which was later converted in the 1970s to frozen processing. In 1980 approximately 1810000 kg (4,000,000 lbs.) of cod was caught by traps, longliners, gillnetters and trawlers. The first school in Conche was established about 1860 but it was 1890 before education was provided on a continual basis, this after a schoolhouse was built with the aid of a government grant in 1883. In that year the Roman Catholic School inspector reported "A new school house is course of erection... The school here had been taught in a private house; $80 was given in aid. A young girl belonging to the place is attending the Convent School at Pictow, N.S., to qualify her to take charge of the school. New schools were built c. 1904, 1943 and finally 1971. A telegraph office was established in 1912 and a nursing station opened in 1960. The community was supplied by coastal boat until the building of the road to Conche in 1969, and from 1960 to 1974 a 305 m (1000 ft.) gravel airstrip was in operation. In 1978 the United Maritime Fishermen opened a fish plant, which employed twenty people (fifty-six at peak) producing processed cod, salmon and herring which was exported to mainland Canada and the United States. In 1981 there was a government wharf and a community stage built in Conche as well as numerous other private wharves. The settlement had a post office, a nursing station, a modern Roman Catholic Church, and a school which served students from Kindergarten to Grade Eleven. Demographics In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by Statistics Canada, Conche had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. See also Great Northern Peninsula List of lighthouses in Canada Roddickton-Bide Arm References External links Conche home page The French Shore Historical Society Conche within Community Accounts Picture of the old lighthouse Picture of the new lighthouse Conche - Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, vol. 1, p. 494-496. Aids to Navigation Canadian Coast Guard Towns in Newfoundland and Labrador Lighthouses in Newfoundland and Labrador Fishing communities in Canada