148 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



i 



3. THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 



By G. BROWN GOODE and J. W. COLLINS. 



As has already been stated in the chapter on the Bank cod hand-line fishery, an extensive 

 industry has for several centuries been prosecuted on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and 

 neighboring- off-shore banks, the principal object of which has been the capture of cod, though of 

 late years a considerable quantity of halibut has been taken incidentally by the same fishermen. 

 Except in the George ? s cod fishery, the practice of hand-lining from the deck of the vessel, which 

 was formerly the only method, has been discontinued almost entirely within the last twenty-five 

 or thirty years, though a number of vessels are still fitted with hand-lines and dories. A very 

 large majority, however, of all the vessels fishing on the off-shore Banks use trawl-lines, these 

 being exclusively employed by the French fishermen aud almost exclusively by the Canadian 

 fishermen. 



The American trawl-fishery is so recent in its origin but little can be said about its history, 

 and this chapter will be devoted to a discussion of the methods in use at the present time which 

 are essentially the same as those introduced when trawling first became customary. 



1. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 



The American trawlers frequent all the off-shore banks as well as those in the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence. The most important fishing ground is of course the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. 

 This great shoal throughout its entire extent is an excellent fishing ground for cod, though in 

 some seasons there are limited areas which are more or less barren. The gully called "Whale 

 Deep," having a muddy bottom, is never resorted to. The trawling vessels ply their lines over a 

 larger area than the hand-liners, which, for a greater part of the year, congregate in the shoaler 

 waters in the vicinity of the Virgin Rocks. From April to June the best trawling is usually 

 obtained oil the southern part of the Bank, between the parallels of 43 and 45. From July to 

 October the fish are distributed over a much larger area, and fishing is carried on from latitude 44 

 to the extreme northern limits of the Bank. 



In July and August a favorite locality for the trawlers is that portion of the Bank lying east 

 of the Virgin Rocks, a distance of 15 to 45 miles, and known as the " eastern shoal water." The 

 portion of the Bank lying between the parallels 44 and 45.20 is a favorite fishing ground for cod 

 at all seasons from April to October. 



Next in importance to the Grand Bank, so far as the American fishermen are concerned, is the 

 Western Bank, on which Gloucester vessels can be found in nearly every month of the year, and 

 which in summer is resorted to by bankers from nearly every port. Large numbers of Canadian 

 vessels fish here during the spring and summer months, but the French vessels are excluded by 

 the provisions of the convention of 1818 from all grounds within 100 miles from the coast of Nova 

 Scotia, and therefore are never seen on any of the fishing banks south or west of Banquereau. 

 The Western Bank affords excellent fishing over its entire surface. 



Bauquereau is also extensively resorted to by American, Canadian, and French vessels, though 

 it is not so favorite a fishing place for the Gloucester trawlers as the Western Bank. Like the 

 Grand Bank fishery, that upon Banquereau is exclusively a spring and summer fishery. 



Saint Peter's Bank is now almost abandoned to the French, though it was formerly a favorite 

 spot for the American trawlers, especially those of Gloucester. 



