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Herring Neck | |
|---|---|
  Herring Neck Location of Herring Neck  Herring Neck Herring Neck (Canada) | |
| Coordinates: 49°38′03.19″N 54°37′24.28″W / 49.6342194°N 54.6234111°W | |
| County | Canada |
| Province | Newfoundland and Labrador |
| Settled | 1760s |
| Area (2016)[1] | |
| • Land | 0.15 km2 (0.06 sq mi) |
| Population (2016)[1] | |
| • Total | 20 |
| • Density | 131.2/km2 (340/sq mi) |
| Time zone | UTC−03:30 (NST) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−02:30 (NDT) |
| Area code | 709 |
| Website | https://herring-neck.wixsite.com/herring-neck |
Herring Neck is a local service district and designated place in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador. It is on the northeastern extremity of New World Island, Notre Dame Bay. The community encompasses several small contiguous communities such as Merritt's Harbour, Hatchet Harbour, Salt Harbour, and Sunnyside.
It is believed the first European settlers in the area arrived in the 1760s.[2] It first appeared in the Census of 1845 with a population of 546, which included the surrounding settlements as noted above. By 1857 the population had reached 610 and peaked near 1000 in the 1880s. It remained around that figure until the 1930s, from where it has steadily declined to 607 in the 1981 census and to only 20 in 2016.[1] The population has continued to decline due to the cod moratorium and the downsizing of the fish processing plant in the community. Many have left the community to seek employment in larger communities.
In November 1908 at the Orange Hall, William Coaker gathered together a group of fisherman to form what became later the Fishermen's Protective Union, which became a powerful, though short-lived political entity within the House of Assembly of the Dominion of Newfoundland.
Herring Neck held a Come Home Year in the summer of 2014 and continues to hold an annual festival by the name of the "Herring Neck Dory Festival" on the second last weekend of July.