204 



Fishery Bulletin 100(2) 



tumn catches were considerably higher than in winter or 

 spring. For all other depth zones and sui-vey comparisons, 

 the differences were not significant. 



In the autumn survey, the proportion of small squid (<50 

 mm ML) was highest at 27-55 m depths (over 50% of the 

 sampled squid in that depth zone in the NE and almost 

 75*^7^ of the squid in that depth zone in the MAB, Table 5). 

 Proportions of small squid at greater depths were consid- 

 erably lower. These patterns show higher relative recruit- 

 ment into the population in the shallow waters of the con- 

 tinental shelf in the autumn. 



Similarly in the MAB during winter and spring, small 

 squid form a higher proportion of squid sampled in the two 



shallowest depth zones than at greater depths. A higher 

 percentage of small squid was present in spring than in 

 winter, with over GC/f of squid sampled in the MAB from 

 '27-55 m being <50 mm ML. However, the highest propor- 

 tion of small squid in the NE during winter and spring 

 was at intermediate depths. 



Biological analysis 



The raw data of numbers sampled for each sex, length, 

 and maturity stage are given in Table 6. For all seasons 

 combined, the ML at 50'7( maturity during 1997-98 was 

 approximately 200 mm ML for females and males (Table 7, 



