50 The Sea

Coumy Pictures of the Past by [cards

The Gorton Pew Fish Factory

Another innovation 3 little after the turn ofthis century was the building of an ice house for bait west of Matthew & McLean’s Wharf. The building which held between three and four hundred tons of ice was erected by the Dominion Government and Captain William MacDonald was manager for several years under a Gorton Pew Fisheries lease. Later it was auctioned off and bought by Matthew & McLean Ltd. who installed diesel engined ice making machinery. It is remembered now as the “old freezer” and was torn down a few years ago.

Regulations And Changes

Regulations for fishing were among the earliest concern of our Island governments. The first licenses of which there is any trace were issued September 15, 1788 to Thomas Shaw and Lewis Gallant as “cullers offish”. This would suggest some form of government grading and inspection but the full facts are misted by time. One hundred years later the Island had their best poet, John Hunter Duvar, as ChiefIsland inspector ofthe Domin- ion Fishery Service, at which time Henry Morrow of Souris was one of the King’s County inspectors.

The most notable change in the fisheries has to do with transportation. The internal combustion engine made possible the motor boat which