Keywords Coastal Waters

Currents Georges Bank is within the Bay of FUNDY-Gulf of Maine tidal system, and strong oscillatory tidal currents, typically 80-100 cm/s (1.6-2.0 knots), pass across the top of the bank, keeping the water column there well mixed even in summer. The average currents follow the contours of the bank, however, forming a clockwise gyre (large, surface ocean current), and water on top of the bank remains there on average for several months during the summer.

Productivity Georges Bank is one of the most biologically productive regions in the world's oceans, largely owing to the tidal mixing, which brings to the surface a continuous supply of nutrients. The combination of high primary productivity and prolonged residence of the water leads to the buildup of high concentrations of PLANKTON on the bank. As a result, Georges Bank sustained large stocks of fish, such as HERRING, haddock and COD, as well as SCALLOPS.

Fishery Georges Bank has traditionally been fished by Canadian and American fishermen; properly managed, Georges Bank can sustain estimated annual fishery yields of about 420 000 t. In the 1960s and 1970s it was severely overfished by distant water trawling fleets, primarily from the former Soviet Union and Poland. The Georges Bank herring, one of the world's largest herring stocks, with a biomass of approximately one million tonnes, virtually disappeared during this period.

A boundary decision in Oct 1984 by the International Court at The Hague allocated five-sixths of the bank to the US. The easternmost sixth, awarded to Canada, is rich in groundfish and scallops.

Petroleum Exploration Between 1976 and 1984, 10 wells were drilled on the American part of the Georges Bank. However, the impact on the fisheries of exploiting these resources is not well understood. To protect the fishery, in 1988 the federal government and Nova Scotia declared a moratorium on drilling on the Canadian part until the year 2000, and subsequently, the US declared a similar moratorium on the American part.

Author CHRIS GARRETT AND TONY KOSLOW

Links to Other Sites
Deep-Sea Coral
This overview of deep-sea coral research and conservation programs in offshore Nova Scotia is from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.

Sharks may be mating on Georges Bank
A CBC article about possible breeding behaviour of porbeagle sharks in the Georges Bank region.