YELLOWTAIL FLOUNDER OFF NEW ENGLAND 



185 



1938 1940 



1942 1944 



1946 



1948 



YEAR 



Figure 6. — Production of yellowtail, 1938 through 1949. 



1944, the summer fishery lasted only a short time 

 and the fall fishery was practically a failure. In 

 1946 and 1947, the summer landings were lower 

 than those of the period October to December. 

 Finally, in 1949 when a new low in the catch was 

 reached, the landings were extremely small dur- 

 ing all the summer months. 



LENGTH COMPOSITION OF THE CATCH 



Data on lengths of yellowtail in the landings 

 were collected routinely at New Bedford from 

 October 1942 through 1947. In addition to these 

 routine measurements, a few were obtained irreg- 

 ularly at other ports. Also, some measurements 

 were made occasionally during 1941 and the first 

 9 months of 1942. The total number of measure- 

 ments available are listed in table 8, and detailed 

 length frequencies are given in appendix tables 

 C-14 and C-15, pages 244 and 245. 



Four distinct periods in the southern New Eng- 

 land fishery may be recognized from these data 

 (fig. 6). First there was the increasing produc- 

 tion to a peak of 63 million pounds in 1942, then 

 an abrupt decline to 23 million pounds in 1944, 

 fairly steady production from 1944 to 1947, and 

 another abrupt decline from 27 million pounds 

 in 1947 to 10 million pounds in 1949. 2 Since this 

 stock has contributed the bulk of the United States 

 yellowtail production for many years, fluctuation 

 in its numbers is the principal cause for concern 

 for the species. 



A seasonal trend is apparent in the average 

 catch per month (table 7). There were distinctly 

 lower catches from April through June which, as 

 will be shown later, are the months of the spawn- 

 ing season. The small variations in the average 

 catch during the other months probably have no 

 biological significance, being due to the seasonal 

 weather pattern or to shifts of the fishermen to 

 other species. 



Turning from the average catch to the catches 

 of the individual years, it is apparent that the 

 seasonal changes in the landings have been vari- 

 able. During the peak years of 1942 and 1943, 

 there were large summer and winter fisheries with 

 lower catches made in May and December. In 



2 This decline continued to 7.2 million pounds in 1050 then 

 leveled oft? at 4.0 in 1051, 4.8 in 1952. and about 4.5 million 

 pounds in 1953. Total landings in United States ports declined 

 to 23.5 million pounds in 1950, 18.4 in 1951, 16.3 In 1952, and 

 about 13.5 in 1953. 



Table 8. — Numbers of yellowtail measured from southern 

 New England stock, by statistical area, 1941-4'' 



[See fig. 1 for chart of statistical areas] 



Year and quarter 



Year 1941: 



1st quarter. . 



2d quarter... 



3d quarter... 



4th quarter- 

 Year 1942: 



1st quarter.. 



2d quarter... 



3d quarter... 



4th quarter- 

 Year 1943: 



1st quarter.. 



2d quarter... 



3d quarter... 



4th quarter- 

 Year 1944: 



1st quarter.- 



2d quarter.. 



3d quarter.. 



4th quarter- 

 Year 1945: 



1st. quarter. - 



2d quarter.. 



3d quarter.. 



4th quarter. 

 Year 1946: 



1st quarter. - 



2d quarter-. 



3d quarter. . 



4th quarter. 

 Year 1947: 



1st quarter.- 



2d quarter. . 



3d quarter. - 



4th quarter- 

 Total ... 



Statistical area- 



New England Banks 



455 

 1.221 

 "i, 024 



172 



207 

 513 



1.481 



701 

 1,417 



1.202 



1.304 

 2.873 



1. 402 

 301 



Q-R 



77 

 317 



805 



959 

 1,449 

 1, 751 



609 



1,354 

 454 

 413 

 403 



2,098 



2,223 

 1.280 



1,351 

 100 

 805 



1.404 



1,005 

 803 

 367 



1.IBIS 



21. 196 



504 

 684 



459 



201 

 402 



202 

 400 



4.281 



South- 

 western 

 Long 

 Island 



228 



568 



Total 



317 



744 

 845 



1.260 



2.180 



1,586 



2.775 



609 



1,985 

 454 

 620 



1,244 



3.780 



402 



2,924 



2,899 



2. 553 



100 



2. 109 



4.277 



1.192 

 1.706 

 1.971 

 1,709 



40. 318 



The routine measurements were obtained with 

 the primary objective of having them representa- 

 tive of the landings. To ensure that the area of 



