Cork Lines and Canning Lines: The Glory Years of Fishing on the West Coast

L. Richard Lund is a Ph.D. candidate in history at York University.

This book combines an impressive collection of photographs and a brief
text in outlining the development of coastal fishing and fish processing
in British Columbia between the 1870s and the 1950s. The authors did not
set out to write a comprehensive history of this important West Coast
industry; by design, the photos are the book’s chief asset.

The text is short, superficial, and unsupported by annotated evidence.
For its intended purpose, though, it is more than satisfactory. Not only
do Meggs and Stacey ably sketch the history of fishing and canning on
the West Coast, but they also touch on a wide variety of important
historical issues such as the role of Native peoples in the industry;
the sorry record of race relations; the existence of horrible working
conditions; the fight for unionization; the lack of proper conservation
programs; and the tremendous impact of technological change.

The only major issues that do not receive enough attention are the role
of women in the industry and the influence of the federal government.
Another problem relates to the authors’ ideological sympathies. Meggs
and Stacey are extremely critical of the canning companies throughout
the book, and while in most cases their position is justified, at times
they rely too heavily on the “evil capitalist” stereotype. For
example, to imply that the greed of cannery owners was the sole cause of
the many hardships workers faced seems excessively simplistic. The
authors acknowledge that falling world salmon prices and fierce
international and domestic competition forced many canneries out of
business, but unfortunately they fail to make any attempt to relate this
volatile situation to the actions of at least some of the owners.
Nevertheless, the text is an interesting accompaniment to this book’s
excellent collection of photographs.