148 HISTORY AND METHODS OF THE FISHERIES, 
3.—THE BANK TRAWL-LINE COD FISHERY. 
By G. BRown GooDE and J. W. CoLLins. 
As has already been stated in the chapter on the Bank cod hand-line fishery, an extensive 
industry has for several centuries been prosecuted on the Grand Bank of Newfoundland and 
neighboring off-shore banks, the principal object of which has been the capture of cod, though of 
late years a considerable quantity of halibut has been taken incidentally by the same fishermen. 
Except in the George’s cod fishery, the practice of hand-lining from the deck of the vessel, which 
was formerly the only method, has been discontinued almost entirely within the last twenty-five 
or thirty years, though a number of vessels are still fitted with hand-lines and dories. A very 
large majority, however, of all the vessels fishing on the off-shore Banks use trawl-lines, these 
being exclusively employed by the French fishermen and almost exclusively by the Canadian 
fishermen. 
The American trawl-fishery is so recent in its origin but little can be said about its history, 
and this chapter will be devoted to a discussion of the methods in use at the present time which 
are essentially the same as those introduced when trawling first became customary. 
1. THE FISHING GROUNDS. 
The American trawlers frequent all the off-shore banks as well as those in the Gulf of Saint 
Lawrence. The most important fishing ground is of course the Grand Bank of Newfoundland. 
This great shoal throughout its entire extent is an excellent fishing ground for cod, though in 
some seasons there are limited areas which are more or less barren. The gully called “Whale 
Deep,” having a muddy bottom, is never resorted to. The trawling vessels ply their lines over a 
larger area than the hand-liners, which, for a greater part of the year, congregate in the shoaler 
waters in the vicinity of the Virgin Rocks. From April to June the best trawling is usually 
obtained on the southern part of the Bank, between the parallels of 43 and 45. From July to 
October the fish are distributed over a much larger area, and ees is carried on from latitude 44 
to the extreme northern limits of the Bank. 
In July and August a favorite locatity for the feowienr’ is that portion of the Bank lying east 
of the Virgin Rocks, a distance of 15 to 45 miles, and known as the “eastern shoal water.” The 
portion of the Bank lying between the parallels 44 and 45.20 is a favorite fishing ground for cod 
at all seasons from April to October. 
Next in importance to the Grand Bank, so far as the American fishermen are concerned, is the 
Western Bank, on which Gloucester vessels can be found in nearly every month of the year, and 
which in summer is resorted to by bankers from nearly every port. Large numbers of Canadian 
vessels fish here during the spring and summer months, but the French vessels are excluded by 
the provisions of the convention of 1818 from all grounds within 100 miles from the coast of Nova 
Scotia, and therefore are never seen on any of the fishing banks south or west of Banquereau, 
The Western Bank affords excellent fishing over its entire surface. 
Banquereau is also extensively resorted to by American, Canadian, and French vessels, though 
it is not so favorite a fishing place for the Gloucester trawlers as the Western Bank. Like the 
Grand Bank fishery, that upon Banquerean is exclusively a spring and summer fishery. 
Saint Peter’s Bank is now almost abandoned to the French, though it was formerly a favorite 
spot for the American trawlers, especially those of Gloucester. 
