1912 Nearly 300,000 lbs. of fresh fish were landed at Digby one week in March 1912. Sold at Digby's wholesale fish farms for 2 1/2 cents per pound.July 28, 1949Digby Courier Herring Weirs - Average catch for each tide at a weir runs about 20 hogsheads or 20,000 pounds. This season many larger catches have been made, however, running as high as 60 to 70 hogsheads. For the small or sardine herring present prices are about $20,00 a hogshead with the larger or bait herring bringing $15.00. About 28 cases of sardines are secured from the average hogshead of good sardine herring. A good catch of mixed fish usually nets about 15 cases of processed sardines at a seining.Dec 2, 1959 Today Scallop catch ranks third in commercial importance among the bivalves harvested in our Maritime waters, being surpassed by the oyster and rivaling the soft-shell clam. Nine-tenths of Canada's scallop catch is landed here by the Bay Shore fisherman whose fleet is the biggest in the world.1961 744 Fisherman (280 full time - over 10 months) 244 Part Time (5 to 10 months) 220 occasional (less than 5 months)June 15, 1963 Herring were late in arriving this year1964 267 Powered Fishing Craft under 10 tons & 73 feet the same over 10 tons DBS StatisticsMay 2, 1978Halifax Chronicle Halifax Depleted stocks in Bay of Fundy feared. Last year the Digby Scallops catch represented2% of the total scallop haul, 836,000 pounds out of almost 32 million. Georges Bank allowable catch is now 540,000 pounds per boat per year.April 9, 1980Digby Mirror It is estimated there are at least 300 licensed calm diggers in Digby County.June 28, 1983 A weir would cost upward to $50,000.00 to construct a new weir, including the investment in a boat and gear. The fisherman must apply to the Dept. of Fisheries & Oceans for permission to set up a weir on a designated spot. The season this year was late in coming if at all. As of June 20 the fisherman in a weir off of Rossway had sold 150-200 hogshead or about 1000 barrels of herring so far.July 10, 1985Digby Courier Scallops landed in 1984 by the 65-70 boats which make up the Digby inshore scallop fleet had a value of $9,280,000.00. The white mussel of the scallop today costs between $7-$8 a pound. This is a far cry from the 8 to 10 cents a pound scallops were going for in the 1930's. In the 1920's scallops then were very large, six to eight made a pound. In the 1920's they were sold by the gallon. Scallops ranged in price then from $3.25 to $5.00 a gallon in winter. Now they are all sold by the pound. Boats went up to 40-50 feet. Now most scallopers are around 65 feet long and have engines with 300-500 hp. On those earlier boats they used 5hp break gasoline engines. They used to ship scallops in wooden barrels on the trains. A barrel would hold about 13 US gallons. There was no summer scallop fishing then. The season ended in May and began again in October. At one time they could not sell scallops for 10 cents a pound there were so many of them. The price fell to 8 cents a pound in the 1930's. Fisherman used to get a drag for about $7 or $8. Now it costs around $200.00 for a new one. The bar used to cost $30.00 now around $1,000.00. Regulations now prohibit fishing inshore from May until October. You have to fish outside of six miles in the Bay of Fundy. In the 1930's early navigation equipment on the scallop draggers was a clock and a compass. Now it is all electronics.Mar 20, 1991 Digby Weekly CourierHistory of Scallop Industry Recalled. The late Captain Roland Wornell first discovered scallops in the Annapolis Basin in 1920 by manual operation of a small drag from a small boat. From 1936 the scallop fleet grew to about 90 boats in 1945 and during these years there were a number of buyers in very keen competition. Not long after 1945 there were fewer boats fishing.Jan. 24, 1994The Mail Star Basin Fisherman say that aquaculture (Salmon) threatens flounder, scallops, lobsters, clams and rockweed harvest.Nov 19, 1996 Digby Courier Lobster licenses fees in Dist 33-34 jumped from $30.00 to $1890.00. The fee was based on gross instead of net income. While landings have risen precipitously since the early 1980's, so has the fishing effort. There are over 1700 license holders in lobster fishing Areas 33 & 34. In 1995 the lobster landings in the two districts were worth almost $140 million. Landings for the opening months of the season have steadily increased over the past 3 years in Dist 34. In 1995, landings in Nov & Dec. totaled 5117 metric tonnes, worth almost $56 million. In 1994 landings during the first 2 months of the season were 4,529 tonnes, worth over $46 million and in 1993 landings were 3747 tonnes worth $34.8 million.Nov 19, 1996 Minimum size of lobster - 82mm CL Licenses: 951 (Category A) - 7 (Category B) - 12 (Partnership) Trap Limit: 375/Fall - 400/ Spring (Category A) 113 Fall - 120 Spring (Category B) 563 Fall - 600 Spring (Partnership)Landings: Landing remained high in LFA34 and the remainder of the Gulf of Maine. Landings in 1993-94 increased by 15% to 10,236 tons, which were the second highest this century and three times the average for the 1950-1979 period. LFA34 accounted for 61 percent of Scotia Fundy and 26 percent of Canadian landings in 1994.Nova Scotia Live Lobster reports for years:1993 1994 1995$159,074.00 $197,383.026 $229,590,866.00KGM KGM KGM13,025,000 15,034,122 15,625,026Lobster Fishing Area 341984-85 1985-6 1986-7 1987-8 1988-95938 6891 7673 8479 82011989-90 1990-1 1991-2 1992-3 1993-49449 11069 8876 8919 10235** PreliminaryFeb 19, 1997Halifax Chronicle Herald Catches of Scallops declined to about 1,200 tonnes in 1996 from peak of 4,200 tonnes in 1989 (Bay of Fundy)June 25, 2003Digby Courier St. Mary's Bay weir's dropped from 22 to 7 this year. Herring seiners blamed for the poor fishery in St. Mary's Bay. More than 150 weirs have disappeared in the last 10 years. Herring is sold by the hogshead - about 1,240 pounds and for about 9 cents a pound.