The Grand Banks, the Richest Fishing Ground in the World

John and Sebastian Cabot sailed back across the North Atlantic with bad news for their patron¹, King Henry Ⅶ of England.Instead of a short sea route to Japan and India, they had found only rocky, icy coasts.

It was as a mere² afterthought that they mentioned that they had visited a place near what they called New Found Isle³.The codfish were so plentiful⁴ there that when the sailors had lowered baskets into the water and hoisted⁵ them up, they were full of squirming, silvery fish.

Although the merchants and the nobles at court did not care about this discovery, the fishermen of Europe became very interested.Before long, many fishermen were sailing across the Atlantic to Newfoundland in their little fishing boats and bringing back great numbers of dried fish for the kitchens of Europe.

In time, the right to fish the Grand Banks came to be considerde far more valuable than all the treasure of the fabled⁶ East.The Grand Banks were, and still are, the richest fishing ground in the world.

大浅滩——世界上鱼量最丰富的渔场

约翰和塞巴斯蒂安·卡伯特穿过北大西洋航行归来，给其恩主——英王亨利七世带回了不祥的消息：他们没有找到通往日本和印度的海上捷径，只发现了多岩石的冰封的海岸。

只是他们事后想起，他们访问过他们称为纽芬岛附近的一个地方。那儿鳕鱼多极了，甚至当水手们把篮子放入水中再提起时，篮子里尽是欢蹦乱跳的银色鳕鱼。

虽然商人和宫廷贵族们对这一发现并不在意，欧洲的渔夫们却很感兴趣。不久，许多渔夫便乘着自己的小渔船，穿过大西洋航行到纽芬兰，为欧洲的厨房带回了大宗干鱼。

后来，人们终于认识到，大浅滩的捕鱼权比传说中的东方的全部珍宝还要有价值得多。大浅滩过去是、现在依然是世界上鱼量最丰富的渔场。