Voices of the North Shore : the lobster fishery of Pictou County

Abstract

Rural communities along the Northumberland Strait are fishing a limited resource: lobster. Since the 1950s the lobster industry in Pictou County has been suffering from a decline in lobster stocks. Environmental, economic and cultural factors, as well as a history of the crisis in the lobster fishery in Pictou County, have been examined to determine the nature of the threats to the fishery and to a traditional way of life from which many fishermen cannot separate themselves. This thesis involves more than an analysis of documentary sources, primary and secondary. By going through interviews, directly to the source, fishermen and lobster fishery workers are given a voice in the interpretation of what has happened to the lobster fishery in the central strait region since the mid twentieth century, how it has affected their lives and rural communities, and whether likely solutions are at hand.