Breaking the Banks: Representations and Realities in New England Fisheries, 1866-1966

With skillful storytelling, Matthew McKenzie weaves together the industrial, cultural, political, and ecological history of New England's fisheries through the story of how the Boston haddock fleet-one of the region's largest and most heavily industrialized-rose, flourished, and then fished itself into near oblivion before the arrival of foreign competition in 1961. This fleet also embodied the industry's change during this period, as it shucked its sail-and-oar, hook-and-line origins to embrace mechanized power and propulsion, more sophisticated business practices, and political engagement.

Books, films, and the media have long portrayed the Yankee fisherman's hard-scrabble existence, as he faced brutal weather on the open seas and unnecessary governmental restrictions. As McKenzie contends, this simplistic view has long betrayed commercial fisheries' sophisticated legislative campaigns in Washington, DC, as they sought federal subsidies and relief and, eventually, fewer constricting regulations. This clash between fisheries' representation and their reality still grips fishing communities today as they struggle to navigate age-old trends of fleet consolidation, stock decline, and intense competition.

Author: Matthew McKenzie
Publisher: University of Massachusetts Press
Published: 08/10/2018
Pages: 224
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.70lbs
Size: 8.90h x 6.00w x 0.60d
ISBN13: 9781625343918
ISBN10: 1625343914
BISAC Categories:
- Science | Environmental Science (see also Chemistry | Environmental)
- Social Science | General
- Technology & Engineering | Fisheries & Aquaculture

About the Author
Matthew McKenzie is associate professor of history and maritime studies at the University of Connecticut and author of Clearing the Coastline: The Nineteenth-Century Ecological and Cultural Transformation of Cape Cod. He currently serves on the New England Fishery Management Council.