during this survey than in other studies on this 

 species in the western North Pacific Ocean by 

 Uchida et al. (1958), Dekhnik (1959), and 

 Watanabe ( 1970) and in the eastern North Pacific 

 Ocean by Fry (1936b). Although there was some 

 variation between these studies, all reported sur- 

 face temperatures within the range of 15° to 21°C 

 associated with spawning or with the majority of 

 eggs caught. 



Scomber scombrus population estimates of 18 

 and 17 million spawners, based on our May and 

 June 1966 cruises, respectively, were reported by 

 Berrien and Anderson. "* As discussed by the au- 

 thors, these point estimates, calculated from egg 

 catches, probably understated the true population 

 size due to cruise timing and the area sampled. 

 Apparently the May cruise occurred prior to peak 

 spawning intensity resulting in many spawners 

 being unaccounted for in the point estimate. Dur- 

 ing June, although the egg density was greater 

 than in May, only a portion of the egg population 

 was surveyed; therefore, the population was in- 

 completely sampled. 



Other plankton survey efforts within the Mid- 

 Atlantic Bight have resulted in higher and proba- 

 bly more accurate, S. scombrus spawning popula- 

 tion estimates. Sette (1943) reported a season- 

 long, Mid-Atlantic Bight spawning population of 

 320 million spawners in 1932. Berrien and Ander- 

 son (see footnote 4) reported a point estimate of 

 392 million spawners within the New York Bight 

 during May 1975. 



ACKNOWLEGMENTS 



I thank L.A. Walford for his review of an early 

 version of this paper; the editors at Sandy Hook 

 Laboratory for their review; Alyce Wells for prep- 

 aration of the graphs and charts; W.J. Richards 

 and T. Potthoff for their critical review of the de- 

 scriptive section; the technicians at Sandy Hook 

 Laboratory for sorting specimens; the boat crew, 

 technicians, and project biologists for their assis- 

 tance in obtaining the samples aboard the RV 

 Dolphin. 



■•Berrien, P. L., and E. D. Anderson. 1976. Scomber scom- 

 brus spawning stock estimates in ICN AF Subarea 5 and Statisti- 

 cal Area 6, based on egg catches during 1966, 1975 and 

 1976. ICNAF (Int. Comm. Northwest Atl. Fish.) Res. Doc. 76/ 

 XII/140, 10 p. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 76, NO. 1 



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114 



