TheGrand Banks of Newfoundland are a series of underwaterplateaus south-east of the island ofNewfoundland on the North American continental shelf. The Grand Banks are one of the world's richest fishing grounds, supportingAtlantic cod,swordfish,haddock andcapelin, as well as shellfish, seabirds and sea mammals.
The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are a group of underwaterplateaus south-east of Newfoundland on the North Americancontinental shelf. These areas are relatively shallow, ranging from 15 to 91 metres (50 to 300 ft) in depth. The coldLabrador Current mixes with the warm waters of theGulf Stream here, often causing extremefoggy conditions.[1]
The mixing of these waters and the shape of the ocean bottom lifts nutrients to the surface. These conditions helped to create one of the richestfishing grounds in the world.Fish species includeAtlantic cod,swordfish,haddock andcapelin;shellfish includescallop andlobster. The area also supports large colonies ofseabirds such asnorthern gannets,shearwaters andsea ducks and various seamammals such asseals,dolphins andwhales.[citation needed]
Overfishing in the late 20th century caused the collapse of several species, particularly cod, leading to theclosure of the Canadian Grand Banks fishery in 1992.[citation needed]
Extensive glaciation took place in the area of the Grand Banks during thelast glacial maximum. By approximately 13,000 years ago the majority of the ice had melted, leaving the Grand Banks exposed as several islands extending for hundreds of kilometres. It is believed thatrising sea levels submerged these around 8,000 years ago.[2]
While noarchaeological evidence for a European presence near the Grand Banks survives from the period between the short-livedGreenland Norse settlement atL'Anse aux Meadows in 1000 CE andJohn Cabot'stransatlantic crossing in 1497, some evidence suggests that voyagers from theBasque Region[3][need quotation to verify] and England (specifically fromBristol)[4] and others[5] preceded Cabot.[6] In the 15th century some texts refer to a land calledBacalao, the land of the codfish, which is possibly Newfoundland. Within a few years of Cabot's voyage the existence of fishing grounds on the Grand Banks became generally known in Europe. Ships fromFrance andPortugal pioneered fishing there, followed by vessels fromSpain, while ships fromEngland were scarce in the early years.[7] This soon changed, especially afterBernard Drake'sNewfoundland Expedition in 1585, which virtually wiped out the Spanish and Portuguese fishing-industries in this area.[8] The fish stocks became important for the early European-settler economies ofeastern Canada andNew England.[citation needed]
On 18 November 1929, the1929 Grand Banks earthquake struck the southwestern part of the Grand Banks bordering theLaurentian Channel, causing an underwater landslide which resulted in extensive damage totransatlantic cables and generated a rare Atlantictsunami that struck the south coast ofNewfoundland, claiming 29 lives on theBurin Peninsula.[9]
Technological advances in fishing (such as using largefactory-ships andsonar), as well as geopolitical disputes overterritorial sea andexclusive economic zone (EEZ) boundaries, led tooverfishing and a serious decline in thefish stocks of the Grand Banks from around 1990. The Canadian Grand Banks fishery was closed in 1993.[10]
Canada's EEZ currently[update] covers the majority of the Grand Banks except for the lucrative "nose" (eastern extremity, near theFlemish Cap) and "tail" (southern extremity) of thefishing bank. The1783 Treaty of Paris gave the United States shared rights to fish in these waters, but that section of the Treaty is no longer in force. The exclusive economic zone of the French territorySaint Pierre and Miquelon occupies a pin-shaped section at the west edge of the Grand Banks, with the 22 kilometres (12 nmi; 14 mi) radius head of the pin surrounding the islands and the needle heading south for 348 km (188 nmi; 216 mi).[citation needed]
Canada is performing thehydrographic andgeological surveys necessary for claiming the entirecontinental shelf off eastern Canada, as allowed by the terms of the latestUnited Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (UNCLOS).[11]
Petroleum reserves have also been discovered and a number of oil fields are under development in this region, most notably theHibernia,Terra Nova, andWhite Rose projects.[12] However, the harsh environment on the Grand Banks also led to theOcean Ranger disaster.[13]
The Northwest Atlantic Ocean is undergoing long-term warming fromclimate change. The surface water temperatures of the Newfoundland Shelf have increased by 0.13 °C per decade from 1950 to 2016.[15] Depth-averaged ocean temperatures (0–175 m) have not shown a warming trend during that same period.[15]
Semi-fictional depictions of fishermen working on the Grand Banks can be found inRudyard Kipling's novelCaptains Courageous (1897) and in Sebastian Junger's non-fiction bookThe Perfect Storm (1997). The Grand Banks are also portrayed in the 1990 filmThe Hunt for Red October.Herman Melville described passing through the Banks as a young sailor on his first voyage in his autobiographical novelRedburn: His First Voyage (1849), where he saw whales and a haunting shipwreck with weeks-dead sailors still on board. It is also featured inThe Grey Seas Under, a non-fiction book by Canadian authorFarley Mowat about the ocean-going maritime salvage tugFoundation Franklin.[citation needed]
The Canadian patriotic song "Something to Sing About" opens with the line "I have walked 'cross the sand on the Grand Banks of Newfoundland." However, as the banks are underwater, it is impossible to walk across them in reality.[16]
In 1993, fishing in the Grand Banks off Canada was closed due to overfishing.
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