Suzanne Morton taught Canadian history at McGill University between 1992 and 2025, specializing in gender, the state, and Atlantic Canada.

"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding recent conflicts in the Maritime lobster fishery. As she has done for so many aspects of Atlantic Canadian life, Morton here calls our attention to the contradictory realities lived out at the regional convergence of shifting state regulations, local ways of life, and multiple, transnational layers of capital in a fishery whose future has been considered ‘at risk’ since its nineteenth-century origins." - Fred Burrill, Assistant Professor of Historical Studies and Director of the Atlantic Canada Studies Centre, University of New Brunswick "Contested Catch is a terrific book that makes an enormous contribution to our understanding of Canada’s most valuable–but under-studied–fishery, as well as the ways in which the modern state has functioned in Canada. Besides providing the first regional history of the lobster fishery, Morton gives us a characteristically penetrating exploration of how the state and its citizens negotiate their relationship. Brimming with insights and incisive analysis, Contested Catch admirably performs history’s most important task: using the past to help us understand the present." - Edward MacDonald, Professor Emeritus of History and Classics, University of Prince Edward Island "Contested Catch expertly examines the contestations and negotiations that shaped the operation of Atlantic Canada’s lobster fishery. From the commodification of lobsters following Confederation to twentieth-century modernization initiatives, this meticulously-researched and path-breaking book weaves a range of subjects – including the role of local customs, party politics, government regulation and social policy, as well as the nature of the lobsters themselves – into an incisive analysis that powerfully displays the porous boundaries and contested nature of economic life. It is the first general history of the Canadian lobster fishery, but also much more: Suzanne Morton offers a new lens that will change how we understand major themes in the history of the Atlantic region." - Don Nerbas, Associate Professor of History, McGill University

• Illustrations and MapsTablesAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: Why Lobsters1. Lobsters and Those Who Caught Them2. Lobster Becomes a Commodity3. Regulating the Lobster Fisher4. The Politics of Knowledge and the Lobster Question, 1874–19395. Rejecting Regulation: Direct Action, Force and New Strategies, 1890s to 1960s6. The Politics of Lobster and Catching Votes, 1871–19397. Lobster Regulation as Social Policy, 1929–1970Conclusions and Epilogue: Contested CatchNotesIndex

Suzanne Morton taught Canadian history at McGill University between 1992 and 2025, specializing in gender, the state, and Atlantic Canada.

"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding recent conflicts in the Maritime lobster fishery. As she has done for so many aspects of Atlantic Canadian life, Morton here calls our attention to the contradictory realities lived out at the regional convergence of shifting state regulations, local ways of life, and multiple, transnational layers of capital in a fishery whose future has been considered ‘at risk’ since its nineteenth-century origins." - Fred Burrill, Assistant Professor of Historical Studies and Director of the Atlantic Canada Studies Centre, University of New Brunswick "Contested Catch is a terrific book that makes an enormous contribution to our understanding of Canada’s most valuable–but under-studied–fishery, as well as the ways in which the modern state has functioned in Canada. Besides providing the first regional history of the lobster fishery, Morton gives us a characteristically penetrating exploration of how the state and its citizens negotiate their relationship. Brimming with insights and incisive analysis, Contested Catch admirably performs history’s most important task: using the past to help us understand the present." - Edward MacDonald, Professor Emeritus of History and Classics, University of Prince Edward Island "Contested Catch expertly examines the contestations and negotiations that shaped the operation of Atlantic Canada’s lobster fishery. From the commodification of lobsters following Confederation to twentieth-century modernization initiatives, this meticulously-researched and path-breaking book weaves a range of subjects – including the role of local customs, party politics, government regulation and social policy, as well as the nature of the lobsters themselves – into an incisive analysis that powerfully displays the porous boundaries and contested nature of economic life. It is the first general history of the Canadian lobster fishery, but also much more: Suzanne Morton offers a new lens that will change how we understand major themes in the history of the Atlantic region." - Don Nerbas, Associate Professor of History, McGill University

• Illustrations and MapsTablesAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: Why Lobsters1. Lobsters and Those Who Caught Them2. Lobster Becomes a Commodity3. Regulating the Lobster Fisher4. The Politics of Knowledge and the Lobster Question, 1874–19395. Rejecting Regulation: Direct Action, Force and New Strategies, 1890s to 1960s6. The Politics of Lobster and Catching Votes, 1871–19397. Lobster Regulation as Social Policy, 1929–1970Conclusions and Epilogue: Contested CatchNotesIndex

Suzanne Morton taught Canadian history at McGill University between 1992 and 2025, specializing in gender, the state, and Atlantic Canada.

"This book is a must-read for anyone interested in understanding recent conflicts in the Maritime lobster fishery. As she has done for so many aspects of Atlantic Canadian life, Morton here calls our attention to the contradictory realities lived out at the regional convergence of shifting state regulations, local ways of life, and multiple, transnational layers of capital in a fishery whose future has been considered ‘at risk’ since its nineteenth-century origins." - Fred Burrill, Assistant Professor of Historical Studies and Director of the Atlantic Canada Studies Centre, University of New Brunswick "Contested Catch is a terrific book that makes an enormous contribution to our understanding of Canada’s most valuable–but under-studied–fishery, as well as the ways in which the modern state has functioned in Canada. Besides providing the first regional history of the lobster fishery, Morton gives us a characteristically penetrating exploration of how the state and its citizens negotiate their relationship. Brimming with insights and incisive analysis, Contested Catch admirably performs history’s most important task: using the past to help us understand the present." - Edward MacDonald, Professor Emeritus of History and Classics, University of Prince Edward Island "Contested Catch expertly examines the contestations and negotiations that shaped the operation of Atlantic Canada’s lobster fishery. From the commodification of lobsters following Confederation to twentieth-century modernization initiatives, this meticulously-researched and path-breaking book weaves a range of subjects – including the role of local customs, party politics, government regulation and social policy, as well as the nature of the lobsters themselves – into an incisive analysis that powerfully displays the porous boundaries and contested nature of economic life. It is the first general history of the Canadian lobster fishery, but also much more: Suzanne Morton offers a new lens that will change how we understand major themes in the history of the Atlantic region." - Don Nerbas, Associate Professor of History, McGill University

• Illustrations and MapsTablesAcknowledgmentsAbbreviationsIntroduction: Why Lobsters1. Lobsters and Those Who Caught Them2. Lobster Becomes a Commodity3. Regulating the Lobster Fisher4. The Politics of Knowledge and the Lobster Question, 1874–19395. Rejecting Regulation: Direct Action, Force and New Strategies, 1890s to 1960s6. The Politics of Lobster and Catching Votes, 1871–19397. Lobster Regulation as Social Policy, 1929–1970Conclusions and Epilogue: Contested CatchNotesIndex