412 BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHEEIES 



hard bottom, rock, gravel, or sand, from Cape Sable on the east to Cape Cod on the 

 west, but supports more or less cod at one time or another, and to list these localities 

 would be to mention every ground to which deep-sea fishermen repair except the 

 soft bottom, where hake are set for. Cod populate the outlying ledges, Jeffreys, 

 Cashes, Fippenies, Platts (the latter one of the best of the smaller grounds) , and 

 the larger offshore banks in abundance. The eastern half of Georges Bank, in 

 particular, has always been a most productive cod ground and one of the most famous 

 south of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland. The next largest Gulf of Maine fares 

 are brought in from the South Channel — Nantucket Shoals region in the south- 

 western part of the Gulf, and from Browns Bank in the eastern part, the latter 

 being especially productive in winter. The broken bottom off Seal Island, Nova 

 Scotia, the ground near Lurcher Shoal, and Grand Manan Bank are all famous cod 

 grounds. Best known among the inshore waters are certain hard patches off 

 Chatham (Cape Cod), between Provincetown and Plymouth and off the latter port, 

 Jeffreys Ledge off Cape Ann, and Ipswich Bay. Small vessels likewise make good 

 catches on the succession of hard and rocky patches that border the coast from the 

 Isles of Shoals to the mouth of Casco Bay; on "Seguin" and "Kettle" bottoms 

 off Seguin Island; on the "Matinicus ground" off' Matinicus Island; on the 

 "Grumpy" off Isle au Haut; in the neighborhood of Mount Desert Rock and of 

 Mount Desert Island; and on sundry small ridges thence eastward to the mouth 

 of the Bay of Fundy. Many smaller spots all up and down the coast yield a 

 few cod to the small-boat fishermen, also. 



The following statement of the landings of fresh cod from several of the more 

 important Gulf of Maine grounds for 1919 will serve to illustrate the relative 

 productivity of the grounds and the great commercial importance of the cod: 



Locality • Pounds 



Georges Bank 22, 387, 191 



Browns Bank 9,337,777 



South Channel 5, 164, 589 



Jeffreys Ledge 875, 414 



Off Chatham 619,020 



Stellwagen Bank 388, 135 



Platts Bank 341, 698 



Nantucket Shoals 250, 880 



Cashes Ledge 13, 015 



The catch on the small inshore fishing grounds off the coasts of Massachusetts 

 and Maine by large vessels and small boats combined came to a total of almost 

 20,000,000 pounds for that year, while nearly 2,000,000 pounds more were caught 

 on the New Brunswick side of the Bay of Fundy, mostly close by its mouth west 

 of St. John, and almost 6,000,000 more off the Scotian shore of the GuK, which 

 includes most of the catch made on the Lurcher Shoal, Seal Island, and German 

 Bank grounds and some from Browns Bank. This makes a grand total of upwards 

 • of 67,000,000 pounds (say 6,000,000 fish) for 1919, a fairly representative year. Nor 

 is this a complete survey of the Gulf of Maine, for it does not include the consider- 

 able number of fish caught on Browns Bank by vessels hailing from various ports 

 on the south coast of Nova Scotia. 



