eBook

Fishing a Borderless Sea

Payne, Brian J.

2010

Overview

Over the centuries, processing and distribution of products from land and sea has stimulated the growth of a global economy. In the broad sweep of world history, it may be hard to imagine a place for the meager little herring baitfish. Yet, as Brian Payne adeptly recounts, the baitfish trade was hotly contested in the Anglo-American world throughout the nineteenth century. Politicians called for wars, navies were dispatched with guns at the ready, vessels were seized at sea, and violence erupted at sea.Yet, the battle over baitfish was not simply a diplomatic or political affair. Fishermen from hundreds of villages along the coastline of Atlantic Canada and New England played essential roles in the construction of legal authority that granted or denied access to these profitable bait fisheries.Fishing a Borderless Seaillustrates how everyday laborers created a complex system of environmental stewardship that enabled them to control the local resources while also allowing them access into the larger global economy.

• Publisher: Michigan State University Press
• Subject: 19th century / 20th century / Baitfish fisheries / Baitfish fisheries -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 19th century / Baitfish fisheries -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History -- 20th century / Commerce / Fishers / Fishers -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History / Fishery law and legislation / Fishery law and legislation -- History / Fishery resources / Fishery resources -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History / HISTORY / International economic relations / International economic relations -- History -- 19th century / International economic relations -- History -- 20th century / North America / North Atlantic Ocean / North Atlantic Ocean -- Commerce -- History / Social conflict / Social conflict -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History / Territorial waters / Territorial waters -- North Atlantic Ocean -- History
• ISBN: 9780870138744, 087013874X