Main commercial species

Groundfish

Groundfish, or bottom fish, are so called because as a rule they live and feed near the bottom of the sea. Some species of groundfish, after having been intensively harvested for many years, constitute sensitive populations that are now fished only with appropriate precautionary measures.

• Cod
• Atlantic halibut
• White hake
• Red fish
• Small flatfish

Cod
Gadus morhua

Ever since the early years of the sixteenth century, cod has been the most heavily fished groundfish species taken along Canada's Atlantic coast and in the Gulf Region. After the abrupt collapse of stocks early in the 1990s, catches were substantially reduced in an effort to protect the remaining populations.

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İAtlantic Fishes of Canada / Scott

Atlantic halibut
Hippoglossus hippoglossus

This giant member of the flatfish family is found off the Atlantic coast of North America from Labrador to the Gulf of Maine. Halibut caught by commercial fishers generally range in weight from 2.3 kilograms to over 56 kilograms.

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White hake
Urophycis tenuis

White hake may grow to a length of 100 cm. It is harvested mainly in eastern Gulf Nova Scotia.

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Redfish
Sebastes marinus

The redfish, also known as the rosefish or ocean perch, frequents the cold, deep waters overlying the slopes and ravines of the continental shelf. In the Gulf Region, it is harvested mainly in the waters of northeastern Gulf Nova Scotia.

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Small flatfish

There are four commercially important species of small flatfish that inhabit the waters of the Gulf Region. These fish, which are marketed under the names "flounder" and "sole", constitute the major catches of groundfish in the Gulf Region after cod.

İAtlantic Fishes of Canada / Scott American plaice Hippoglossoides platessoides	İAtlantic Fishes of Canada / Scott Yellowtail flounder Limanda ferruginea
İAtlantic Fishes of Canada / Scott Witch flounder Glyptocephalus cynoglossus	İAtlantic Fishes of Canada / Scott Winter flounder Pseudopleuronectes americanus