VIII INTRODUCTION. 



French fishermen visit principally the Grand Bank,. Saint Pierre, Banquereau, and certain portions 

 of the coast of Newfoundland, on which they have long possessed the right to fish by treaty with 

 Great Britain. Much English capital is invested in the Provincial fisheries, and vessels of 

 other nations than the French and Portuguese come to this country to load with fish for foreign 

 markets, but few, if any, ever engage in fishing. 



The great offshore banks are now chiefly resorted to by the fishermen of New England and 

 the British maritime Provinces, the latter including Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Prince 

 Edward's Island, Lower Canada, and Newfoundland, but the Provincial fishermen seldom venture 

 as far south as George's Bank, which is frequented mostly by Gloucester vessels, and a few hali- 

 but catchers from Southern New England. 



The most distant grounds visited by the fishermen of the United States, at the time this 

 report was prepared, are located in Davis Strait, in the vicinity of Holsteinborg, on the west 

 coast of Greenland, about 67° north latitude. They consist mainly of rocky banks, with patches 

 of sand and mud, the depths of water ranging from 20 to 50 fathoms, and abound in halibut, 

 but cod are scarce, and are taken only in small quantities. In 1884, acting upon information fur- 

 nished by the United States Fish Commission, three Gloucester vessels made excellent halibut 

 trips to the fishing banks of Iceland, and in the summer of 1885 four vessels from the same port 

 obtained full fares on the Iceland grounds. Fishing is reported to be more profitable than in 

 Davis Strait, and this region will probably prove very attractive in the future. Very few United 

 States vessels now go either to the coasts of Labrador or Newfo undland, or to the Gulf of Saint 

 Lawrence. No fares of halibut have been taken in those regions since 1881, and during the six 

 years preceding that date the amount obtained was very small. About 12 or 15 cod fishermen 

 still resort to the Gulf of Saint Lawrence every summer, but the mackerel fishery has been mostly 

 transferred to the open waters on our own coast. The mackerel fleet in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence 

 from United States ports has, during the past 8 or 10 years, seldom numbered more than 40 or 50 

 vessels, and during the same period the catch in those waters has probably not exceeded 3 per 

 cent, of the total catch of the United States fleet. 



The fishing grounds indicated on the charts representing the Gulf of Maine, and the coastlines 

 of Maine, New Hampshire, and Massachusetts, are mostly small banks, ledges, and shoals, with 

 rocky, stony, gravelly, and sandy bottoms, separated by tracts of mud and sand. Upon the eleva- 

 tions, cod, haddock, pollock, and cusk abound, while the muddy areas between constitute the 

 best known localities for the capture of hake. Although individually of relatively small size, com- 

 pared with the offshore banks, these grounds form in the aggregate a very extensive and valuable 

 fishing region, of much importance to the smaller class of fishing vessels and the boat-fishermen. 

 From Nantucket westward and southward, to the Gulf of Mexico, the fishing grounds of the same 

 class are much less numerous than at the north, more widely separated, and often entirely want- 

 ing over long distances; they are also generally less defined, especially as regards differences in 

 the depth of water, and bottom fishing is not carried on to nearly as great an extent. 



At the southern extremity of Florida good bottom fishing is obtained on the edge of the Gulf 

 Stream, and among the coral reefs, by the Key West market fleet. In the Gulf of Mexico there 

 is a broad belt of fishing ground, following the general contour of the coast? and extending from 

 the Tortngas Keys nearly to the mouth of the Mississippi Eiver. It has a greatly diversified bot- 

 tom, consisting in some places of ledges, in others of sandy, shelly, muddy, and rocky bottoms, 

 traversed by gullies, and living corals are said to be abundant on many portions. Fishing is con- 

 ducted in depths of 5 to 40 fathoms, the principal species taken being the red and black groupers 

 and the red snapper. 



