1147 
of joining the shrimp, tuna, and king crab fishermen in tooling up with modern 
new vessels, to limit the possibility of attracting vigorous young men into the 
fleet, and to restrict their activities pretty well to high-grading the higher priced 
resources of flounder and scallop which they could reach with the smaller vessels 
with which they were left, whose rather restricted (if more lucrative) markets 
the foreign fishermen could not reach quite so easily as could they. The net, and 
humiliating, effect was to be shrunk back from first place in the Northwest 
Atlantic fishery to eighth or ninth place, and become the butt of study team 
after study team from Washington, D.C. who held them to be inefficient, overage 
and outmoded because policy established in Washington, D.C. had been successful 
and had knocked their economic feet out from under them. 
In the last few years the final ignomy has been added by large, modern fleets 
of Russian trawlers appearing even on George’s Bank and putting sufficient 
added fishing effort on haddock and silver hake resources so that these have 
become heavily overfished, which has brought additional economic hardship to 
the New England trawlers. 
To the humiliation and economic distress was added the excessive irritation of 
losing their markets in the United States primarily to Canadian fishermen who 
received increasing and lavish vessel construction subsidies and much related 
sensible and effective support, from both the Canadian Federal and Provincial 
Governments, to the extent that it has been stated that a new vessel could be 
built in Nova Scotia with modest investment and generate a cash flow without 
leaving the dock. 
Under this pressure by the Canadian Government to develop its maritime fish- 
eries not only did Canadian production on these grounds grow (and fill the 
American market) but under various Canadian incentives the most vigorous 
United States processors and marketers moved their facilities and operations 
from New England to the Maritime Provinces. Rail transport to the actively 
growing market of middle United States was better from Canadian than New 
England ports and substantially the whole of this market was removed from 
those who remained in New England. Icelandic and Norwegian firms moved into 
the fish stick and portion manufacturing business in New England, but used 
frozen fish blocks imported from home, not of New England provenance. While 
private in nature they were so closely supported by the Icelandic and Norwegian 
Governments as to appear to the New England ground fishermen to be at least 
semi-governmental. 
This story is not at an end yet. Canadian fishermen in their heavily subsidized 
vessels have increasingly moyed into the scallop beds off George’s Bank, which 
were a chief remaining source of income to the Massachusetts ground fishermen, 
and into the United States market. As the supply of scallop meats to the U.S. 
market from Massachusetts fishermen shrunk from its high point of 22 million 
pounds in 1961 to a low of 11 million pounds in 1966, imports from Canada grew 
from 9 million pounds to 17 million pounds. Under the increased fishing pressure 
the stock collapsed and is being heavily overfished. The fishery lies entirely in 
international waters. The Canadian Government is much more interested in 
creating economic conditions which will cause European fishermen to retreat 
from the Northwest Atlantic fisheries than it is in conserving particular stocks 
of fish or shellfish in that region at the moment. Accordingly a chief remaining 
support of the Massachusetts ground fishermen is removed through circum- 
stances beyond their control, and for which they have no remedy. 
Their remaining support was from inshore flounder and from George’s Bank 
haddock. They retained this chiefly because they have better transport access to 
the megalopolis from Boston to Washington, D.C., where most of these products 
are consumed, than do the Canadians, whose access is best to the mid-West 
markets. The New England ground fishermen see this last vestige of protection 
disappearing as the Canadian freeway system joins up with the New England 
extension of the Federal freeway system and gives the Lunnenberg, Nova Scotia, 
processing plants easy truck access to the New York market. The Canadians 
are already fishing the haddock resource off George’s Bank vigorously as are 
the Russians. Now the three chief groundfish resources (haddock, silver hake, 
and scallop) still available to New England groundfishermen are substantially 
overfished. 
The New Bngland fishermen therefore look forward to being pushed back even 
more upon the inshore flounder resources which can be sold fresh and locally, 
and these are not large enough to permit much, if any, expansion. It is not a 
pretty prospect and they cannot be expected to like it. 
26-563—70—pt. 2——41 
