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24-736: Route 70 , also known as Roaches Line and Conception Bay Highway , is a 109-kilometre-long (68 mi) north-south highway on the Avalon Peninsula of Newfoundland . The highway also carries the designation of Baccalieu Trail for its entire length. Route 70 begins in Roaches Line at an interchange with Route 75 (Veterans Memorial Highway), just a short distance north of Route 1 ( Trans Canada Highway ). It heads north through rural wooded to come enter Cupids , where it has an intersection with Route 60 (Conception Bay Highway) and Route 71 (Hodgewater Line), where Route 70 takes on

48-527: A group of underwater plateaus south-east of Newfoundland on the North American continental shelf . These areas are relatively shallow, ranging from 15 to 91 metres (50 to 300 ft) in depth. The cold Labrador Current mixes with the warm waters of the Gulf Stream here, often causing extreme foggy conditions . The mixing of these waters and the shape of the ocean bottom lifts nutrients to

72-497: 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). Canada is performing the hydrographic and geological surveys necessary for claiming the entire continental shelf off eastern Canada, as allowed by the terms of the latest United Nations Convention on

96-582: A population of 100, becoming the first successful permanent settlement on Newfoundland island. In 1623 Calvert was given a royal charter extending the royal lands and granting them the name Province of Avalon "in imitation of Old Avalon in Somersetshire wherein Glassenbury stands, the first fruits of Christianity in Britain as the other was in that party of America". Calvert wished to make

120-506: A rare Atlantic tsunami that struck the south coast of Newfoundland , claiming 29 lives on the Burin Peninsula . Technological advances in fishing (such as using large factory-ships and sonar ), as well as geopolitical disputes over territorial sea and exclusive economic zone (EEZ) boundaries, led to overfishing and a serious decline in the fish stocks of the Grand Banks from around 1990. The Canadian Grand Banks fishery

144-455: Is a large peninsula that makes up the southeast portion of the island of Newfoundland in Canada . It is 9,220.61 square kilometres (3,560.10 sq mi) in size. The peninsula is home to 270,348 people, about 52% of Newfoundland's population, according to the 2016 Canadian census. The peninsula is the location of St. John's , the provincial capital and largest city. It is connected to

168-531: Is believed that rising sea levels submerged these around 8,000 years ago. While no archaeological evidence for a European presence near the Grand Banks survives from the period between the short-lived Greenland Norse settlement at L'Anse aux Meadows in 1000 CE and John Cabot 's transatlantic crossing in 1497, some evidence suggests that voyagers from the Basque Region and England (specifically from Bristol ) and others preceded Cabot. In

192-440: Is located in the northeast of the peninsula. The Avalon Peninsula is a noted region for Precambrian fossils , and many Lagerstätten of the diverse Ediacaran biota are found on the peninsula. Mistaken Point is the original location of the first documented Ediacaran , Aspidella terranovica (which gets its specific name from Newfoundland). The peninsula gives its name to the ancient micro-continent Avalonia of which it

216-565: The 15th century some texts refer to a land called Bacalao , 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 from France and Portugal pioneered fishing there, followed by vessels from Spain , while ships from England were scarce in the early years. This soon changed, especially after Bernard Drake 's Newfoundland Expedition in 1585 , which virtually wiped out

240-649: The 1990 film The Hunt for Red October . Herman Melville described passing through the Banks as a young sailor on his first voyage in his autobiographical novel Redburn: His First Voyage (1849), where he saw whales and a haunting shipwreck with weeks-dead sailors still on board. It is also featured in The Grey Seas Under , a non-fiction book by Canadian author Farley Mowat about the ocean-going maritime salvage tug Foundation Franklin . The Canadian patriotic song " Something to Sing About " opens with

264-655: The Law of the Sea (UNCLOS). Petroleum reserves have also been discovered and a number of oil fields are under development in this region, most notably the Hibernia , Terra Nova , and White Rose projects. However, the harsh environment on the Grand Banks also led to the Ocean Ranger disaster. The Northwest Atlantic Ocean is undergoing long-term warming from anthropogenic climate change . The surface water temperatures of

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288-637: The Newfoundland Shelf have increased by 0.13 °C per decade from 1950 to 2016. Depth-averaged ocean temperatures (0–175 m) have not shown a warming trend during that same period. Semi-fictional depictions of fishermen working on the Grand Banks can be found in Rudyard Kipling 's novel Captains Courageous (1897) and in Sebastian Junger's non-fiction book The Perfect Storm (1997). The Grand Banks are also portrayed in

312-545: The Spanish and Portuguese fishing-industries in this area. The fish stocks became important for the early European-settler economies of eastern Canada and New England . On 18 November 1929, the 1929 Grand Banks earthquake struck the southwestern part of the Grand Banks bordering the Laurentian Channel , causing an underwater landslide which resulted in extensive damage to transatlantic cables and generated

