• I glip r•lavniarcri ament navniarodnanement

Fisheries and Service des pèches L Marine Service et des sciences de la mer fact sheet Number 3 The Grand Banks

Stretching for nearly 2,000 grounds on the North Ameri- fishing resources contributed greatly miles along the northeastern Atlantic can side of the Atlantic. From early to the exploration of the New World. seaboard from Nantucket Shoals off times these grounds have been The exploring era began with John New England to at the fished and sailed over by adventurers Cabot and his son Sebastian. It was eastern-most fringe of the Grand of western Europe. It was probably Cabot who first noted the richness of Banks of Newfoundland is a chain of the Vikings in their horned helmets the fishing grounds off New- the world's richest fishing banks. and high-prowed boats who first vis- foundland. His interest was more or Covering 36,000 square miles, ited the area, later to be followed by less casual because he had other the Grand Banks embrace a series of Bretons, Portuguese, Spaniards, things in mind. He had been com- smaller banks, the most important of Frenchmen, Basques and English- manded by King Henry VII, the reign- which are Grand Bank (Great Bank of men. ing Tudor monarch of England, to Nevvfoundland), Green and St. Pierre For centuries fish from the banks scour the western sea until he found Banks. From the viewpoint of history, off Newfoundland have helped feed a new gateway to Asia and its riches. this area has been fished for the long- the nations bordering on the western Cabot failed in that objective, but his est time and is the best known of ocean, and the exploitation of the discovery of Newfoundland had more

•

Fisheries patrol vessel Chebucto on duty at the Grand Banks far-reaching effects than would ments in North America. Originally which have no food to support ani- rubies and silks from the Orient. known as St. George's Bank, earliest mal life, the sea has its areas where From Flemish Cap, the Grand records show that it was charted by a food is absent, and fish avoid them Bank extends westward and south- surveyor sent out to Virginia by King entirely. There are thousands of ward more than 600 miles. Other James I of England in 1610. Samuel square miles of ocean where ther^ grounds continue the chain, cutting de Champlain is also believed to have are few, if any stocks of fish. through Green and St. Pierre Banks had a hand in charting that part of In this age of technology, fish to the Western Banks, comprising the coast in the early 1 600's. can be spotted by electronic instru- several banks such as Misaine, Ban- Like the Grand Banks, Georges ments. However, the fishing banks quereau or Banquero, the Gully and has an interesting history. It was only were well identified long before the Sable Island Bank. The chain contin- within comparatively recent years age of electricity and its accom- ues southwest through Emerald that a deepsea scallop industry was panying miracles. For more than 300 Bank, Sambro, Roseway, LeHave, developed there. This species was years, fishing captains of many na- Seal Island Ground and Georges fished most heavily by Canadian fish- tions charted the areas in the north- Bank with its southwestern extension ermen. Although production of west Atlantic where the fish are. It to Nantucket Shoals. scallops has fallen off, was a hit-and-miss method, but it The species of fish caught vary there is still a substantial worked well. Today there are few, if with the different banks. The Grand there. any, places on the continental shelf- Banks area for instance, has been Scientists say that in the pre-gla- the ledge extending seaward from noted for its . Generally, however, cial period, Georges was above the the mainland-where fish popu- various species of groundfish-cod, sea level and probably formed a part lations live undisturbed. , hake, , redfish, pôl- of the mainland. Pieces of fossilized While the great banks off New- lock, cusk, etc.,-are found in varying wood occasionally hauled to the sur- foundland have been fished for cen- quantities on most banks. The lob- face by fishing trawls indicate that turies by vessels of several nations, ster, clam and oyster fisheries are in- pre-historic Georges was a wooded the fishing grounds lying off New En- shore operations. The most extensive area. gland and the Maritimes were ex- lobster fishing grounds are located in Like the land, the bottom of the ploited chiefly by Canadian and waters adjacent to the Maritime sea is composed of sandy plains; hills American fishermen right up to the Provinces. and valleys and mountains; rocky beginning of World War Two. How- Next to the Grand Banks, areas strewn with boulders, some- ever, all that is changed now. Georges is the most important fishing times with abrupt faces, other times The war had not been over very ground along the eastern seaboard. with sloping edges; there are weedy long before the fishing fleets of Can- There is evidence that Norsemen places and areas of slimy mud, and ada and the were sailed over the area long before white forests of coral trees. And also like joined by those of other nations in men established permanent settle- the land where there are vast areas harvesting the northwest Atlantic sea

Foreign fishing fleets dot the horizon on the Grand Banks CANNDAN ARMED FORCES

Canadian Forces Tracker aircraft flies over a Portuguese while on a routine coastal patrol. oNo photo resources. Within the last two dec- have been set to permit the escape- Grand Banks on her maiden voyage ades, the number of European fishing ment of fish under commercial size. from England to New York. She fleets on the banks has grown to 16. More recently, national catch quotas struck an iceberg and sank, carrying At the beginning the most formidable have been established for the more more than 1 ,500 persons to their newcomer was the Soviet Union, but heavily-fished species such as her- deaths. Since then the International the other nations soon began to ex- ring, cod, plaice and hake. Ice Patrol ships of the United States pand their fleets. Where once there While fish has been the main watch the north Atlantic sea lanes were dozens of vessels on the fishing source of wealth in the northwest At- and warn ships of drifting bergs. grounds, now there are hundreds. lantic, that sprawling piece of ocean By the late 1940's, the fishing also contains other wealth beneath pressure started to increase at a its rolling surface. Oil and minerals heavy rate. Scientists of the nations are there, and the day may not be far involved began to concern them- off when these new resources will be selves with the effects of such heavy yielding bountiful returns to those ex- fishing on the northwest Atlantic fish ploiting them. stocks. That led to the formation of All the large fishing banks have the International Commission for the their stories. So do the smaller ones. Northwest Atlantic Fisheries of which On their bottoms lie the bones of is a member. This commis- ships wrecked in recent times and 'on instituted conservation measures long ago. The most notable of these promote the best use of the fishing sea-bed wrecks is the mighty resource. This management program 40,000-ton Titanic. One still and mainly involves regulating mesh sizes chilly night in. April 1912, the luxury for the nets used. Minimum sizes liner sank a few miles south of the Off Shore Fishing Banks... Cape Cod to Newfoundland • « .------^------,

ouisEc

ATLANTI C

pCEAN

•GREp? B^HK icaaeo' ot

NE MFOUNDLAND

BANK MIDDLE•BANK"'•'BANOUERQ •.. •., ...... BANK'•'.:'

r SAMBNO WESTERN BARIK.. éA'^a ••F ABLE ISLAND BANK NoSÉWAr .• ^ pq, •• ••• BAMK LE.. AYE ^ ^M4 Q ••"

:'GEORGES BANK SCALE (L-30M1

January, 1973