134 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES. 



archives of the Fish Commission, and we shall attempt only an outline, reserving the full discus- 

 sion for some future occasion. 



2. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 



The fishing grounds of Labrador and those of the west coast of Newfoundland, which were 

 also frequently visited by the Labrador fleet, are described as follows by Prof. Henry Youle Hind: 

 " The fishing grounds on the Atlantic coast of the Labrador, as far north as Sandwich Bay, have 

 been occupied to a greater or less extent for one hundred and twenty years. Those extending 

 from Sandwich Bay to Cape Harrison or Webeck have also been visited by fishing craft for a gen- 

 eration or more ; but north of Aillik, about 40 miles from Cape Harrison, the coast has only been 

 frequented by Newfoundland codfishing craft during the last fifteen years. A Quebec and Lon- 

 don house have possessed detached salmon-fishing stations as far north as Ukkasiksalik or Free- 

 stone Point (latitude 55 53", longitude 60 50"), for about thirty years, but these have all passed 

 into the hands of the Hudson Bay Company. Until the recent publication of Staff-Commander 

 Maxwell's surveys* our knowledge of the Labrador coast has been chiefly derived from the Mora- 

 vian missionaries and the surveys of certain harbors far removed from one another by the officers 

 of Her Majesty's vessels. 



" A glance at Commander Maxwell's chart, when compared with any document published pre- 

 vious to 1876, shows how little is known respecting the geographical outlines of this extended 

 coast line, which, from its amazing fish wealth, promises to become a very important commercial 

 adjunct to Newfoundland. 



"The leading characteristics of the coast northwest of Aillik are as follows: 



" 1. The shore-line is deeply serrated by a constant succession of profound and narrow fiords 

 stretching from 30 to 50 miles into the interior. 



"2. It is fringed with a vast multitude of islands, forming a continuous archipelago from 

 Cape Aillik to Cape Mugford, averaging 20 miles in depth from the mouth of the fiords seawards. 



" 3. Outside of the islands, and about 15 miles seawards from them, are numerous banks and 

 shoals, which form the summer feeding grounds of large cod, while outside of the shoals there 

 appears to be a second range of banks and slopes, which are probably their winter feeding grounds. 



"4. The island-studded area forms an immense codfishing ground, which covers between 

 Cape Harrison (Webeck) and Cape Mugford a boat fishing ground, exclusive of the shoals and 

 banks outside, nearly as large as the combined area of the English and French boat fishing ground 

 on the coasts of Newfoundland^ 



"For the sake of distinction I have styled the area under review, 'The Northern Labrador 

 Fishing Grounds,' beginning at Cape Harrison (Webeck), and, for the present at least, terminating 

 at Cape Mugford. 



"Area of the Northern Labrador boat fishery. The following table shows approximately the 

 area of the boat fishing grounds about the island of Newfoundland and the Northern and Southern 

 divisions of the Labrador. From this table it will bo seen that the area of the Northern Labrador 

 fishing grounds alone, exclusive of the Banks, amounts to about five-sixths of the entire area of 

 the British and French boat fishery on th coast of Newfoundland. The area of the iuuuer range 

 of banks cannot be even approximately stated: 



'See Colding " On the Laws of Currents in Ordinary Conduits and in the Sea," in Nature, December, 1871. 

 tSee paper by H. Y. Hind entitled "Notes on the Influence of Anchor Ice in relation to Fish Oft'al and the New- 

 foundland Fisheries," Parts I and II. Saint John's, Newfoundland, 1877. 



