Terranova: The Spanish Cod Fishery on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland in the Twentieth Century (review)

Cod caught on the offshore banks and inshore waters of Newfoundland (Terranova) was a staple of Spanish diets for centuries. By the 1920s, however, Spain’s government decided to reduce the country’s dependence on imports of the salted and dried fish by supporting its own distant-water fishing fleet. Rosa García-Orellán’s book explores the experiences of the men who worked on these vessels, which made yearly trips to Newfoundland from the 1920s until the collapse of the cod stocks in the early 1990s. The book follows the changing fishing technologies over the years, from the early steam trawlers of the 1920s and 1930s to the diesel-powered stern and pair trawlers (boats that fished in tandem, dragging a net between them) of the post–Second World War era. It also reflects on the consequences of intensified fishing on the Grand Banks, and the failures of domestic and international policies and laws to stop the collapse of wild-capture fish species. At the heart of the book, however, are the words and stories of the captains, patrons, boatswains, deckhands, salters, and cooks who spent months on end in the northwest Atlantic, punctuated by brief stays in port at the French island of St Pierre or St John’s, Newfoundland. Based on interviews with over three hundred people connecting to the fishery, García-Orellán’s work examines the intimate details of the working lives of distant-water fishers.

The author has organized the book chronologically, beginning with the formative years of the offshore fleets in the 1920s and 1930s. It then documents the heyday of the Spanish pair trawlers in the 1950s to the 1970s, ending with the more limited fishing following the 1977 declaration of the exclusive economic zones, which prevented international vessels from fishing within 200 miles of Canada’s coast. These sections contain numerous extended excerpts from interviews the author claims were representative of the larger group. Rarely seen in the fisheries literature, these stories reveal important details on fishers’ perspectives on a wide range of topics and issues, such as how ship-board social relations and hierarchies permeated work and daily life. As well, these men speak about the ranchos, the cramped crew quarters, along with other details of living and working on the North Atlantic. Equally fascinating are their revelations about their time in port and the support networks that catered to the crews, whether it was health care, phone calls home, or distractions from boredom. Finally, the book reveals the ways that declining fish populations affected not only the opportunities and incomes for deep-water fishing people but also the work itself. Fewer fish meant longer hours trawling the nets or searching for a place to fish.

While the focus on the stories of the men provides intriguing glimpses into the world of deep-sea fishing, the book would benefit from less breadth and more analysis. The book covers such a long time period and addresses so many issues that it seems rushed or crowded at times. Many issues, such as the relationships between the men and their families at home and ethnic relations on board (as many of the vessels in the early years had crews from both Galician and Basques communities) are mentioned, but not fully developed. At the same time, the author includes other topics such as the Portuguese fleets and effects of the cod collapse on Newfoundland and Labrador’s inshore fishery, which are relevant but too large to cover here. Moreover, one of the book’s central questions – what drew men to leave their homes for the dangerous, lonely, and sometimes poorly paid work at sea – would benefit from a more historically contextualized treatment. García-Orellán notes that in the early years crew members could earn higher wages than they could in most jobs open to rural...