codfisherman

plural codfishermen

1. One who fishes for cod.

   Formerly Newburyport had an abundance of codfishermen, but the mackerel business was more inviting and more profitable, and as the cod declined, mechanical trades engaged a good share of the men, till now, very few remain.

   1853 June 25, “Change in the Fisheries”, in Scientific American. […], volume VIII, number 41, New York, N.Y., page 323, column 4

   2 more examples

   John Adams considered himself something of an authority on maritime affairs, “[a]s a considerable part of my time, in the Course of my profession, had been spent upon the Sea coast of Massachusetts in Attending the Courts.” Adams had spoken at length with codfishermen, whalers, and merchant seamen.

   2008, James L. Nelson, George Washington’s Secret Navy: How the American Revolution Went to Sea, New York, N.Y.: McGraw-Hill, →ISBN, page 63

   Throughout recent history, fishermen have shown an almost pathological disregard for rules and regulations that would curtail their fisheries. One need look no further back than the disastrous overfishing of North Atlantic cod, despite repeated warnings from scientists that the codfishermen were fishing their quarry almost out of existence.

   2013, Richard Ellis, Swordfish: A Biography of the Ocean Gladiator, Chicago, Ill.; London: The University of Chicago Press, →ISBN, page 222

   Synonyms: codfisher