Traditional Uses of Fish Houses in Otter Cove

Smythe, Charles

This report presents the results of ethnohistorical research about the customary and traditional uses and practices associated with fish houses in Otter Cove (Mt. Desert Island,Maine) in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Due to the absence of historical records on this topic, this study relies heavily on information provided in oral history interviews with knowledgeable local experts. While the study is focused on Otter Cove, an area within Acadia National Park, it draws on information about the use and function of fish houses throughout Mt. Desert Island and in adjoining coastal regions of Maine. A more in-depth research project on the ethnohistory of fishing and fish houses in Otter Cove will be carried out starting in late 2008. According to the interviewees, fish houses were simply constructed utilitarian structures located on the shore in sheltered coves and inlets in places that were convenient to fishing grounds. They served as the operations center or base for small scale fishing activities by an individual fisherman. They were used principally for cod and lobster fishing, but also for haddock, cusk, hake, halibut, skate, herring, mackerel and menhaden. They provided a location for preparing and storing bait made from fish and shellfish, baiting tub trawls, and manufacturing, repairing and storing gear such as lobster traps and buoys, trawl lines, seines, and bait barrels, as well as tools and supplies. They were often formerly associated with flakes (drying platforms) used for curing salted cod. They also provided a social space for fishermen as they worked preparing gear and bait for the next day’s fishing, particularly when associated with multiple fishermen in the same community. Fish houses were used throughout the year, and for day and night fishing, as fishermen pursued multiple fishing strategies. They were erected and used at places convenient for fishing and fishermen may or may not have owned the land upon which they stood. There was no evidence that land ownership eventually accrued or was transferable by fishermen who did not initially own the land under their shack. Fish houses ranged in size from the simplest, perhaps an eight foot square shack with a flat roof, to a 12 by 14 foot structure with a peaked roof and a window in the gable ends. They were usually associated with a landing place for a skiff or a punt, which may have been a small dock but more often was a slip fashioned by clearing beach cobbles from a narrow run up the shore from low water. They were basic structures, usually made out of rough hewn, unpainted planks or scavenged materials, and were located at any site that furnished some protection from the open sea and was favorable for fishing. Their appearance was not neat and tidy; they were functional working sites and often had the by-products of construction or some used equipment scattered around. Prior to the mid-twentieth century (after which fishing practices began to change dramatically), fish houses were ubiquitous along the coast of Maine and on Mt. Desert Island in any small cove or inlet suitable as a base for fishing. In the 1870s, fishing was the major occupation in Otter Cove, and there were 25 households with fishermen catching mainly cod and lobster, and other species. Written records (deeds) describe the presence of fish houses on the east and west sides of Otter Cove since the 1860s. Their appearance is also documented in historical photographs dating probably to the 1880s and ‘90s (more research is needed to provide reliable dates). The photograph appearing on the cover of this report, dated to 1900-1920, shows six fish houses and associated equipment located on the eastern shore.