, p. 17 There were spaces
set apart or specially reserved for the purpose, and known as the fishing ships' rooms.
1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 386 Fishing Ship harbour, which has regular
communication by sea with other Labrador and Newfoundland ports, is a small sound, with
depths of from 4 to 16 fathoms.
fishing skiff: a large
undecked boat of up to thirty feet (9.14 m) in length, used to set and haul nets or
traps; SKIFF.
1923 GRENFELL 153 So in b'tween times I hauled out
the wood to build a fishin' skiff on my own. T 455-672 Small skiffs or fishin' skiffs.
We've a-build them, I've a-build them. What we always used here, Sir, was a fifteen- and
sixteen-foot keel.
fishing smack: small decked vessel used
esp to collect fish from fishermen for shipment; SMACK2.
1886 Colonist Christmas No 9 The labor of the week is o'er,
the fishing-smacks are securely moored at the stage-heads, while the smaller skiffs are
hauled upon the beach. [1900 OLIVER & BURKE] 20 [He was] nothing the worse after his
night under the fishing smack. M 68-20 Every two days the fishing smack from Gaultois
used to come and bring ice and take the fish.
fishing stage:
an elevated platform on the shore with working tables, sheds, etc, at which fish are
landed and processed for salting and drying; STAGE.
1765 ROGERS
5-6 [This Act] proved a poor bulwark against the French, who, in 1705, laid siege to, and
demolished the town of St John's, with all the fishing stages, &c. but could not
reduce the fort. 1866 WILSON 205 ~ a long shed, built out sufficiently far in the water
for the fishing-boats to lie at the stage-head. The stage is supported by posts fixed in
crevices of the rocks, against which the sea often beats. 1937 DEVINE 40 [Strouters are]
the perpendicular posts at the front end of a fishing stage.
fishing stamp: government form administered by a fish-dealer
recording amount of unemployment benefits due a fisherman; STAMP.
1972 NEMEC 92-3 Most St Shotts fishermen depended heavily each
winter on unemployment benefits accrued in the preceding summer while fishing. Now ... an
individual can earn more on the plant than from 'fishing stamps.'
fishing stand: see fishing station.
1839 TUCKER 106-7 The shore inhabitants [of Labrador], in some
instances, amass a small property, by fortunately obtaining possession of some good
sealing post, or fishing stand.
fishing station: a harbour
or other sheltered place on the coast from which the fishery is conducted seasonally;
STATION.
[1788] 1975 Evening Telegram 22 Dec, p. 6 Vessels
were sent to Quirpon, Bay of Islands and [Croque] and other fishing stations for spare
supplies of 'bay' or rock salt. [1831-39] AUDUBON 236 The fishes taken along the coast,
or on fishing-stations only a few miles off, are of small dimensions. 1832 MCGREGOR i,
207 During the fishing season, from 280 to 300 schooners proceed from Newfoundland to the
different fishing-stations on the coast of Labrador. 1866 WILSON 28 ... a spacious inlet
... yet not a good fishing station. 1912 Nfld Qtly Christmas, pp. 26-8 [He]
resides in the little fishing station of Boat Harbour just below Cape Norman.
fishing trade: the comprehensive activity of the
Newfoundland cod-fishery, catching, processing and shipping.
1620
WHITBOURNE 37 And withall it is to be considered, that whereas now there are yeerely at
New-found-land of your Maiesties Subiects ships in the fishing trade, at least
15000. tunne burthen of shipping. [1653] 1895 PROWSE 168 That noe person doe cleminish
take away perloyne or steale ... any other provisions belonginge to ye fishinge Trade or
to ye ships. [1667] ibid 157 ... at which time there was noe Governour there, or above
two or three poor people inhabited there, and such salt, boates, staiges and other
materialls for ye Fishing trade left by ye shippes the Former year. 1863 PEDLEY 206 This
system of credit is that which still prevails in the fishing trade of Newfoundland, one
of those legacies from the past, which, from being interwoven in the habits of the
people, it is so difficult to remove.
fishing vessel: a
large decked fishing craft. Cp fishing ship.
[1649] 1895
PROWSE 161 Desire that two ships may be sent thither if they can be spared to defend the
fishing vessels. [1766] 1976 HEAD 182 A small snug commodious Harbour for Fishing
Vessels. 1960 FUDGE 2 He commanded several fishing vessels [at the Bank fishery]. 1978
Evening Telegram 21 Sep, p. 2 [The] federal government plans to scrap its fishing
vessel insurance program. . .'under the guise of austerity.'
fishing voyage: enterprise or period of fishing; VOYAGE.
1611 Willoughby Papers 17a, 1/10 I have put my help in hand:
to Further the Fishing Voige with the Master. 1620 WHITBOURNE [Sig. C1v] We
likewise then did set forth another Ship, for a fishing Voyage, which also carried some
victuals for those people which had been formerly sent to inhabite there [in
Newfoundland]. [1693] 1793 REEVES viii That all and every person or persons whatsoever,
that shall go over with their servants to Newfoundland, to keep boats on a fishing
voyage, commonly called By-boat keepers, shall not pretend to or meddle with any
house, stage...
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