trimethylamine were produced in iced fish samples 

 than in bagged fish samples at 0° C, although 

 bacterial counts in the two treatments were com- 

 parable." They suspected, however, that the melt 

 water from the ice leached some of the chemical 

 products from the flesh. Bacterial and chemical 

 values rose rapidly at 5° C. and 10° C, and these 

 treatments were ended at 17 days and 8 days, re- 

 spectively. In general, pronounced ammonia 

 odors were noted in only a few samples, and these 

 were "strongly masked" by putrid odors. 



Dogfish flesh is quite palatable and may be pre- 

 pared in a variety of ways. My family and I 

 have eaten fried dogfish fillets and enjoyed the 

 meal. The fillets are easily cut from the fish and 

 easily skinned. The meat is bone-free and white 

 and has a flaky consistency and firmness similar 

 to haddock fillets. The flavor is mild, and the 

 frying produced no odors other than would be ex- 

 pected with any fish. 



Dogfish fillets were prepared in several different 

 ways and eaten by a test panel at the University of 

 Washington in 1959 (Liston, 1960) . The steamed 

 fillets were rated very good and brined and smoked 

 dogfish was well accepted. In a comparison be- 

 tween fishsticks made with dogfish and two brands 

 of fishsticks bought in a retail store, those made 

 with dogfish were rated as first or second prefer- 

 ence by all panel members. 



Dogfish is popular in Europe today as a food 

 fish, not only in England but also in Continental 

 Europe. In 1960, 25,600 metric tons, worth nearly 

 11 million kroner (1 krone is about (U.S.) 14 

 cents), were landed by Norwegian fishermen and 

 shipped to England (Food and Agriculture Or- 

 ganization of the United Nations, 1961). It is 

 marketed both in steak and fillet form. 



A small but steady market for dogfish (listed as 

 grayfish) exists in New York's Fulton Fish 

 Market where it has an ex-vessel value of 3-^ cents 

 per pound but has gone as high as 8-10 cents per 

 pound. 4 The fish are mostly incidental to otter 

 trawl catches of other food fishes. The dogfish 

 are gutted, skinned, and cut into small pieces, and 

 sold at retail mostly to buyers of southern 

 European extraction (Italians, Portuguese, 

 Greeks), Chinese, and Negroes. Some retailers 



* Ledner, J. F., 1964. Fishery products report, N-252, Dec. 

 29. 1964. U.S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Market News 

 Service, New York, N.Y., 4 pp. [Unpublished processed report.] 



fry the pieces to order for "fish and chips." 

 (Farther south on the Atlantic coast, in the 

 Chesapeake States, the species sold as grayfish is 

 the smooth dogfish.) 



MANAGEMENT OF THE SPECIES 



The problem of the spiny dogfish as a pest of 

 the commercial fishermen has led to a search for 

 some method to control the species and at least 

 reduce their numbers to the point where they 

 would no longer constitute a problem. Many 

 ideas have been advanced — some quite fanciful — 

 including the usual solution to such pest problems, 

 the payment of bounties for their capture. Un- 

 fortunately, most of the schemes suffer from a 

 lack of, or incomplete, knowledge of the life his- 

 tory and habits of the dogfish. 



Some of the earlier control methods proposed 

 were based on methods used to control terrestrial 

 pests. Atkins (1904) recounts a few suggestions 

 offered by the public as to how the dogfish problem 

 might be handled. Among these are the follow- 

 ing: (1) Attach streamers, bells, chains, etc. to 

 hundreds of dogfish and release them to frighten 

 off the school (like belling a rat in a pack) ; (2) 

 inoculate some of the dogfish with a fatal disease 

 organism, such as had been done with rabbits in 

 Austrialia; (3) dynamite the dogfish schools 

 when they appear; (4) employ Government boats 

 and men to capture the dogfish, until the plague is 

 reduced; (5) pay a bounty to fishermen for 

 capturing the dogfish; and (6) use long seines of 

 strong cord, 41,000 yards or more in length, and 

 surround the schools as is done with the schools 

 of sharks in India. 



The best control method, however, would be 

 greater utilization of the dogfish, particularly as 

 human food. Or, as Atkins stated it: let the 

 public ". . . apply their teeth and eat the dogfish 

 up." 



Increased use of the species, particularly indus- 

 trial utilization, carried out over a period of years, 

 would undoubtedly reduce the numbers and keep 

 them at a relatively low level. There is evidence 

 that short-term programs designed to reduce the 

 dogfish population, particularly if carried out in 

 local areas, are not successful. Templeman (1944) 

 notes, "In Placentia Bay alone during the 1938 

 attempt to reduce dogfish numbers, about 10,391,- 

 000 pounds of dogfish were caught or approx- 



LIFE HISTORY OF SPINY DOGFISH 



549 



