CLIMATE AND THE DISTRIBUTION OF MARINE ANIMALS 



333 



Table 28. — Landings of whiting at Gloucester, Mass., in 

 January and February 1952 



' Small otter trawler, 5 to .50 gross tons; medium otter trawler. 50 to 150 

 gross tons. 



available from the otter-trawl investigations con- 

 ducted there during the summers of 1948 to 1951 

 by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. These 

 investigations showed whiting to be the most 

 abundant fish in tlie catches, outnumbering had- 

 dock by 164 to 100, as contrasted with about 1 

 whiting to 8 haddock in 191.3 (p. 330). The pre- 

 dominance of whiting in 1948 to 1951 was not 

 due merely to its unusual abundance in depths 

 or areas where haddock are not found, for in sub- 

 area XXII J at depths between 30 and 60 fathoms, 

 a favored fisiiing area of the commercial Jiaddock 

 fleet, haddock outnumbered whiting by only about 

 1 .5 to 1 . 



Even allowing some latitude for tiie incom- 

 pleteness of earlier observations, the evidence indi- 

 cates major changes in the distribution and habits 

 of whiting since Bigelow and Welsh (1925) de- 

 scribed the distribution of the species. If one 

 advances the hypothesis that there has been a 

 general warming of coastal waters, which is indi- 

 cated, the pattern of observed changes may be 

 explained, at least in part. Accoi-ding to this 

 hypotliesis, the coastal waters south of Cape Cod 

 have become too warm for whiting to Ijc present 

 in abundance. Since the warming may l)e expect- 

 ed to be more pronounced close inshore where 



the pound nets are located, the decline will be 

 first noted here, as in New York and New Jersey 

 where IIul fish has practically disappeared from 

 pound-net catches and in Massachusetts where 

 the catch per pound net has declined to about 

 one-third its former magnitude. The presence of 

 wliiting in tlie Gulf of Maine during winter months 

 is probably due to a general melioration of winter 

 conditions as indicated by January temperatures 

 at Boothbav Harbor, Me., and at St. Andrews, 

 N. B. 



It might be objected that, as whiting tolerate a 

 wide range of temperatures, the available data are 

 not sufficient to explain the observed changes in 

 distribution. We are not certain that this is a 

 vaUd objection. The possibility that whiting may 

 be able to tolerate the complete range of tempera- 

 tures in the areas under consideration does not 

 necessarily indicate that there are not optimum 

 conditions which they prefer and seek. 



Even given optimum temperature conditions, 

 whiting require food and the presence or absence 

 of food will, of course, affect their distribution. 

 Aside from the consideration that any fish may 

 become adjusted to certain optimum environ- 

 mental conditions because these conditions are 

 related to its food supply, a temperature factor 

 controlling distribution may be removed only one 

 step from a direct relationship, according to this 

 hypothesis. 



FLUCTUATIONS IN MENHADEN 



Occasional small menhaden catches have been 

 reported for Massachusetts, but not farther north- 

 ward, since this fish reappeared in abundance for 

 the single year 1922 after an almost complete 

 absence from about 1900. Its presence nortli of 

 Cape Cod was noted in Maine waters in 1945, 

 when small numbers were caught and used for 

 lobster bait; in 1948,24,000 pounds were taken, 

 and in 1949, 5,000,000 pounds. In 1951, 7,000,000 

 pounds were landed at (ilouccster, and in 1952, 

 landings at the same port amounted to 26,000,000 

 pounds (Maine Coast Fisherman, 1952). 



The actual abundance of menlnulen north of 

 Cape Cod since 1945 is not accurately reflected 

 by catch figures. The catch in Maine in 1949, for 

 example, was largely due to the presence of men- 

 haden seiners from the southern fieet (Maine 

 Coast P'isherman, 1949). Local vessels have not 

 been equipped for menhaden seining and New 



