Major fishing grounds
Topic: Primary Activities: Gathering, Pastoralism, Agriculture and Mining · NCERT: Beyond NCERT
Meaning
The world's richest fishing grounds lie on wide, shallow continental shelves. They also form where cold and warm ocean currents meet, or where cold water rises from below (upwelling). Shallow, sunlit and mixed waters are full of nutrients, and these feed plankton, which fish eat. The major grounds are:
- the North-East Atlantic, such as the Dogger Bank in the North Sea
- the North-West Atlantic (Grand Banks)
- the North-West Pacific off Japan, where the Kuroshio and Oyashio currents meet
- the Peru–Chile coast
Example
On the Peru–Chile coast, the cold Humboldt Current brings up nutrient-rich water. This feeds huge shoals of anchoveta. In El Niño years the upwelling weakens, and the catch falls.
Don't confuse with
- Upwelling grounds and current-meeting grounds: Peru gets its fish from upwelling. The Grand Banks off Newfoundland get theirs from the meeting of the cold Labrador Current and the warm Gulf Stream.