Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 160 pages of information about Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine.

Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine eBook

This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 160 pages of information about Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine.

Isle au Haute.  Lies far up within the bay 9 miles W. 1/2 S. from Cape Chignecto.  All about this island are good summer haddock grounds with fair cod fishing.  The latter are taken by trawling principally.  Depths about the island are from 9 to 14 fathoms, deepening offshore to 35, the average depths being 22 to 27 fathoms.  North of the island the bottom is generally sandy; elsewhere much of the ground is rocky or stony, with here and there a small patch of gravelly ground.  To the S. of this ground, toward the Nova Scotia shore and to within 2 miles of the coast, the bottom is mainly muddy and of little account as a fishing ground.  Tides are very heavy on all the inner grounds of the Bay of Fundy.

Quaco Ledges.  This ground lies about 10 miles Se, from Quaco Head and is out at low tide, the water about the ledges having depths from 14 to 30 fathoms over a bottom of stones and gravel, There is a heavy tide rip over these ledges when covered, These furnish good pollock fishing in the summer months, and cod fishing is carried on here by hand-lining from May to July.

Salmon Netting Ground.  A salmon-netting ground lies off about the Mouth Harbour and St, John Harbour, where these fish are netted, for the most part during June and July, when they are en route to the St, John River, where are their spawning grounds.

Ingalls Shoal.  This is the name given by some of the fishermen of the vicinity to a shoal lying about midway between Digby, Nova Scotia, and Point Lepreau, New Brunswick.  This ground is about 9 miles long.  NE. and SW., by about 5 miles wide.  It lies about 22 miles NW. from Digby and 18 or 20 miles from Point Lepreau.  The depths are from 35 fathoms on the shoalest area (where is a piece of ground some 4 miles long by 1 mile wide near the center of the bank, lying in a NE. and SW. direction), the bottom sloping away from this on all sides to 47 or even 55 fathoms in a few places.  The bottom is mostly of sand and gravel or of small stones over much of the ground except for the shoal parts, where it is mainly rocky.  This piece of fishing ground furnishes good cod fishing in June, July, and August, which formerly was carried on by hand-lining but now, as elsewhere in the bay, is more and more becoming a trawl fishery.  Haddock and pollock also are taken here in fair amounts.

Mussel Shoal Ground.  This is a mussel-covered bottom lying 8 miles ESE. from the Eastern Wolf and 9 miles from Point Lepreau.  It runs in an E. and W. direction and is about 2 miles long by 1 mile wide.  Depths are from 40 to 50 fathoms.  This is a mussel and scallop bed, where large cod are usually in abundance in winter.  Pollock are plenty here in June, and hake are here and in the surrounding Hake Ground in all the summer months.

The Wolves.  These make a group of small islands lying N. 1/2 E. from Grand Manan, distant 8 or 10 miles.  On the bottom of rocks and gravel, extending about a mile from the shores of these, in depths of from 18 to 34 fathoms, small boats and small vessels take a quantity of fish by trawl and hand line.  These are mainly haddock and cod grounds in May and June and pollock grounds in June and July.  It is also a winter lobster ground for Canadian fishermen.

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Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Maine from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.