Fishing and the Rural Economy Farmer-Fishermen and the Merrimack River 1800–1846

During the early nineteenth century, rural New England communities consistently strove to manage river fisheries to ensure sustainable returns. While agriculture provided a strong foundation for the region's pre-industrial economy, this paper explores the place of rivers and fish within New England's socio-economic landscape and the ways in which locals sought to defend their way of life from the destructive potential of over-fishing and industrial dams.