Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of MaineRich, Walter H. (Walter Herbert)
History
Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine
Rich, Walter H. (Walter Herbert)
Fisheries -- Maine, Gulf of
Grand Manan Bank. This bank is at the entrance of the Bay of Fundy, SW.
1/2 S. from the southwest head of Grand Manan Island from which the
northern part of the bank is 15 miles distant. From Mount Desert Rock,
E. by S., it is 45 miles distant. The bank is 10 miles long and 5 miles
wide, extending in a NE. and SW. direction. The bottom is mostly stones
and gravel, the depths running from 24 to 45 fathoms. Soundings of 18
and 21 fathoms are found on the northeast part.
Cod (especially abundant when the June school is on the ground) and
pollock are the principal fish. Haddock are not usually abundant,
although sometimes they are plentiful in the fall from late September to
December; hake are fairly abundant on the mud between Grand Manan Bank
and the Middle Ground (In The Gully). This is a good halibut bank, the
fish being in 33 to 60 fathoms in June and July; the southwest soundings
and the southeast soundings are most productive always. The best fishing
season is from April to October, when the fish come to this hank to
feed. In the spring the fish, other than halibut, are mostly on the
southwest part, but later (July to October) the best fishing is had on
the northern edge of the ground. The very best herring fishing for large
herring (food fish) occurs on this bank in June and July. In general,
this is a small-vessel ground fished by craft from Cutler, Eastport,
Grand Manan, and, to a less extent, Yarmouth, Nova Scotia, with an
occasional visit by craft from Portland and Rockland, chiefly trawlers
of moderate size.
Tides run NE. in flood and SW. on the ebb and are quite strong, the
flood being the heaviest. Because of these powerful currents, fishing is
somewhat difficult, it being necessary to make sets at the slack of the
tides, getting the gear over and traveling with the finish of the
current, to take it up and come back with the tide's return.
Middle Ground. This ground is between Grand Manan Bank and Marblehead
Bank; its length from NW. to SE. is 1 1/2 miles, and it is about 1/2 mile
wide. Depths averaging 37 fathoms are found on the southern edge on a
hard, rocky bottom, increasing to over 60 fathoms over much of the
ground. The remainder of the bank has a bottom of sand and gravel. There
is a shoal of 28 fathoms near the center with a bottom of rocks and
stones. The species and seasons of their abundance are much as on Grand
Manan Bank and German Bank, but the Middle Ground is rather better as a
cod ground than as a ground for other species, June, perhaps, being the
best month for the fishing.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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