shoal1 n Cp OED ~ sb1 'a shallow' for sense 1; DAE ~ cod (1838-), cp OED ~ ground (1712) for combs. in sense 2.
1 Area of shallow water where fish (esp cod) and bait-fish frequent; BANK, GROUND, LEDGE.
1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 244 A number of shoals, with depths of from 12 to 20 fathoms over them ... lie ... offshore [including] Gull Island ground; Little Harbour bank, Ice ledge [etc]. M 69-6 Once in a while when it was calm, my older brother and I used to go off on the 'shoals' to fish for flat fish. The water was only about four or five feet deep, so we could see the fish on the bottom.
2 Comb shoal cod: cod-fish frequenting inshore waters; SHORE1: ~ FISH.
1842 BONNYCASTLE i, 264 Gadus arenosus, shoal cod, are also inhabitants of these seas.
shoal ground: see sense 1 above.
1953 Nfld & Lab Pilot ii, 172 Shoal ground, with a depth of 7 fathoms over it, Creeper ledge, with a least depth of 11 fathoms over it, and Sly ledge, with a depth of 14 fathoms over it. T 70/1-641 [She] went right in the shoal ground gulch.
