The shaping of a society of fishermen in Gaspésie after 1760 was directly linked to the exploitation of the cod fisheries. Its territory, economy and society were founded by merchant capitalists from the Channel Islands, who established fisheries there on a permanent base. These merchants established free zones for themselves, which led to the creation of a monopoly. A commercial System subsequently arose under the efficient control of fishermen, whose debts to the merchants ensured the temporal and spatial survival of that System.