No.

Frenchtown has a small fishing community but it is not like the fishing villages you will find down island where the islands are bigger and have more rural areas. The Sat. morning market in Market SQ downtown is worth a visit in the early morning and is interesting with plants, fruit, veg and fish vendors.
There are usually some fishermen selling fish at Frenchtown, Lionel Roberts Stadium, Smith Bay and Fort Mylner out of their trucks on ice - and some roadside vegetable stands around the island as well.

What do you mean by markets? I disagree with you Linda on the market thing. On Saturday mornings, there is a market where locals sell their goods such as meats, fish, veggies, and more. Also some consider Vendors Plaza a market, so I am not sure what curious is referring to.
As for the fishing villages, things are laid out here, no groupings of houses along or on the water here as it is very hilly. There are area's that the fishermen tend to live, but not like you would see in other places. I always thought that Frenchtown was considered a fishing village and then we have the North side Fishermen which go out of Hull Bay. This area is more expansive and now includes other people outside of fishermen.
This is a good discussion, any historians to help?

exit zero,
We were writing at the same time! (tu)

I may be reading too much into the question. When I think of a "fishing villiage" I think of small homes near the shore, with piers of small fishing boats, sort of a "South Seas" flavor. I'm not as familiar with STT, but on STX there is nothing I would consider a fishing villiage - unless you count the fish market in F'sted, and I don't think that's what the OP had in mind. But I could be wrong.

In my mind a fishing village is a small place with row boats or small sailing boats anchored out in shallow water with fish nets hanging around. There are some palm tress by the shore and villagers with little clothing on swim in the warm waters. There is a small bar on the beach that servers fish and booze. Fisherman go out early in the day and return late at night with their catch.

Is that what you are looking for?

Well if it is there is no such place on STT, STJ or STX.

Sorry!

billd

For the history (as I read it) as to why there are few, if any, fishing villages in the Caribbean islands:

The islands were developed for the sole purpose of generating wealth for the mother countries. Initially they were looking for gold. Then they tried tobacco, but that didn't do too well. Then they discovered sugar did well here, and they poured all their efforts into producing as much sugar as they could. Compared to the money they could get from sugar, it wasn't economically feasible to devote man hours to fishing when they needed every able body during harvest time to process the sugar. So, it made more sense economically to import many of the food staples, such as dried, salted fish from Europe which still happens today.

There have always been those who were able to make a living from providing fresh fish to the local community, but I don't think they've ever been able to meet even the local demand for a number of reasons (fishing restrictions being one). In the Caribbean, tourism is more profitable for a larger number of people than fishing. Also, as people become more educated, they have more options.

thank you all for helping me!! i was in stt a couple weeks ago and didnt really have the time to really take in the lifestlye or learn to much about my culture (since my fam is from there and tortola). I jus thought that next time if i went to a sat market or something i could really learn more about the culture and such. But thanks you guys!

To me, the best market is the Bordeaux Farmers' Market on the last Sunday of the month up in Bordeaux. I love their annual Agricultural Fair. They have farm tours then, and vendors are selling things made from natural materials. I bought some coconut spoons and a wooden spear fork. The food is generally very good.

ms411, that's how I read the history, too. Much of the local fishing in the Caribbean developed after chattel based slavery ended. Because the British territories ended slavery before the Dutch, the BVI has a somewhat longer and more developed history of local fishing and sailing than what is now the USVI. There is some wonderful genealogical work being done in the BVI about those early sailors. Many have lived well into their 80's and 90's and have provided some amazing first-hand accounts of their lives and the lives of their ancestors. One of the old BVI sailors I've talked to (a descendant of the Smiths of the ferry business, as are many of the old sailors in the BVI) told stories of being descended in part from slaves who'd been "apprenticed" to the Royal Navy then left off in the BVI in the early 1800s. That was one source, he said, of his family's sailing and fishing knowledge. There are also "barrel stories" told by families in the BVI, about ancestors who escaped slavery St. John by sailing from there in a barrel to Tortola, fishing along the way. Good stuff....

Best,

Islandlola

I tend to disagree with some of the post that has been written previously. First of all French town in St. Thomas is considered a fishing village. Although, it is not to the level that it once was when I was a child growing up, the total existence of that area began as a fishing village. Most of the older french people in that area solely made their living from fishing and fishing only. As one of the posters have stated before, as the younger generation became more educated they did not continue the professional of their forefather. Back in the 1970's the fishing village was more intact and was striving place of commerce especially on Saturday mornings. Because the island has become so commercialize, almost everything dealing with the local culture has changed tremendously. It is so much easier now to just walk into a large supermarket and buy whatever one may need. I am not saying that this is all good because all of the stock that are in the supermarkets are imported hence if something was to to disrupt the shipping of goods, things could get really bad quickly. As one of the poster stated before, you can still find fishermen on Saturdays, around the Hospital ground and in french town in St Thomas. I do believe that in the market square area there are people still selling locally grown produce on Saturdays.

Well put Levin. We have progressed a little further along than most of those places that have little fishing villages. There are, in Frenchtown, fishermen that still make a great living fishing. No, they don't row boats out anymore and do have modern conveniences such as power motors, freezers, and even GPSs and cell phones and pick up trucks! The still do fish to eek out a living! It is still a sight to see them in action on Saturday morning. You do have to get there by 5ish to see it in full swing.

levin and Ronny,
I knew I wasn't crazy! Thanks for your input, I was hoping more information would come out on the issue!~ This is an important part of our history here in St. Thomas.