Fishing Proprietors

fter 1660, fishing proprietors occupied the beaches on a permanent basis and fished year-round.

Under the Treaty of Utrecht (1713), the French proprietors from the colony of Placentia in Newfoundland were given the best beaches on Cape Breton to compensate for the losses they suffered when they were deported. The size of the property they were allotted reflected the extent of their activities, and they were supposed to manage it themselves. However, proprietors sometimes leased or sold their beach to non-residents. Unoccupied beaches remained accessible to European ships.

The life of the fishing proprietors was based only on the cod fishery. They exchanged their dried cod for imported goods such as fishing gear, salt, rigging for boats, food, beverages, clothing and household utensils.