Next to the herring, the cod is the world's most important economic fish. During 1901 the aggregate value of the fresh and salt cod landed at Gloucester and Boston, the two lar gest shipping points, was nearly $3,000,000, and the total annual value of the cod-fisheries of both sides of the North Atlantic is about $22, 000,000.
Some idea of the magnitude of the cod fishing industry may be gathered from the fact that out of a total population in Newfoundland of 220,000, more than half that number gains its livelihood from it. The Newfoundland cod fisheries are the oldest in America, and a de scription of the methods pursued there may well represent those of other and younger stations.
The island was discovered, or, granting an earlier discovery by the Northmen, rediscov ered, by John Cabot, 24 June 1497. Soon after this event Portuguese, French, Basque and Spanish fishermen established fisheries on its shores. When, in 1583, Sir Humphrey Gilbert took possession of the island in the name of Queen Elizabeth, small English colonies were established along the east coast, and several French on the southern shore. In 1713 the Treaty of Utrecht declared Newfoundland and its dependencies to belong wholly to Great Britain, but reserved to the French a right to fish and cure on parts of the coast, now known as the °French shore,D extending from Cane Saint John on the east to Cape Ray on the south west. This reserved right has given rise to many complications, but more with respect to the lobster fishery than the cod industry. Of such prominence is the cod in the social economy of the island that the local courts have determined that the word °fish,D if unqualified, must be deemed to mean codfish, which, in the northern and southern coast settlements, is so often used as an equivalent of money as to be called °Newfoundland currency.° It is measured by the quintal of 112 pounds, and in this form pays for food, clothing and medi cines, as well as fees for physicians, the clergy man and the lawyer. The fish °flakes° (see below) are so numerous in all the towns, that it would be impossible to guard their contents; so string_nt laws have been passed to prevent theft, and the convicted thief is frequently sen tenced to several years' imprisonment, though he may take but a single fish.
While Newfoundland craft are to be seen in numbers upon the Grand Banks, during the last few years the crews have confined their operations largely to the waters in the vicinity of the island. Although the cod are somewhat smaller, they are fully as numerous and of ex cellent quality, while in a good season fish weighing 10 or 12 pounds are frequently caught. The vessels range in size from the schooner, 125 feet long and over 100 tons burden, to the sailboat manned by two men, who cast their lines or set their nets under the lee of the rocky shores perhaps not more than 500 feet from land, for schools of fish are to be found in proximity to the coast as well as 100 miles away from it, depending largely upon the course of the Labrador current, which fur nishes their principal food supply. The larger vessels are schooner-rigged, and usually carry two jibs, a mainsail, foresail and main topsail, with sometimes a small jigger extending over the stern, and staysail rigged between the two masts. In addition, they carry a triangular ridingsail to assist in steadying them when at anchor. The larger ones are manned by from 15 to 30 men, provided with lines for deck-fish ing as well as with set lines and trap-nets. Each carries its complement of boats. On arriving at a fishing-ground, a part of the crew throw their lines over from the deck, while others bait and put out the set-lines and the trap-nets from the stnaller boats, and visit them at regular in tervals to gather in the fish, which are taken to the schooner, hastily cleaned, salted and packed in the hold until the °fare° is completed. The captain usually keeps his boat anchored as long as the school which has been °struck° remains. The fish may stay on one feeding ground four or five days, or perhaps disap pear in four or five hours after the vessel has cast anchor. Then the set-lines and nets are taken up, the vessel weighs anchor, and search for another sdiool begins.