184 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



proportion is probably small, however, because 

 386 yellowtail were tagged in subareas Q and O 

 to the west of Nantucket Shoals in 1946, the year 

 before the big increase in catch, and only 1 of the 

 60 fish recaptured was taken on Georges Bank. 

 However, the winter population in Q and O may 

 have moved to Georges Bank to be caught mostly 

 in the summer. (See p. 182). 



3. Cape Cod Stock. — It occurs east and north 

 of Cape Cod, in Cape Cod Bay, and north to the 

 vicinity of Cape Ann and Ipswich Bay. It is 

 limited in all directions by deep water, although 

 to the south and north there are narrow strips of 

 water of the preferred depth. Production from 

 this stock has been comparatively stable. It rose 

 to a moderate peak in 1944 of about 3% million 

 pounds, declined to about iy 2 million pounds in 

 1948, and rose again to about 2% million pounds 

 in 1949. In this area, the yellowtail is a species of 

 minor importance sought only at certain seasons 

 by vessels out of New Bedford, Plymouth, Boston, 

 Provincetown, and Gloucester, Mass. It is heavily 

 fished when available, but changes in catch may 

 be related to changes in effort because other species 

 are sought at times in preference to it. 



4. Northern Gulf of Maine Stock. — This stock 

 contributes the very few yellowtail that are taken 

 on the scattered shoal areas of the northern gulf 

 along the coast of Maine. This extremely small 

 catch is taken by otter trawlers and line trawlers 

 incidentally to other species. No significance can 

 be attached to the small fluctuations in catch, 



which may be caused by changes in fishing as well 

 as by changes in the stock. 



5. Nova Scotian Stock. — It is completely dis- 

 tinct from the New England stocks. Moreover, 

 it is of slight importance to New England fisher- 

 men. United States vessels have rarely gone to 

 the Nova Scotian Banks especially to catch yellow- 

 tail, and therefore the catch is related to the fish- 

 ing for other species. The great increase in the 

 take of yellowtail from a low of 40,000 pounds in 

 1942 to a high of 4,700,000 pounds in 1945 appears 

 to have been caused by the removal of wartime 

 restrictions. The subsequent reduction in yellow- 

 tail catches coincided with the declining market 

 for cod in the later years, because the large catches 

 of yellowtail were produced by vessels fishing 

 primarily for cod. 



The United States landings from these five 

 stocks are shown in table 6. 



THE SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND STOCK 



LANDINGS 



The total landings from the southern New Eng- 

 land stock are readily computed from table 3 by 

 combining the landings from the statistical areas 

 designated as Nantucket Shoals and Lightship 

 Grounds, off No Mans Land, southern Massa- 

 chusetts, Rhode Island shore, and Long Island. 

 These have been combined in table 7 to show the 

 landings, by month and quarter, for the years 

 1942 to 1949. The annual totals for 1940 and 1941 

 are also included. 



Table 7. — Landings of yellowtail from southern New England stock, by month and quarter, 1940-49 



[In thousands of pounds] 



i Slight discrepancies occur due to rounding off of the figures. 



