THE GULLY— SABLE ISLA^STD BANK. 69 



western extensiou of Misaine Bank, with which it is coimected by a narrow neck. It is very 

 elongate, extending in an east and west direction, and lies between about 59° 50' and 00° 50' 

 west longitude and 45° 01' and 45° 16' north latitude. Its length is about forty-five miles, its 

 greatest width about thirteen miles, and its area not far from four hundred and twenty-five miles. 

 The depths of water on this bank range from thirty to fifty-six fathoms and the general character 

 of the bottom is sandy, with spots of gravels and pebbles. It is unimportant as a vessel fishing- 

 ground, and is too far distant from the land to be much resorted to by small boats. 



THE GULLT. 



The so-called Gully of the bank fishermen is the deep passage-way lying between 

 Banquereau and Sable Island. It extends ia a west-northwest and east-southeast direction 

 north of Sable-Island, but turns abruptly toward the south at its eastern end, and continues 

 down between the eastern end of the Western Bank and the southwest prong of Banquereau. 

 It constitutes an important halibut ground. Its entire length is about sixty miles, and its greatest 

 width twenty miles. The depths range from sixty-six to one hundred and forty -five fathoms, and 

 the bottom consists of rocks, gravel, sand, and mud. The rocky and gravelly portions form 

 several ridges, separated generally by areas of the finer materials, excepting in the eastern section, 

 where the intervening bottom is mostly composed of pebbles and sharj) rocks. The ocean 

 currents generally set over this area in a westerly direction, but vary much in strength, an 

 easterly wind often increasing their force, while at other times there may be no perceptible current 

 at all. Halibut have not been found, at least not iu sufficient numbers to warrant fishing for 

 them, over the entire extent of the Gully; but the halibut grounds pi'oper are limited to the rocky 

 and gravelly ridges-and slopes of that portion of the Gully included between the meridians of 59° 

 and 60° west longitude. When this fishery began it was carried on chiefly during the spring, 

 in the northern and western i)art of the Gully; but in 1877 the fishermen made successful 

 trials farther out, taking good fares even as late as June and July ; since then good catches have 

 been obtained in the winter, and it would appear that the halibut come here merely to feed, as 

 they generally move to other localities just previous to the spawning season. With a few 

 exceptions, Gloucester halibut vessels are the only ones that have fished on this ground. 

 Instances are on record of the appearance of cod in the Gully in sixty-five to ninety fathoms of 

 water, but they are not found regularly in the same places each year, ^he rocky bottoms of the 

 Gully are very rich in animal life, affording abundant food for the halibut, and lant and herring 

 are also frequently plentiful in their season. 



SABLE ISLANB BANK OR WESTERN BANK. 



Western Bank is one of the most important fishing-grounds of the Western Atlantic, 

 considered either as to size or the abundance of fish. It lies south of Cape Breton Island and 

 the eastern part of Nova Scotia, between the parallels of 42° 55' and 44° 46' north latitude and 

 the meridians of 59° 04' and 62° 35' west longitude, and has a length of one hundred and fifty-six 

 miles and a width, including the Middle Ground, of seventy-six miles. The general contour of 

 the bank within the sixty five-fathom line, as laid down on the Admiralty chart, approaches 

 somewhat a very elongated ellipse, with the longer axis running about northeast by east and 

 soutliwest by west ; but over a broad area to the eastward of the center of the bank soundings of 

 less than sixty fathoms connect it directly with Middle Ground, which we have here included in 

 the same bank. The total extent of the bank thus defined is about seven thousand square 

 geographical miles. Off its eastern end lies Banquereau, with the Gully between, and a short 

 distance off the western end are the Le Have Eidges. 



