ABSTRACT 



The yellowtail flounder fishery off New England was studied intensively 

 from 1942 to 1949 to determine if changes in the yellowtail population were 

 related to fishing pressure and whether regulation of the fishery was necessary 

 to conserve the species. 



Tagging and other evidence indicated the existence of five stocks, the most 

 important of which to United States fishermen occurred off southern New 

 England. The landings from the southern New England stock declined from 

 63,000,000 pounds in 1942 to 10,000,000 pounds in 1949, but the population did 

 not exhibit the usual symptoms of heavy fishing : a declining average size, an 

 increasing proportion of young fish, or an increasing growth rate. Estimates 

 of mortality and recruitment indicated that the fishery was drawing gradually 

 on a reserve which for unknown reasons was not replenished by young. 



There is no clear evidence that greater total production could have been 

 achieved by protecting fish at any size, in any area, or at any time of year. 



