NORTH ATLANTIC FISHING GROUNDS 3 



fluenced other American vessels to avoid the region for 

 a decade. In 1884 three American vessels made successful 

 voyages and brought back valuable information concern- 

 ing the fishing grounds of Iceland and the abundance of 

 cod and halibut in the vicinity. The natives fish invariably 

 within the three-mile limit. The American vessels found 

 better fishing from 5 to 25 miles offshore. The character 

 of the bottom was described as rough, broken and 

 ' ' catchy. ' ' The currents are very irregular and uncertain, 

 usually not faster than one mile an hour, the general 

 trend being back and forth along the coast. Very rough 

 weather is experienced on these grounds during some sea- 

 sons, and at times fishing operations are suspended by 

 the floe-ice that is driven on the coast. The halibut are 

 much larger than those caught at Greenland; and are 

 principally of the white variety, while the Greenland hali- 

 but are nearly all gray. 



LABRADOR AND EASTERN NEWFOUNDLAND. 



As early as 1758 a description of the fishing grounds 

 of the coast of Labrador * was given by the captain of 

 an American fishing vessel that visited the coast during the 

 previous summer. The account was as follows : 



"The coast is full of islands, many of them large, capable of 

 great improvement as they have more or less good harbors, 

 abounding in fish and seal, water and land fowls, good land 

 covered with woods, in which are great numbers of fur beasts 

 of the best kind. Along the coast are many excellent harbors, 

 very safe from storms; in some are islands, with sufficient depth 

 of water for the largest vessels to ride between, full of codfish, 

 and rivers with plenty of salmon, trout and other fish." 



More than a century elapsed before a more complete 

 account of the coast was obtained by a representative of 



i Massachusetts Historical Society Collections for 1792. 



