Europeans have been fishing on the high seas since the Middle Ages.

ver the centuries, inshore fishermen adapted their ways to be able to fish farther from shore. By 1400, they were fishing for cod in the North Sea and the Irish Sea, as well as off the coast of Iceland.

When Newfoundland was discovered, Europeans came to fish on the edge of the New World. Companies outfitted ships at ports along the Atlantic and the English Channel, and financed expeditions that lasted close to a year.