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Fishery Bulletin 100(2) 



mittedly weak, yet significant and positive. We rec- 

 ognize that numerous other factors could influence 

 sculpin abundance. However we find it intriguing 

 that the two years with the most drastic increase 

 in sculpin abundance (in the context of recent pre- 

 ceding years: i.e. 1987 and 1996) occurred in years 

 when sculpin gorge feeding was highest. 



The amount of food eaten and the diet of long- 

 horn sculpin at stations without scallop fishing ac- 

 tivity were similar to those reported for the species 

 on the entire northeast continental shelf (Link and 

 Almeida, 2000) and for Georges Bank in particular 

 (Garrison and Link, 2000). The amount of food eat- 

 en and diet at stations with scallop fishing activity 

 showed clear evidence of gorge feeding by sculpin. 

 Other studies have documented opportunistic feed- 

 ing and changes in diet after groundfish trawling 

 (e.g. gurnards and dabs; Kaiser and Spencer, 1994; 

 Kaiser and Ramsay. 1997), however, this note is the 

 first documentation of scavenging after scallop fish- 

 ing. The long-term trend shows that, although the 

 average amount of food sculpin consume is relatively con- 

 stant, the composition of the diet and the frequency of 

 gorging events varies notably. These variations may influ- 

 ence sculpin abundance. 



In the 2000 open fishing season in CA-II, more than 

 760 metric tons (t) of scallop meats were landed (NERO. 

 2000). If one conservatively assumes that scallop viscera 

 equals the meat weight, then over 760 t (>340,000 lb) of 

 viscera were returned to the southern part of CA-Il dur- 

 ing this two-month period. The discarded scallop viscera 



30 



25 



20 



E 15 



ro 10 



Figure 4 



Index of relative abundance of longhorn sculpin from the NEFSC 

 fall bottom trawl sun.'ev. 



are a relatively small organic input, on an areal basis, to 

 this closed area, which averages ca. 430,000 t in total an- 

 nual benthic production (111 g/m', Cohen and Grosslein, 

 1987; approximately 3900 km- for the southern part of 

 CA-11). How many tons of scallop viscera and similar dis- 

 cards have been deposited across the entire Bank over the 

 past several decades is unknown. Yet, at a local scale scal- 

 lop viscera may be an important source of energy, akin to 

 similar processes for fish in the deep ocean (Sedberry and 

 Musick, 1978). The biomass of scallop viscera, although 



