NORTH ATLANTIC FISHING GROUNDS 5 



American bank-fishermen. In this region the fishing is 

 carried on from near the middle of June to the first 

 week in November. On the Newfoundland coast as well 

 as on the Labrador fishing grounds the fishermen employ 

 the cod trap for catching the fish. The contrivance is a 

 large room with floor and walls of twine arranged with an 

 opening on the landward side through which schools of 

 cod may enter but can not pass out again. As many as one 

 hundred quintals of cod have been caught at one haul 

 on many occasions ; on the other hand, a whole fishing sea- 

 son may pass without a school of cod entering the trap. 



CAPE RACE TO MONTAUK POINT. 



From Flemish Cap, a fishing ground, 8 E.N.E. of Cape 

 Race, to Montauk Point, are found the most famous and 

 valuable fishing grounds of American waters. The shore 

 line of this section of the coast is exceedingly irregular, 

 deeply indented with gulfs and bays, fiords, harbors and 

 inlets. It is a rock-bound coast, beautiful throughout its 

 extent, formerly occupied exclusively by the humble cot- 

 tages of the fishermen, now fast becoming dotted with 

 substantial summer residences of wealthy American 

 families. The drumlin-islands of Boston harbor and the 

 fiord-harbors of southern Maine still attest the influence 

 of the glacial epoch and the subsequent sinking of the 

 coast. A strong current from the Arctic Ocean encounters 

 the Gulf Stream off the southeast coast of Newfoundland. 

 It is checked in its course, its bergs are devoured by the 

 warm stream from the South, and it is forced to the west- 

 ward. The cold current follows along the south coast 

 of Newfoundland until it reaches Cape Breton Island 

 where it divides, sending one branch into the Gulf of 

 Saint Lawrence and another along the Nova Scotia coast 

 until it is finally lost in the Gulf of Maine. 



