While fishing was not as widely practised in New Brunswick or Prince Edward Island as it was in Nova Scotia, it remained the region's largest occupation after farming. It was highly seasonal, especially in the inshore fishery, where so much depended on bringing in migratory species passing along the coast at different times of the year. During peak inshore runs men worked virtually round the clock six days a week, often living in makeshift sheds on the shore. The offshore fishery, less common before Confederation, relied on large schooners employing about a dozen men on more distant fishing grounds for weeks at a time. Young boys worked as helpers at a very early age; by the time they were fourteen they joined their fathers as full fledged fishermen.
As independent commodity producers controlling their own boats, fishermen normally worked for shares rather than wages. If the catch was good and prices high, the rewards were acceptable; often they were not. The merchants who controlled the marketing of fish operated on a "truck" system, extending credit in return for agreement to sell their fish. Most fishermen found it difficult to escape the cycle of debt that resulted. Later in the century a trend towards direct mercantile ownership of larger deep-sea fishing vessels set in. Many fishermen became wage employees of a sort, though the old practice of basing earnings on shares rather than wages continued. Normal unionization of such workers was virtually impossible. (For a more detailed examination of a comparable industry see Canada's Visual History, volume 26, The Seal and Cod Fishery of Newfoundland.)
