INTRODUCTION. 



By Eichaed Eathbun. 



The term "fisMug ground" is commonly applied to any area iu which fishing is carried on, 

 whether the fish are taken at the surface or at the bottom, whether near the coast or at a consider- 

 able distance from it. The regions traversed by the mackerel and menhaden, in their periodical 

 migrations, during the spring, summer, and fall, are classed as the mackerel and menhaden grounds, 

 and, in the popular mind, belong in the same category with those well-defined elevations and 

 depressions of the sea bottom which, are the constant resort of cod and halibut and other bottom- 

 feeding species. We also speak of the fishing grounds for herring, lobsters, shrimps, oysters, and 

 sponges, although those species are taken mostly near the shores, while th« cod and halibut grounds 

 are sometimes distant from them several hundred miles. 



The main purpose in preparing this section of the Fisheries Eeport has been to describe that 

 class of North American fishing grounds to which the term more properly belongs, or those areas 

 of the sea bottom which are known to be the feeding or spawning grounds of one or more species 

 of edible fishes, and which afford fisheries of greater or less extent. The most important grounds 

 of this character are located off the eastern coast of N"orth America, between Nantucket and Lab- 

 rador, this region furnishing by far the most important cod and halibut fisheries of the world, 

 and including the large and well-known offshore banks, extending from George's, at the south- 

 west, to the Flemish Cap, off the eastern coast of Newfoundland. These banks form an almost con- 

 tinuous series of broad, submarine elevations, stretching a distance of 1,100 geographical miles, 

 and with a varying width of 50 to 250 miles. They attracted the attention of early navigators, 

 and in the period of the first-attempted settlements on the adjacent shores of North America, now 

 included in the British coast Provinces, were regarded as one of the greatest sources of wealth 

 then known to the world. The principal maritime nations of Europe soon became interested in 

 developing the newly-discovered fisheries, France apparently taking the most active part, and every 

 year large fleets of vessels were sent to fish upon the banks. Colonies were established in con- 

 nection with the enterprise, and the influence of the Great Banks upon the early settlement of some 

 portions of our northeastern coast has probably never been estimated at its true value by historians. 



It is now nearly four hundred years since these grounds were first fished upon by Europeans, 

 and their resources are still unfailing; but the fishing interests have been mainly transferred' to 

 the New World, France alone of European countries having continued to send fishing vessels 

 across the Atlantic down to 1880. Since then, however, the Portuguese have begun to exhibit 

 some activity in connection with the cod fishery of the Grand Bank, and in the spring and sum- 

 mer of 1885 bought several New England fishing schooners and fitted out others from home ports. 

 Their voyages proving generally successful, they have added more vessels to their fishing fleet 

 during the latter part of this year, and it is quite possible that, in the course of a few seasons, 

 they will have firmly re-established themselves in the fisheries of the Western Atlantic. The 



VII 



