Newfoundland and Canada - the evolution of fisheries development policies, 1940-1966

Wright, Miriam Carol (1997) Newfoundland and Canada - the evolution of fisheries development policies, 1940-1966. Doctoral (PhD) thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

This thesis examines the history of fisheries development in Newfoundland from World War II to the mid-1960s. In this period, the Newfoundland fishery underwent a dramatic shift, as the older, saltfish industry based on the household economy declined and a new, industrial, frozen fish industry arose in its place. The central question this thesis poses is what was the role of the state in fisheries development and what factors affected the direction of fisheries development? What was the relationship between capital and the state in the development process? Why was the industrial solution, the capital expansion in the frozen fish industry a dominant agenda in fisheries planning. Were there other alternative visions of development that were lost? How did the growth of the foreign fishing fleets in the late 1950s and early 1960s have an affect on the needs of the fishery and fishing people, as well as the state's response to these problems. -- Essentially, this thesis reveals the interconnected web of factors - the multi- layered state, capital, market structures, technology, international relations, demands of fishing industry organizations and fishers' groups and competing visions of the fishery in Newfoundland held by people at all levels of the state and society that influenced the course of development. All factors, however, were not equal, and this thesis employs the Gramscian concept of hegemony to explain how a particular vision of development - the expansion of the industrial, frozen fish sector - came to dominate fisheries policies in this period. Indeed, the hegemonic model of fisheries development, with its connections to the larger western, industrial capitalist culture, first appeared in Newfoundland during the Commission of Government era and has continued to command policy agendas ever since. Providing the cement for the industrial model of development was the relationship that arose between the state and a segment of the capitalist class - a small group of frozen fish companies in Newfoundland. This alliance between capital and the state has been a characteristic feature of post-war fisheries development in Newfoundland. As well, having a profound effect on the course of fisheries development was the intensification of foreign fishing off the Newfoundland coast that began in the mid- 1950s. Not only did this event have an impact on the resource itself, but it also changed the needs and demands of the fishing industry and fishing people. Taken together, the rise of the hegemonic model of fisheries development and the escalation of the international fishery would have profound repercussions for the fishery of the future.

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