As in the majority of Newfoundland outports, the fishery has been the economic mainstay of Garnish since the first days of settlement. The barrisway around which the town is built provides a natural small-boat harbour where fisherman can moor their craft. The inshore fishery is still an important industry today. The barrisway also served as a natural site to build the banking schooners which were the major technology of the Grand Banks fishery during the years before and after the First and Second Great World Wars. The wooded area around Garnish Pond supplied much of the timber, and the Garnish River was used to get it to the sawmills downstream. Included among those schooners launched at Garnish were the Jean and Mona, Joan and Madelyn, Daphane and Phyllis and Garnish Queen.