The Fisherman Publishing Society was formed in 1937 to publish The Fisherman, a bi-weekly newspaper. Originally sponsored by the Salmon Purse Seiners Union and the Pacific Coast Fishermen's Union, and now the United Fisherman and Allied Workers' Union (UFAWU), the newspaper documents industry events and encourages unity among West Coast fishermen.
The SFU Library’s Fisherman Publishing Society fonds includes issues of The Fisherman newspaper dating from 1937 to 1999 (missing 1949) as well as over 40,000 photographs taken for possible publication in the newspaper circa 1960 to 2000, with the vast majority dating from after 1980. The newspapers and photographs document shore workers and other labourers working in the fishing industry; canneries; Indigenous peoples; commercial fishing (activities, equipment, and processes); union and alliance meetings and demonstrations; protests; and other aspects of the fishing industry in British Columbia. In particular, the activities of the UFAWU from the late 1960s to the late 1990s are heavily represented.
Donated to the SFU Library in 2016, the collection documents a tumultuous period in one of British Columbia’s oldest industries, with a significant focus on workers and union. It records visually important events in the province’s labour history and the evolution of the fishing industry, particularly after the 1980s. Digitized and made available here, the newspapers provide significant contextual and other information for the over 4,500 photographs digitized from the fonds.
License and Usage Permissions
Parties interested in using images from the The Fisherman Collection for commercial purposes should contact Special Collections and Rare Books, SFU Library.
Acknowledgements
SFU Special Collections and Rare Books gratefully acknowledges the financial support provided by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre's "B.C. History Digitization Program" to make this collection available online.
Contributed by Special Collections and Rare Books, Simon Fraser University Library.