HARBOUR MILLE
Coastal Safari is headquartered in the fishing village of Harbour Mille. 
 located in a well protected harbour  at the head of Fortune Bay. Today the population is around  200 but from the 1930's through until the 1960's it varied between 300 and 400 people. The history of the families that lived in Harbour Mille can be traced through the censuses from  1871 - 1935 .

 A lot of the people who live in  Harbour Mille today are retired but many of them like to keep their hand in and help out preparing fishing gear and taking occasional trips to the fishing grounds.One of the best netmenders in the community is  Uncle Freeman who at 75 is on the go every day around the community.  Most times that we dock at the wharf Uncle Freeman gives us a hand unloading the boat.

On a walk around Harbour Mille  one stills sees traditional fishing equipment like killicks, wooden anchors weighted with rocks, or "wooden ribs and rocky guts" as one local aptly puts it.The Newfoundland Dictionary defines "killick" as: An anchor made up of an elongated stone encased in pliable sticks bound at the top and fixed in two curved cross-pieces, used in mooring nets and small boats.

The principal occupation of the people of Harbour Mille since its founding at the end of the eighteenth century has been fishing, especially lobster, herring and cod. Unlike the north east coast of Newfoundland the south coast  (area 3Ps) is considered by fisheries scientists to have a healthy stock of cod. 

According to the latest report of the  Canadian Stock Assessment Secretariat, the spawning biomass of cod in 3Ps is at its highest level since 1962. To read the complete scientific paper on 3Ps cod you will need Adobe Acrobat. 

The fishing season at Harbour Mille begins in April when the lobster fishery opens.  Using only a small boat and fishing close to the community most fishers make eighty percent of their income in a few weeks from lobster fishing. After that there is cod fishing and in recent years a lot of money has been made in the crab fishery.