12 NEW ENGLAND FISHERIES 



ing ports. The banks of the Gulf of Maine are resorted 

 to by the New England fishing fleet. Cod, hake, cusk, 

 haddock, pollock and some halibut are taken. The 

 mackerel fishery is of especial importance, the depth 

 of the water furnishing excellent opportunity for the use 

 of purse-seines; occasionally several hundred barrels of 

 mackerel are taken at a single setting of the seine. 



In the eastern part of the Gulf are Grand Manan 

 Bank, German Bank, and Marblehead Bank, each on the 

 meridian of 67 and south from Eastport, Maine. Cashe's 

 Ledge lies 76 miles east from Cape Ann on the 69th 

 meridian, and is 22 miles long north and south by 17 

 miles wide. On this ledge are three small shoals, one 

 being only four fathoms deep, on which the water breaks 

 in severe storms. Fippenies Bank lies about twelve miles 

 west of the southern part of Cashe's Ledge. Platt's Bank, 

 or New Ledge, lying 53 miles E. by N. y 2 N. from 

 Thatcher's Island, is considered one of the best cod and 

 haddock grounds in the Gulf of Maine. Ten miles north 

 of New Ledge is Mistaken Ledge. 



Extending northeast from Cape Ann for 42 miles is a 

 nearly continuous ridge of fishing grounds, the part nearer 

 the Cape being known as the East Shoal Water of Cape 

 Ann, about 18 miles in length, while the part farther off- 

 shore is called Jeffrey's Ledge, one of the famous fishing 

 grounds of this region. The bottom consists of rocks, peb- 

 bles and coarse gravel, a favorite feeding ground for 

 ground-fish except hake. Tillie's Bank, eighteen miles east 

 by south from Thatcher's Island, was formerly one of the 

 best fishing grounds off Cape Ann. 



GEORGE'S BANK. 



While the banks of the Gulf of Maine are offshore banks, 

 they lie within and are smaller than the banks that extend 



