FISHERIES OF THE PROVINCE OF QUEBEC 



sedentary fishery, represented that they could subsist on the 

 trade of wood and furs in which they were engaged during 

 the winter, leaving themselves seven months in which to prose- 

 cute the fisheries, the returns from which should consequently 

 be clear profits for them. From these fisheries they should 

 take and salt salmon, trout, bar, mackerel and sturgeons, 

 while whales, walrus, porpoises and seals would furnish them 

 oil for shipment to France at prices which would enable them 

 to command that trade and to shut foreigners out from it. 



It was contended that the location 

 of Perce was better adapted for a 

 fishing industry than any other, the 

 fish being so abundant in the vicinity 

 that it was unnecessary for the fisher- 

 men to go far from the coast, while 

 the anchorage was good everywhere, 

 the beaches very suitable for the dry- 

 ing of fish, and the whole establish- 

 ment easily defended by the erection 

 of a fort. 



As Mgr. Colbert was not favorable 

 to the money grant asked by Pierre 

 Denys towards the support of his 

 fishing establishment at Perce, Denys proposed a new ar- 

 rangement which was not calculated to cost the Crown any- 

 thing. This application, which was for permission to take 

 from D'Anjou and Tourraine, without payment of export 

 dues, all the wines and brandy required for hits establish- 

 ment, as well as for supplying the settlement at Quebec, was 

 granted. 



In 1689 Denys was reminded by instructions from 

 Duchesne, in an autograph letter dated at Paris on the 16th 

 of March, that he should seek out all possible objects of pros- 

 pective commerce in the colony, such as salmon prepared in 

 three different manners, namely smoked, preserved and salted, 

 as well as all natural curiosities, rare animals and furs, in- 

 cluding the skins of bears, otters, martens, and even of sal- 



Golbert. 



