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
During February, March, and April large schools of cod make their
appearance on the bank. At this season these are found most abundantly
on the "Winter Fishing Ground"; a part of Georges lying eastward and
southeastward of the North Shoal between the parallels of 41 deg. 30'
and 42 deg. 00' north latitude and 66 deg. 38' and 67 deg. 30' west
longitude. The area of this Winter Fishing Ground is about 1,100 square
miles. This part of the bank seems entirely given over to the codfish,
since it is too broken, sharp, and rocky to please the haddock. Depths
here are from 30 to 40 fathoms, deepening away from the North Shoal.
This area is essentially a spawning ground for the cod, which appear to
come on the hank from the SE., as they almost invariably, after reaching
the ground, move slowly to the N. and W. as spring approaches. This is
in the direction of the shoals. As soon as the spawning season is over
the schools of cod break up, but more or less fish are caught on
different parts of the ground at all times of the year, though rarely
are they found so plentiful as when the winter school is on the ground.
Cod are found along the Northern Edge virtually the year around, though
many of the winter school move on to the inner waters of the gulf and
others go over to Browns Bank, where the early comers seem to appear in
the first days of April.
In its production Georges Bank itself is rather evenly divided between
haddock and cod, the cod showing a slightly larger proportion. The South
Channel, on the western edge of Georges, shows predominantly as a
haddock ground, and the haddock from The Channel is considered a better
fish than that from Georges. Georges Bank itself is also an important
haddock ground in the spring and early summer, when this species abounds
about the Cultivator Shoal (SE. by S. 88 miles from Highland Light. Cape
Cod) in depths from 18 to 30 fathoms; and at the same season along the
Northern Edge (140 to 200 miles E. by S. 1/2 S. from Boston Lightship in
about 41 deg. to 42 deg. N. lat. and 66 deg. to 88 deg. W. long.) in 45
to 80 fathoms in summer, the fish moving off into the deeper water (90
to 100 fathoms) in the neighborhood of the Corner of the Channel as the
winter comes on. Many are found in March, when they return from the deep
water, when fishing is carried on 65 miles SE. from Highland in 70
fathoms; then they come into the 40-fathom depths from the North Shoal
westward to the Corner of The Channel along the Northern Edge. In April
the Cultivator Cove is good ground even into 20-fathom depths.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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