Years ago there was a commercial herring fishery on the Labrador coast. In fact there was a herring plant in Cape Charles, where I fished and lived during the summers. The plant was owned and operated by a man named Banackon. That was his last name. I don't remember his first name. Most people just called him old Banackon. In later years his son took over the plant. Banackon was a Russian Jew who would come to Cape Charles each year to collect and process herring.

Banackon brought some of his own men down to Cape Charles. Those men would make wooden barrels to put the herring in. In late August when the cod fishery was just about over, fishermen would go fishing for herring. Banackon would supply the herring nets to the fisherman. The nets were about 15 fathoms long and 5 or 6 fathoms deep. Most of the fisherman in Cape Charles would catch herring to sell. People over in Indian Cove would also bring herring over to Cape Charles to sell. One crew over in Indian Cove had a herring trap. They would do really good with the herring. Sometimes they would come to Cape Charles with a boat load of herring. I also fished for herring out of Cape Charles. I would set out about half a dozen nets. I would usually get 3 or 4 barrels of herring in a day and sometimes more than that.

Most people in Cape Charles also worked at the herring plant. I remember when I was young I made 25 cents an hour working in the plant. In the plant the gills and the guts had to be taken out of the herring. This was called gibbing. Then the blood would have to be washed off the herring. Next the herring would be packed in a wooden barrel and salted. When the barrel was full of herring then somebody would put the head on the barrel. In the fall of the year, Banackon would have a big boat come and pick up the herring. He would also ship some of the herring out on coastal boats.

I remember one year the herring plant burned down, but Banackon rebuilt it. So he must have been making some money at the herring. Banackon was down to Cape Charles for a good many years. He retired and his son took over the plant but a few years after that the plant went out of business.

When the plant closed in Cape Charles another man by the name of Norman Goodrich started collecting herring. He did not operate a plant. Instead he gave fisherman wooden barrels and the fisherman would have to clean and pack the herring themselves. Then he would send a boat around in the fall of the year to collect the barrels of herring. Goodrich was collecting herring for 3 years and then he gave it up. For some reason the herring fishery could not make a go of it on the Labrador coast. That is a shame because there are thousands of herring in Labrador.