It was incredibly lucuritive, although we are generally lacking any visual records for the exact value that they sold for, or the amount landed, so we have to extrapolate back from more recent evidence. If any other member of this sub has any more reliable figures, I'd love to see them.

First of all I'd like to thank you for not using the rather common date when talking about Basque fishing in the Grand Banks, that is of pre-Columbus. The only evidence for that is a book by Mark Kurlansky, and he is generally agreed to represent no accurate evidence for this date.

However by the 16th century there was a major fishing industry in operation, with a definite presence of fishing fleets from Spain, Portugal, France and the UK. The Basque region was almost definitely included in this, due to their well recorded reliance on fishing through this time frame. I haven't seen or read any definitive proof to support the fact that they had discovered a secret cod fishing area first, as is commonly started, but it is however quite likely that they were responsible for doing so if evidence does arrive that it originates before Cabot. This is because it is likely that it was discovered while tracking Atlantic cod migrating from the bay of Biscay, modern sattalite data supports this theory.

The nutrient rich water results in astounding levels of biomass. Historic records suggest that the early Canadian fishing industry in the 18th century was landing around 300,000 metric tons, at an easily sustainable level, and during the collapse of the banks in the 1960s, well over the reported 800,000 metric tons were being landed per season, a rather astronomical figure. The historical record was compiled by a Canadian university to contrast to the quotas and records from the overfishing, to give a historical perspective. I'll add it when I'm free.

As for if it was worth it, Richard Whitborne reports that soon afterwards, in 1615, there were 250 British boats, employing over 5000 people, and bringing back fish worth over £120,000, while the French outnumbered them two to one. While we should be wary of his rounded numbers, this would place the total worth of the fishing a half century before, when the Spanish dominated, as about £400,000 or more. Given that the majority of that went to the Spanish and French, and that by the time Whitborne comments on it the Spanish fishing industry was weaker, and so fish was selling for less in these rough estimates, we can assume the Basque region recieved somewhere between £80,000 and £200,000 worth of fish per season, ensuring that it was most definitely worth the journey for the inhabitants of small fishing towns.