What Appeared Limitless Plenty: The Rise and Fall of the Nineteenth-Century Atlantic Halibut Fishery

• Published in: Environmental History
• Main Author: Grasso, Glenn M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford University Press 2008
• Subjects: Articles; Northwest Atlantic
• Online Access: http://envhis.oxfordjournals.org/cgi/content/short/13/1/66; https://doi.org/10.1093/envhis/13.1.66

The destruction of the nineteenth-century Atlantic halibut fishery occurred in the space of a few decades and without industrial fishing methods. Between the 1840s and the 1880s, halibut moved from by-catch to marketable product. This change from negative commodification to positive commodification resulted from increased immigration, technological advances, changing consumer tastes, and halibut's natural history. Once almost infinitely abundant, commercial value and growing markets led to enthusiastic fishing efforts mid-nineteenth century. Market demand influenced both human behaviors and ecosystems. A series of localized depletions became the commercial extinction of halibut in the northwest Atlantic. The nineteenth-century Atlantic halibut fishery demonstrates how species once considered by-catch can be pushed to commercial extinction.