17th Century | 18th Century | 19th Century | 20th Century
In the 1600s, fishing was a primary food source for the Wabanaki Confederacy, a collective of tribes that included the Penobscot, Passamaquoddy, Maliseet, Abenaki and Mi’kmaq. Using a sophisticated and varied set of techniques, they harvested abundant fish from Maine's coastal waters, rivers, and lakes. However, by the late 1600’s, European colonization and resource exploitation had begun to disrupt these traditional practices.
Wabanaki people moved through their territories according to seasonal cycles to take advantage of available food sources.
• Spring: Fish runs of alewives, salmon, and sturgeon brought massive numbers of spawning fish upriver. A Jesuit missionary in the 1600s reported being astounded by the sheer number of fish in the rivers during this season.
• Summer: From May to mid-September, coastal communities relied on the immense numbers of cod on the coast.
• Year-round: Some Wabanaki groups lived on the coast year-round, while others lived by large interior lakes. The development of durable birchbark canoes allowed people to travel easily between the coast and the interior for hunting, fishing, and trade.
The Wabanaki people utilized an impressive array of technologies and techniques for fishing, developed over thousands of years.
• Weirs: The most notable technique, weirs were fence-like structures built in tidal flats or narrow parts of rivers to corral fish into a trap or net.
• Spears and harpoons: These were used to hunt larger fish like salmon and sturgeon. Harpoons were carved from animal bone.
• Nets: Nets were set, thrown, or dipped to catch fish.
• Hook and line: Hooks were made from materials like carved bone.
Starting with European fishing and trading vessels visiting the coast in the 1500s, Wabanaki fishing practices and livelihoods were deeply affected throughout the 1600s.
• Trade: Early interactions centered around trade, particularly for beaver fur, with Wabanaki people trading with French, English, and other European groups. Some Wabanaki people became multilingual traders and even adopted European sailing technology.
• Resource depletion: European fishermen, including those from England, began to harvest immense amounts of cod from the Gulf of Maine for export to Europe. Explorers reported unfathomable abundances of fish, which soon triggered Maine's first major European-driven industry. In contrast to the Wabanaki, who harvested large, plentiful cod, European overfishing began to deplete resources.
• Disruption of territory: As European settlements increased throughout the 1600’s, the Wabanaki increasingly faced threats to their traditional access to fishing grounds. Later colonial and state policies would intentionally separate the Wabanaki from their traditional fisheries through tactics such as building military forts at key locations.