APeriod ofTransition 151 
     
    
   
   
    
     The average daily catch per boat is between twelve hundred and eighteen 
     
     hundred mackerel. This is a godsend for everyone, including the fishermen 
     
     and the fish merchants. (TR)'® 
     
    
   
   
    
     The following year, however, mackerel was much scarcer. The 
     
     fishermen in Rustico said the decrease was caused by a proliferation 
     
     of lobster traps in the fishing grounds'®*. The prime market for mack- 
     
     erel was in the United States. It was usually sold salted, but by 1886 
     
     it was already being shipped on ice as far away as Boston'®’. 
     
    

    
     Herring was caught mainly in the spring and was used as bait 
     
     for mackerel, cod and lobster fishing, and also for home consumption. 
     
     It was normally salted. 
     
    

    
     During this period the oyster trade, stimulated by the construc- 
     
     tion of the railway, constituted quite a sizeable portion of Island 
     
     exports. Miscouche was one of the main export centres for oysters. 
     
     According to a contributor to the Moniteur Acadien in 1884, three 
     
     local businessmen were exporting large quantities of oysters to 
     
     Montreal and Quebec City. He was referring to Gilbert DesRoches 
     
     (nicknamed the “Oyster King” (TR)), Honoré V. DesRoches, and Jean 
     
     S. Gaudet'®. 
     
    

    
     Cod and hake also constituted significant species for both fisher- 
     
     men and exporters. The fish was salted and dried for both export 
     
     and local consumption. There was also a market for cod liver oil and 
     
     cod sounds and cheeks. 
     
    

    
     In addition to the fish already mentioned, a wide variety of other 
     
     species were also fished in smaller quantities, including salmon, gas- 
     
     pereaux, haddock, halibut, trout, smelts, bass and eels. Most of these 
     
     fish were consumed locally as fresh products’. 
     
    
   
   
    
     FISHERMEN AND FISH PLANT WORKERS 
     
    
   
   
    
     It is true that the expansion of the fisheries, especially lobster, 
     
     did result in the creation of many jobs on the fishing boats and in 
     
     the fish-processing plants. While attracting large numbers of Acadian 
     
     men and women, these jobs were nevertheless seasonal and poorly 
     
     paid. But at a time when there was little money and when jobs on 
     
     the Island were scarce, even meager salaries were not to be scorned. 
     
     In 1881 the fisheries inspector wrote the following on this matter: