Gaspereau in the Gaspereau Traditional Cache

Gaspereau in the Gaspereau

This is the location of the family fish net that catches Gaspereau in May along the Gaspereau River.  If you happen by while we are fishing pop by to see how it is done.  Gaspereau are also called alewives and on the South Shore they are known as kiacks, apparently their name in Mi’kmaq.

Thousands of years before Acadians and the Planter  fished this river, Mi’kmaq people gathered here for an annual harvest.  The fish are salted as soon as they are caught, and stored in large plastic bins awaiting shipment to a processor in Saint John. Ultimately the cured fish go to the island of Haiti. In the 18th and 19th centuries, slave owners in the Caribbean imported gaspereau as an inexpensive food to feed their workers. 

The season ends in June.   The fishing technique used on the Gaspereau River is unique and evolved to suit local conditions.  Fishing on weekends and Wednesdays are not allowed in order for a healthy amount of the three or four-year-old gaspereaux to reach Gaspereau Lake and spawn.  Fishing is sun up to sundown only and the river is patrolled by DFO.