Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine, Walter H. Rich [readnow txt] 📗

45° 01' north latitude and 67° 10' and 59° 00' west longitude, and the western prolongation lies between 44° 24' and 44° 42' north latitude and 69° 00' and 80° 05' west longitude. North of Banquereau lies Artimon, distant 3 miles, and Misaine, distant from 2 to 15 miles according to the places from which measurements are taken. The currents here are of varying force, much influenced by the wind, so that several days of strong tides may be followed by intervals when there is little if any current.

On the eastern part of Quereau is an area of shoal ground called the Rocky Bottom, having a depth of about 18 fathoms; elsewhere depths run from 18 to 50 fathoms. For the most part the bottom is rocky, but there are scattered patches of sand and gravel.

Cod and halibut are the principal food fishes taken, hake, haddock, and cusk being taken in small numbers. The Rocky Bottom, a shoal ground of 20 to 25 fathom depths on the eastern part, was much resorted to by dory handliners in summer. The cod are most plentiful on the eastern part of the bank, though occasional good fares are taken toward the west. The best cod fishing on this bank is from May until September, when the schools gather to feed upon the lant, squid, crustaceans, and shellfish, then very abundant.

Halibut are found here all the year off the edges in 100 to 400 fathoms. Apparently these are feeding and breeding grounds for this species, and it is not unusual for a school to remain for weeks and even months in one locality, though some of these may be fish in migration northward.

The principal halibut grounds are along the southern and eastern borders of the bank--the Southwest Prong and the Southwest Cove (in about 44° N. lat. and between 58° 30' and 58° 55' W. long), the Middle Prong (44° 14' N. lat. and 58° W. long.), and the Eastern Slope (44° 28' to 45° 00' N. lat.)--in depths of 150 to 400 fathoms. These deep-water areas are rocky and support a very rich growth of gorgonians, corals, sea anemones, etc. The Eastern Slope has an abundance of bank clams in depths of 25 fathoms. These beds are good hand-line grounds for cod. The halibut, too, feeds to a considerable extent upon these red clams.

The Stone Fence off the eastern slope of Quereau is a very rocky piece of ground full of "trees" (corals) in 250 fathoms. This is a good halibut ground although it is almost impossible to haul the gear by hand and the use of the "gurdy" (a roller turned by a crank and fastened to the dory's bow for winding up the trawl) becomes necessary. Occasional fares of halibut are taken on and about the Rocky Bottom in 20 to 25 fathoms from July 1 to August 1.

The Gully. This is the deep waterway between Banquereau and Sable Island or Western Bank. It extends in an WNW. and an ESE. direction north of Sable Island, turning somewhat abruptly S. at its eastern end and continuing down between the eastern end of Western Bank and the Southwest Prong of Banquereau. The entire length is about 80 miles, the greatest width about 20 miles. Depths range from 68 to 145 fathoms over a bottom of rocks, gravel, sand, and mud. The rocky and gravelly portions form several ridges separated by areas of finer materials, except in the eastern section, where the intervals between are mostly covered by pebbles and sharp rocks. Ocean currents are generally westerly, of varying strength, much affected by the easterly winds.

The Gully is a very important halibut ground. The halibut are not found in great numbers all over the ground, perhaps the best of the fishing being on the rocky and gravelly ridges and slopes included between the meridians of 69° and 80° west longitude. This rocky bottom is rich in food, and the lant and herring are usually plentiful here in their season. In the spring the halibut seem to be especially numerous in the northern and northwestern parts of the bank, later, in June and July, moving farther out. Some, are found here in winter. While the cod is sometimes found in The Gully in 60 to 90 fathoms, it does not seem to be of regular occurrence; and apparently there are almost no haddock here, probably because of the depth of the water and the nature of the bottom.

Artimon Bank. Has an area of some 120 square miles with a bottom of gravel and rocks and depths of 38 to 50 fathoms. It is but little known because of the tendency of the fishermen to use the larger grounds close at hand. Cod are known to be present here, however. The bank lies N. of the eastern part of Quereau, separated from it by a narrow, deep-water channel.

Misaine Bank. Lies N. of the western two-thirds of Quereau, at one place very near, but in general the banks are separated by some 20 miles of deep water. Its greatest length is 80 miles and its greatest width 40 miles. Depths are from 40 to 60 fathoms over a bottom broken and rocky. It is not of much importance as a fishing ground, although a few halibut trips are landed from it in most years.

Canso Bank. A long, narrow extension of Misaine Bank, lying in an E, and W. direction; its length is 45 miles and its greatest width 13 miles, its area being about 425 square miles. Depths range from 30 to 65 fathoms over a bottom of sand, with spots of gravel and pebbles. It is not of much importance as a fishing ground, especially as judged by the use of it by the American fleet, though more fished by vessels from Nova Scotia; perhaps it is overshadowed by the presence of its larger neighbors, Western and Quereau Banks, with which grounds it forms virtually one piece of bottom, only narrow, deep-water channels separating them. These larger grounds are heavily fished both by American vessels and by those from Nova Scotia ports as well as by French and English otter trawlers.

The statistics given here and elsewhere in this report are taken from the published bulletins of the United States Bureau of Fisheries, and include only the landings of vessels of 5 tons net, or over, at the ports of Boston and Glouscester, Mass., and Portland, Me.

[Table 5--Fishing grounds of the offshore North Atlantic, showing the principal species taken upon them]

[Footnote 16: "Pedro Reinel, a Portuguese pilot of much fame" (Herrera) made a map in 1505 showing Sable Island, feared and dreaded by all fishermen even in those days, where he called it "Santa Cruz." Jacamo Gastaldi, an Italian cartographer, in 1548 shows it "Isolla de Arena." Sir Humphrey Gilbert or his historian, says that the Portuguese had made an interesting settlement here for shipwrecked mariners. This, "Upon intelligence we had of a Portugal who was himself present when the Portugals, above thirty years past (thus before 1551) did put upon the island neat and swine to breed, which were since exceedingly multiplied."]

 

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Publication Date: 01-09-2015

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