FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 75, NO. 1 



g 25 



£ 20 



3 15 



Middle Atlantic 



So Mew England 



Georges Bank 



Gulf of Mome 



FIGURE 5.— Catch of flounders in U.S. autumn bottom trawl 

 surveys for the Middle Atlantic (strata 61-76), 1967-74, and for 

 southern New England (strata 1-12), Georges Bank (strata 13- 

 25), and the Gulf of Maine (strata 26-30 and 36-40), 1963-74. 



Middle Atlantic 

 So New England 

 Geofges Bonk 

 Gulf of Mome 



66 69 70 



YEAR 



FIGURE 6. — Catch of other groundfish in U.S. autumn bottom 

 trawl surveys for the Middle Atlantic (strata 61-76), 1967-74, 

 and for southern New England (strata 1-12), Georges Bank 

 (strata 13-25), and the Gulf of Maine (strata 26-30 and 36-40), 

 1963-74. 



continued to decline in succeeding years. Ocean 

 pout also appear to have declined sharply during 

 the period of study in southern New England and 

 Georges Bank strata (Tables 3, 4). Abundance of 

 white hake, however, appears to have increased 

 in the Gulf of Maine in recent years (Table 5), 

 leading to an increase in other groundfish biomass 

 for these strata. 



Principal pelagics appear to have declined in 

 relative abundance although considerable 

 fluctuation is evident (Figure 7). Most of this 

 variation is, however, associated with the pres- 

 ence of outstanding year-classes of herring in the 

 early and mid-1960's (Schumaker and Anthony 

 see footnote 7) and the appearance of an out- 

 standing year-class of mackerel in 1967 (Anderson 

 see footnote 9). Considerable fluctuation is also 

 evident in catches of other pelagics and other fish 

 (Figure 8, Tables 2-5) although the trend is 

 generally downward (anomalous peaks relate 

 primarily to high catches of spiny dogfish in cer- 

 tain years). Data for squid (Figure 9) indicate 

 increased abundance although catches of long- 

 finned squid appear to be lower in 1970 and 1971 

 in Middle Atlantic strata and from 1970 to 1972 in 

 southern New England strata than in the years 

 immediately preceding and following (Tables 2, 3). 

 The actual degree of change throughout the period 

 of study is uncertain, however, in that complete 

 records of catches for squid were not kept prior to 

 1967. 



A summary of trends in relative abundance by 

 area is given in Tables 6 and 7 and Figure 10. We 

 computed percentage changes from mean catch 

 values (averaged over 1967-68 and 1973-74 for 

 Middle Atlantic strata and 1963-65 and 1972-74 

 for all other strata sets). We obtained declines of 



FIGURE 7.— Catch of principal pelagic species in U.S. autumn 

 bottom trawl surveys for the Middle Atlantic (strata 61-76), 

 1967-74, and for southern New England (strata 1-12), Georges 

 Bank (strata 13-25), and the Gulf of Maine (strata 26-30 and 

 36-40), 1963-74. 



10 