336-601: The colony a refuge for Roman Catholics facing persecution in England. In 1625, Calvert was elevated to the Peerage of Ireland as the 1st Baron Baltimore . A series of crises and calamities led Lord Baltimore to quit the colony in 1629 for "some other warmer climate of this new world", which turned out to be Maryland , in the Chesapeake Bay Colony. His family maintained agents to govern Avalon until 1637, when

360-758: The entire island of Newfoundland was granted by charter to Sir David Kirke and the 3rd Marquess of Hamilton . In 1696, during King William's War , the French destroyed many English villages in the Avalon Peninsula Campaign . They had settled along the St. Lawrence River and from the Atlantic coast to Quebec and Montreal. During Queen Anne's War , Commodore John Leake of the Royal Navy led an expedition aimed at capturing French ships around

384-484: The late 20th century caused the collapse of several species, particularly cod, leading to the closure of the Canadian Grand Banks fishery in 1992. Extensive glaciation took place in the area of the Grand Banks during the last 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

408-486: The main section of the island by the 5 km (3 mi) wide Isthmus of Avalon. The peninsula protrudes into the rich fishing zones near the Grand Banks . Its four major bays ( Trinity Bay , Conception Bay , St. Mary's Bay and Placentia Bay ) have long been the centre of Newfoundland's fishing industry. The Avalon Peninsula is pinched into smaller peninsulas formed by St. Mary's Bay and Conception Bay. St. John's

432-516: The name Conception Bay Highway from Route 60. The highway begins following the coastline as it passes through South River , Clarke's Beach , and North River before passing through Bay Roberts , where it has an intersection with Route 72 (Port de Grave Road). Route 70 now passes through Spaniard's Bay and Tilton , where it has an intersection with Route 73 (Back Track Road), before winding its way through hilly terrain to pass through Harbour Grace . The highway now travels more inland as it meets

456-1163: The northern end of Route 75 (Veterans Memorial Highway) before bypassing Carbonear along its west side. Route 70 now passes through Victoria , where it makes a sharp right at an intersection with Route 74 (Heart's Content Highway), to turn east and pass through Salmon Cove . It now follows the coastline again and very windy as it passes through Perry's Cove , Kingston , Small Point-Adam's Cove-Blackhead-Broad Cove , Western Bay , Ochre Pit Cove , Northern Bay , Gull Island , Burnt Point , Job's Cove , Lower Island Cove , and Caplin Cove . The highway now turns inland again through grasslands to enter Old Perlican and have an intersection with Route 80 (Trinity Road/Blow Me Down Road). Route 70 turns east through rural areas for several kilometres to have intersections with Grates Cove Road and Red Head Cove Road before entering Bay de Verde along Main Road. It winds its way south through town to come to an end at Bay de Verde's harbour. Avalon Peninsula The Avalon Peninsula ( French : Péninsule d'Avalon )

480-478: The peninsula and burning French settlements. The expedition was largely successful. During this same conflict, the French attempted to besiege the fortified English port of St. John's , but were unsuccessful . They later returned and captured the town , burning it to the ground. In the late eighteenth century, the longstanding rivalry between Great Britain and France erupted again in the Seven Years' War . It

504-415: The surface. These conditions helped to create one of the richest fishing grounds in the world. Fish species include Atlantic cod , swordfish , haddock and capelin ; shellfish include scallop and lobster . The area also supports large colonies of seabirds such as northern gannets , shearwaters and sea ducks and various sea mammals such as seals , dolphins and whales . Overfishing in

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528-625: Was closed in 1993. Canada 's EEZ currently covers the majority of the Grand Banks except for the lucrative "nose" (eastern extremity, near the Flemish Cap ) and "tail" (southern extremity) of the fishing bank . The 1783 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 territory Saint Pierre and Miquelon occupies

552-601: Was fought in the North American colonies as well, where it was known to British colonists as the French and Indian War . The Battle of Signal Hill was fought on the peninsula in 1762. In this engagement, British soldiers and artillery under the command of William Amherst drove the French occupants of St. John's from Signal Hill and into the town's fort , where they soon surrendered. 47°17′N 53°21′W  /  47.29°N 53.35°W  / 47.29; -53.35 Grand Banks The Grand Banks of Newfoundland are

576-599: Was part. In 1497, explorer John Cabot led an expedition from England in an attempt to reach the Spice Islands in the East Indies . He is said to have reached what is now known as Bonavista . The English established their first permanent settlement at Cuper's Cove in 1610. Sir George Calvert was later given a large land holding on the peninsula in 1619 from William Vaughan , whose previous colony of Cambriol failed. The initial colony of Ferryland grew to

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