| Reviews / Comptes Rendus | Labour/Le Travail, 50

Reviews / Comptes Rendus

Miriam Wright, A Fishery for Modern Times: The State and the Industrialization of the Newfoundland Fishery, 1934–1968 (Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press, 2001).

A FISHERY FOR Modern Times is the end product of a project that began for Miriam Wright with her Masters' degree at Queen's University followed by her PhD at Memorial University of Newfoundland. The book covers the entry of Newfoundland into confederation with Canada under Joey Smallwood and traces his involvement in the provincial fisheries during his five terms in office.	1
As most people are profoundly aware, the fisheries have been central to the economy of Newfoundland. Wright begins her historical account with the transition from self-government (granted in 1855 as a British Dominion) to 1934 when it "voluntarily suspended its democratic political institutions in favour of a British-appointed Commission of Government. From 1934 to 1949, a team of six appointed administrators managed all aspects of Newfoundland's civil and political life, from health and education to justice and economic development." (10) Wright argues that state involvement in the fishery began "in earnest" with the arrival of the Commission of Government in 1934. The problems experienced by the fishing economy, however, can be traced back much earlier, at least to the beginning of the 19th century when fishing was basically a family enterprise supported by a system of mercantile credit. The major processing of fish involved salting. While Newfoundland was once the "world's largest exporter of salted fish," by the end of the 19th century its predominant position had eroded.	2
Under the Commission of Government there was a concerted attempt by those holding political power to "modernize" the Newfoundland economy, a project taken up with vigour by Joey Smallwood when he became premier of the new province.	3
At an ideological level, frozen fish offered the path to the creation of a modern, industrial society in Newfoundland. At the practical level, providing loans to the frozen-fish companies, which offered employment and cash to fishers for fish, seemed an easier way to develop the economy and reduce dependence on merchant credit. In the process, a new partnership arose between the government and a small number of companies willing to enter the new frozen-fish sector. This alliance laid the foundation for a long-term relationship between private enterprise and the state in fisheries development in Newfoundland. Indeed, it became an enduring characteristic of postwar fisheries policy. (35–36)	4
Much of the book traces the struggles of provincial politicians and businessmen to transform the fisheries from what they considered to be an antiquated processing method (and part of a "feudal" economy) and bring the economy and society into the "modern" industrial era. In particular the modernization project involved technological developments in frozen-fish processing. With the widespread adoption of the refrigerator able to hold frozen-fish sticks, many in the fishing industry on both sides of the border felt that American consumption of fish would escalate significantly, a trend that did not emerge in the long run. While some, like William J. Keough (Newfoundland's first Minister of Fisheries), became proponents of the co-operative movement, Smallwood developed an industrial vision, modelled on modernization theory, for the people of Newfoundland. In particular, he pushed for the transformation of fishing communities from family-based salt fishing enterprises to homes of the personnel for international corporate competitors in the frozen fish sector. In the process, women's roles changed from drying and curing fish on shore to working as waged labour within capitalist-owned processing plants. As well, the small boat inshore fishery was affected when loans were given to encourage fishers and private companies to purchase trawlers and longliners that could fish further out from shore.	5
Joey Smallwood was an instrumental figure in promoting the newer processing technologies and there is much here in the way of detailed archival information of his dealings with individual entrepreneurs, especially Arthur Monroe. Monroe's Fishery Products Limited became the beneficiary of millions of dollars in provincial government loans granted to build freezing plants in targeted communities and acquire trawlers and other working capital. "Arthur Monroe's Fishery Products Limited became Smallwood's unoffficial 'instrument' of fisheries development." (86) Wright also chronicles many of Smallwood's negotiations with Canadian federal government officials to contribute loans to the private businesses earmarked by Smallwood, an initiative federal state bureaucrats were reluctant to endorse.	6
As this very brief synopsis indicates, the book identifies many of the key political and entrepreneurial figures involved in negotiating the direction of fisheries development in Newfoundland. As we have seen, the decisions adopted contributed to the near extinction of ground fish species, especially the cod, in the 1990s. Internal decisions and plans were exacerbated in this respect by the same technological developments allowing huge factory trawlers to capture enormous quantities of cod off shore and to process it on board. Newfoundlanders referred to the "city of trawlers" that could be seen from shore, trawlers owned by foreign countries intercepting cod catches and contributing nothing to the local economy. In the 1950s, annual landings for the Newfoundland fishery ranged from 100,000 to 300,000 tonnes. With the arrival of the international factory-freezer trawlers, a historic high of 810,000 tonnes was registered in 1968, with the majority of the catch made by foreign fleets. "Without fishing quotas of any kind until the early 1970s, the European vessels were legally entitled to catch as much fish as they wished." (106)	7
When it became apparent that a crisis was in the making due to overfishing, particularly by foreign trawlers intercepting cod that had historically migrated inshore, the federal government was reluctantly forced to play a key role in international negotiations. Fishing nations lobbied for the adoption of a twelve-mile fishing limit and for baselines using straight lines drawn across coastlines rather than from the points of land that would necessarily include the many small bays and inlets marking Atlantic and Pacific coasts. This was occurring during the Cold War, and the American military objected to the proposed maritime laws, because of their defence implications. The "freedom of the sea" ideology, so much a feature of 19th-century Western thinking, was giving way to haggling over which countries controlled and had access to the world's oceans; in particular, to the rich resources contained within and under its waters.	8
Alongside the rich archival and historical data relating to the political and economic transactions that transformed and eventually almost killed the Newfoundland fishing economy, there is also a theoretical theme. Wright draws on Antonio Gramsci's concept of hegemony to demonstrate that there was nothing predetermined in how the fisheries were transformed through the decisions, negotiations, and actions of politicians, state bureaucrats, and capitalists. The sad note here is that there is nothing that guarantees the same mistakes will not be made all over again should the cod recover. The theoretical analysis is not very well developed. While she briefly discusses hegemonic concepts at the beginning and conclusion of various chapters, Wright fails to develop an altenative, counter-hegemonic discourse of her own that could weave together the whole of the book. It is clear that her skill lies in her archival and historical training rather than in her theoretical analysis. This is a shame because for all of its careful historical detail, maybe precisely due to this focus, the book comes across as a very dry read. If Wright were to pay more attention to integrating and developing a truly counter-hegemonic discourse in her own writing, she could elevate her project that extra notch and demonstrate how this piece of history holds lessons for all of us. In particular, such a discourse would require the inclusion of the fishers and their communities as key players. Currently, despite some mention of the role of women in processing, the people most directly involved in the fisheries occupy a marginal place in the study.	9
Alicja Muszynski University of Waterloo

Content in the History Cooperative database is intended for personal, noncommercial use only. You may not reproduce, publish, distribute, transmit, participate in the transfer or sale of, modify, create derivative works from, display, or in any way exploit the History Cooperative database in whole or in part without the written permission of the copyright holder.