LIST AND EXPLANATION OF THE CHARTS REPRESENTING THE SEA FISHING GROUNDS 

 OF THE EASTERN COAST OF NORTH AMERICA. 



1. List of Chaets. 



Page. " 



Chart No. 1. — The Fishing Grounds of Davis Straits ° 



Chart No. 2.— The Flemish Cap * ^^ 



Chart No. 3.— The Banks of Newfoundland ^"^ 



Chart No. 4.— The Banks off the coast of Nova Scotia ^"^ 



Chart No. 5.— The Fishing Grounds of the Gulf of Saint Lawrence 16 



Chart No. 6. — Fishing Grounds in the vicinity of Eastport, Maine 24 



Chart No. 7.— Fishing Grounds from Nova Scotia to Penobscot Bay, Maine 26 



Chart No. 8.— Fishing Grounds from Penobscot Bay, Maine, to Cape Ann, Massachusetts 30 



Chart No. 9.— Fishing Grounds near Monhegan Island, Maine 33 



Chart No. 10.— Fishing Grounds from Cape Ann to Buzzard's Bay, Massachusetts 39, 45 



Chart No. 11. — George's Bank '4 



Chart No. 12.— Fishing Grounds from Gay Head, Massachusetts, to Cape Henlopen, Delaware 47 



Chart No. 13.— Fishing Grounds from Cape May, New Jersey, to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina 51 



Chart No. 14.— Fishing Grounds from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina, to Cape Komain, South Carolina 52 



Chart No. 15. — Fishing Grounds from Cape Eomain, South Carolina, to Saint Augustine, Florida 53 



Chart No. 16.— Fishing Grounds of the Gulf Coast of the United States. Prepared by Mr. Silas Stearns 55 



Chart No. 17.— Sponging Grounds of the Coast of Florida. Prepared by Mr. Silas Stearns 58 



2. Explanations of Charts 3, 4, and 5. 



The following notes are based on data mainly obtained previous to 1880, but, unfortunately, not available at 

 that time for insertion in the body of the text, to which they now serve as an appendix. They have reference, for the 

 most part, to the extensive halibut and cod fisheries of the important banks lying off the coasts of the British mari- 

 time Provinces, and are intended more especially to call attention to certain localities in which good fishing had been 

 obtained down to the close of 1879, or the early part of 1880, the year in which the investigations respecting them 

 were mostly made. A few facts of more recent date have also been added. The years in which good fares were 

 obtained are generally mentioned, and these explanations, in connection with the charts to which they relate, furnish, 

 therefore, important data of historical interest, as well as regarding the relative value of different parts of the several 

 fishing grounds in past years. 



Changes are constantly taking place in the abundance offish on all the large fishing banks. In many instances 

 these changes are of only a temporary nature, and if fish are scarce one year, they may be abundant again the next. 

 The halibut apparently furnish an exception to this rule, and good grounds, once depleted, have seldom been known 

 to regain their former status. A few instances are, however, on record, where old and seemingly worn-out grounds 

 have again afforded a good halibut fishery, but such cases are said to be rare, and the facts are regarded as favoring 



• Eefer to the pages of the text where the grounds are described. 



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