Skip to main content
Go back

Fish weir at the island

Black and white photograph (1937): two men weir fishing at Île aux Patins, Kamouraska. They stand in the shallow water inside the weir (interwoven branches). Men with round dip nets. Dense branch structure with light vertical integrated stakes.

Île aux Patins, Kamouraska, 1937. Archives de la Côte-du-Sud, Maurice Proulx Collection.

Weir fishing involved using fixed structures called weirs (fascines) made of branches woven between stakes. These structures led fish towards an enclosure where they were trapped by the tides.

This fishing technique was of crucial importance for the inhabitants of Kamouraska, in that it allowed them to feed their families and support the local economy. Weirs were often maintained by families, thus perpetuating ancestral traditions.