464 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



Occurrence in the Gulf of Maine. — The cusk is generally distributed in the 

 Gulf in water deeper than 10 to 15 fathoms, its presence or absence depending on the 

 precise type of bottom. It is seldom caught on smooth sand but chiefly where the 

 bottom is rough with masses of rocks, bowlders, or ledges, on gravelly and pebbly 

 ground, and occasionally on mud with hake. The actual area occupied by this 

 fish is but a fraction of that inhabited by cod, haddock, or pollock, and it varies 

 greatly in abundance in different parts of the Gulf. Thus cusk are hardly ever 

 caught in Cape Cod Bay but are plentiful off Cape Ann and on Jeffreys Ledge, the 

 latter being one of the most productive grounds to be found anywhere in the Gulf of 

 Maine. The rocky slopes of Cashes Ledge have long been famous for cusk, and in past 

 years when more fishing was done there (in 1902 and 1905, for example) this ground 

 was the chief source of supply of the cusk landed in New England. Large catches 

 are also made among the rocks of Browns Bank and fair numbers are taken on the 

 rockier spots on Georges Bank, though its smoother expanses yield only odd cusk. 

 As might be expected cusk are caught on Fippenies and Platts Banks by the few 

 vessels that visit those localities, and they are said to be plentiful on the rather 

 indefinite ground off Penobscot Bay known as Jeffreys Bank (not Ledge), or " Matin- 

 icus sou'-sou'west. " The following figures show the number of pounds of cusk 

 landed at Boston and Gloucester, Mass., and Portland, Me., from the several 

 offshore grounds in 1921: 33 



Browns Bank 440, 481 



Georges Bank 182,960 



South Channel 177,472 



Stellwagen Bank 94,455 



Jeffreys Ledge 319, 143 



Platts Bank 134, 166 



Jeffreys Bank 43,545 



Many cusk, in the aggregate, are taken on various small inshore grounds, 

 notably on the ledges off Chatham, on the broken grounds that extend from Cape 

 Ann to Stellwagen Bank, and on the small rocky patches that skirt the coast of 

 Maine, as appears from the catches made by small-boat fishermen in 1919 in the 

 following Maine counties: York, 9,000; Cumberland, 79,116; Sagadahoc, 14,720; 

 Lincoln, 26,664; Knox, 51,620; Hancock, 11,956; and Washington, 4,009. 



Some cusk are also caught at the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, particularly 

 about Grand Manan and off Brier Island, as Doctor Huntsman informs us, while 

 small rocky patches along the west Nova Scotian shore and off Seal Island also 

 yield cusk, though we can not state the catch as cusk are not listed as such in the 

 Canadian fishery returns. They are taken regularly on Grand Manan Bank. 

 German Bank and the fishing grounds off Lurcher Shoal are less favorable, consisting 

 mostly of patches of gravel and pebbles and small stones alternating with sand and 

 clay. The only important exceptions to the rule that cusk prefer rocky ground 

 in the Gulf of Maine is that they are plentiful in the South Channel where the bottom 

 is mostly smooth and sandy, and that a considerable number are caught with hake 

 off the coast of Maine on broken or even muddy bottom. In Norwegian waters they 



33 Very little fishing was done on Cashes Ledge that year. 



