Barnegat City's commercial fishing economy improved with a pound boat fishery opened by Captain Dick Myers in 1920, who built a dock at West 6th Street replacing the old eroded port. Also by the 1920s, a wave of immigration since 1900 had changed Barnegat City's makeup as fishermen from Norway, Sweden, and Finland came to local waters after hearing of its reputation and solicitations from Myers to work his pound nets. In 1927 these Scandinavian fisherman united to form the Independent Fish Company and bought land further south to build their own dock complex that spanned West 17th to West 20th streets and remains active today. During this period, gillnetting declined in popularity, but it would later gain a comeback in the 1950s. Also in the 1950s, dragger fishing was ended and tilefishing began, the latter taking into the early 1970s before it became a profitable fishery and backbone, along with scalloping, of the evolving Barnegat Light commercial fishing industry.