Paspébiac Fishing Bank National Historic Site

The Banc-de-Pêche-de-Paspébiac National Historic Site traces the fundamental economic history of Gaspésie, whose development rested for nearly two centuries on the industrial exploitation of cod by powerful commercial companies, notably the Jersey firms Charles Robin and Company and LeBoutillier Brothers, which established in Paspébiac a complex of facilities including warehouses, salt processing workshops, shipyards and administrative offices. This concentration of commercial activity, which made Paspébiac one of the most important economic centers of the Gaspé Peninsula in the 19th century, employed hundreds of local fishermen in an economic relationship often described as a barter system, where fishing families became indebted to the companies for their equipment in exchange for their catch. The buildings preserved on the site, some dating back to the 18th century, allow visitors today to understand concretely the material organization of this industry that shaped the economic and social identity of the entire region before its progressive decline in the 20th century, confronted by the depletion of cod stocks and competition from more modern industrial fishing methods practiced by other nations.