152 
BULLETIN OF THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 
Quereau Bankis not muck resorted to by cod-fishing vessels from Gloucester, ckiefly 
because of tke small size and comparatively poor quality of fisk ou tliat bank. It is, 
however, a favorite fisking-grouud for halibut, which are taken in deep water (150 to 
400 fathoms) along the eastern, southern, and western edges of the bank. 
Misaine Bank is seldom visited by New England fishing vessels. 
Grand Bank and Flemish Cap are included under one head, for the reason that it 
is impracticable to designate definitely the quantity of fish taken on either, since the 
vessels that go to Flemish Cap usually spend a portion of their time in fishing upon 
the Grand Bank. The fleet resorting to the Flemish Cap is a comparatively small 
one, and the fishery there is carried on chiefly in May, June, and July. Some halibut 
are taken on the Flemish Cap and salted, but no fresh halibut are received from that 
bank. The fresh-halibut fishery on the Grand Bank is pursued vigorously throughout 
the year. The cod fishery, however, seldom or never begins before March. It is at 
its height from May to September. The fares arriving after September are composed 
for the most part of fish taken earlier in the season. The codfish received from the 
Grand Bank in November and December are brought in chiefly by vessels that start 
late in the season on their second or third fares. The cod fishery on the Bank may 
be considered closed in November, though some fares arrive home at a later date. 
The Iceland fishing-grounds have come into prominence in recent years, and now 
furnish practically all the salt halibut. Vessels leave home in March and April, aud 
return in August, September, and October. The bulk of the catch is obtained in May, 
June, and July. 
The Cape Shore cod fishery is prosecuted in spring, summer, and autumn, begin- 
ning about April 1 and continuing until the close of the year. It is most active, however, 
in midsummer and early autumn, and is engaged in chiefly by vessels which, earlier in 
the season, may visit the Western Bank or La Have, or which in winter and early spring 
may find employment in the shore cod fishery off the New England coast. 
The fishing-ground about Cape North, which is the northernmost point of Cape 
Breton Island, has in some seasons been quite noted for the number of fares of cod 
fish obtained there. The cod fishery in this region is irregular, due largely to the fact 
that it is entirely a spring fishery, and operations may be interfered with or prevented 
by the presence of masses of drifting ice which come down from the Gulf of St. Law- 
rence and cover the fishing-ground. Fares of halibut have occasionally been taken in 
this locality. 
The Gulf of St. Lawrence is not resorted to by cod-fishing vessels of New Eng- 
land except on very rare occasions, but it is a noted fishing-ground for mackerel, 
though its value as such has materially decreased in recent years. The mackerel 
fishery in the Gulf begins in June and generally continues until some time in October. 
The last vessels of the fleet generally reach the home port in November. The rela- 
tively large receipts of mackerel from this fishing-ground are due to the fact that the 
fares brought in at the close of the season in most cases were the entire year’s catch 
for the vessels engaged. It may be explained that the grounds resorted to in the Gulf 
of St. Lawrence by American fishermen are outside the 3-mile limit, with the exception 
of those about the Magdalene Islands and western Newfoundland, where Americans 
have the right to fish inside of territorial limits. 
