French Fishing Stage at Plaisance.
Newfoundland and Labrador's cod fishery was the major pull factor attracting French settlers to the colony from the 16th through 19th centuries. Many French workers remained overseas on a seasonal or temporary basis only, although some also settled on the island permanently.

From D.W. Prowse, A History of Newfoundland from the English, Colonial, and Foreign Records, 2nd edition (London: Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1896) 186.