Fishing also remains an important, if troubled, part of the economy of the Bypassed East. Maine lobstermen account for about 80 to 90 percent of the total U.S. lobster catch, and the state also leads in sardine production. There are two kinds of ocean fishing in the region. Inshore fishing, the most important, uses small boats and requires a relatively small capital investment, with lobsters and cod the most valuable catch. Deep-sea fishing on the banks off the coast requires far larger boats and more capital investment.
Most fish caught on the banks are bottom feeders such as cod, flounder, and halibut.
Offshore fishing has recently been threatened by the high demand for domestic petroleum in the United States. Fears of pollution from offshore oil drilling in the country's rich fishing banks were overruled in 1979 when the Department of the Interior granted exploration leases to several oil companies, and major resources of petroleum and natural gas have been discovered. Mining other than for offshore petroleum and natural gas in the Bypassed East is not currently of great importance. This was not always the case. Iron ore has been mined in the Adirondacks for more than 100 years, and the reserves there are still substantial, but total output from the mines is relatively small.