The Impact Of Foreign Countries On Atlantic Fisheries

The Impact of Foreign Countries on the Northwest Atlantic Fishery

The Northwest Atlantic Fishery is a monumental part of the United States' history as well culture. This fishery has also fueled much controversy within the US in years past, and still continues to do so today. Throughout history commercial fishing in the Northwest Atlantic as well as the United States of America, have endured many changes which have created problems within them. These changes have included things like upgrades in technology, operating costs of fishing, quotas on the amount of fish being caught, territorial boundaries for fishing, the amount of fish available to catch, speculations over the idea of over fishing, as well as many others. However, the one thing which remained constant in the fishery was the presence of countries, other than the US, fishing in the Northwest Atlantic. The impact of foreign countries on the Northwest Atlantic Fishery, as well as the United States, has been felt for hundreds of years. The presence of non-US fishing vessels in Northwest Atlantic waters dates back to as early as the 1400's. These fishing vessels were coming from many different places around the world. The countries that have sent ships to fish the Northwest Atlantic waters include Poland, Germany, France, Italy, Norway, Greece, Spain, Japan, Romania, Bulgaria, Cuba, Mexico, Portugal, Russia, as well as others. In spite of the fact that foreign countries have had success fishing in waters much closer to their homes, they have continually sent fleets of fishing vessels to the Northwest Atlantic in search of profitable returns. Year after year foreign boats fished on the Grand Banks and around the Gulf of the St. Lawrence. It wasn't until the mid 1900's that foreign fishing boats began to flock to the area of Georges Banks and intrude on the place where American fishermen had been fishing. As a result of fishing by foreign countries in this area, a tremendous amount of turmoil was created that affected America as well as the fishery itself. Throughout the conflict of other countries fishing in the Northwest Atlantic, fishermen have encountered several political issues, environmental concerns, and struggles with International Affairs. Although the presence of foreign countries has resulted in numerous dreadful changes in the fishery, it has not always had such a ghastly effect. The most detrimental changes in history dealing with foreign countries did not begin until the twentieth century when these countries began to threaten the American fishing industry as well as the well being of fish stocks throughout the Northwest Atlantic. The United States tried to impose many agreements in efforts to lessen the impact that foreign countries had on the fisheries of the Northwest Atlantic. Some of their attempts have been fairly successful while others have not. But while different people such as fishermen and scientists have presented their opinions as to what caused the changes that created such controversy throughout the history of this fishery, the only thing that seems certain is that the impact of foreign countries did exactly that.

The presence of countries other than the US fishing in Northwest Atlantic waters dates back as early as the fifteenth century. An Englishman named John Cabot undertook a voyage for Henry VII of England in hopes of finding the northern spice route in which Columbus had missed. What Cabot found instead was a coastline that was ideal for fishing. Cabot came across a piece of land which is now known as Newfoundland. Cabot claimed the land for England and reported that he believed it would be a profitable fishing area. A few decades after Cabot's findings, Jacques Cartier discovered the mouth of the St. Lawrence and claimed it for France. Cartier also noted in his discovery, the presence of 1,000 Basque fishing vessels who had not claimed the area for anyone (Source 3, pp. 28 and 29). Although Cabot and Cartier had each made their discoveries, it wasn't until years after Cabot's voyage when the presence of non-US fishing boats became truly substantial. It was reported that in the late 1500's the number of foreign boats fishing in the area climbed to approximately 300. The boats which were fishing at that time were coming from Spain, France, England, as well as Portugal. These fishing vessels continued to flock to the waters surrounding Newfoundland and it is reported that in 1744, there were 564 fishing boats just from France (Source 1, pp. 117). Gradually, more and more fishing boats from other foreign nations began to mob the waters of the Northwest Atlantic Ocean. Foreign countries began to shift more attention to the waters surrounding the Grand Banks than the area closer to their homes. They gradually began to realize that there was an abundance of fish to be caught there and envisioned the wealth that could become of it. The common attitude amongst these foreign countries was that since the sea had such an overwhelming amount of fish; there would never become a lack of resources to fish.

Foreign fishing boats continued to fish in the Northwest Atlantic for years to follow, still carrying the idea of unlimited resources with them. An example of this notion was written in 1732 by Dr. Thomas Fuller of England as he said; "Be content, the sea hath enough" (Source 1, pp. 118). It wasn't until the 1950's when foreigners realized that their theory might not be correct. During this time the foreign fishermen on the Grand Banks suddenly began to find that the fish in which they had before thought were unlimited, were becoming scarce. As a result of minimal resources around the Grand Banks, foreign fleets were forced to go somewhere else in hopes of finding more fish (Source 1, pp. 118 and 119).

This was the first major step in on going conflicts between American and foreign fishermen. In a similar approach used by American fishermen, foreign fishermen usually fished for a specific type of fish like cod or haddock, where a steady market was already established. The approach of the foreign fishermen began to change as they started to voyage farther south of the Grand Banks to look for more fish. They started fish in new places as well as fish for new types of fish. The reason for the sudden change in what areas and what types of fish foreign vessels targeted was a result of the high cost of operating and maintaining fishing boats capable of long fishing trips across the ocean. Foreign countries needed desperately to keep their boats in the water, but at the same time catch enough fish to gain a profit of every voyage (Source 1, pp. 119). To accomplish this, foreign ships began to stray from their strategy of catching only those fish with established markets and started catching any type of fish with