42 nSHING-GEOUNDS OF NORTH AMERICA. 



Fishing liij) is an elongate bank, situated about twenty-nine miles southeast from Sankaty 

 Head light. It extends about ten miles in a northeast and southwest direction, and is about one 

 and one-half miles broad; the depths of water upon it vary from four and three-quarters fathoms 

 to eight and three-quarters fiithoms. The character of the bottom is the same as upon Great Rip, 

 and it is visited by the saiiu^ licet of fishing-vessels, and also occasionally by smacks from 

 Nantucket. 



P/ic/jJs' Banic lies about thirty-eight miles southeast one-half south of Saukaty Head light, 

 and agrees more or less in size, shape, trend, and character of bottom with Fishing Rip. The 

 depths of water range from ten to seventeen fathoms. It is resorted to occasionally by the same 

 fleet of smacks that visit the two preceding banks. 



Strong tidal currents flow over these three banks, the flood tide running northeast and the 

 ebb southwest. 



8. THE GULF OF MAINE. 



The Gulf of Maine constitutes one of the most important fishing areas of the eastern coast of 

 North America, both from the abundance of fish which resort to it and its close proximity to 

 numerous large and enterprising fishing ports. It is nearly rectangular in shape, being bordered 

 on the north and west by Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts ; on the south by George's 

 Bank; and on the east by Nova Scotia, Brown's Bank, etc. Its greatest length is from Cape Cod 

 to Cape Sable, the distance between these two points being about two hundred and fifteen miles. 

 The average breadth at right angles to this line is about eightj' miles. The area of the Gulf is, 

 therefore, more than seventeen thousand square miles, all of which is more or less available for 

 fishing of one kind or another. From the sixty -fathom line, which lies from twelve to twenty-five 

 miles off the coast, the bottom descends rapidly in some parts, in others more gradually, to depths 

 of one hundred to one hundred and sixty fathoms, nearly all the deeper tracts having a bottom 

 of mud, on portions of which hake are sometimes abundant. To the north of the center of the Gulf, 

 along a line running more or less directly from Cape Ann to the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, are 

 distributed a number of elevated, gravelly, rocky patches of greater or less size, which are 

 described below, and on which cod and haddock feed in immense numbers. These grounds are 

 mainly visited by vessels of from fifteen to fifty tons, belonging to the New England fishing 

 fleet. The mackerel fisheries of the Gulf of Maine are now the most important in the world. 

 From the first of June to November, this species of fish is more abundant here than elsewhere 

 along the coast, and the schools are distributed over the whole extent of the Gulf from the shores 

 outward, irrespective of the depth of water. The shallow-water fishery is described elsewhere, 

 but it is in the deeper waters, where the immense purse-seines can be freely used, that the large 

 catches are made. Formerly, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence was most resorted to by the mackerel 

 catchers of our ports, but since the introduction of purse-seines for the capture of this fish, the 

 shallow waters of the Saint Lawrence have been largely deserted by the vessels of our fleet, 

 which have been able to obtain much more profitable fares nearer liome. 



Herring also abound in the Gulf of Maine, where they used to be taken in gill-nets for use as 

 bait by the fishermen at anchor on the cod grounds. This was at one time the principal method 

 resorted to by the fishermen of the Gulf of Maine for securing bait, but now almost all the herring 

 so used are obtained from the harbors and islands along the shore. 



Gkand Manan Bank. — Grand Manan Bank lies at the entrance to the Bay of Fundy, and 

 bears southwest one-half south from the southwest head of Grand Manan Island, from which the 

 northern part of the bank is fifteen miles distant. It is ten miles long and five miles wide, and 



