on a 50% reduction in mean egg abundance estimates was 1.6 x 10 12 

 eggs. High and low estimates of the biomass of spawning fish 

 that spawned at this location were 14,900 and 7,800 metric tons, 

 based on the mean length and weight of 44 fish caught in a gill 

 net 24 hours before spawning occurred and published estimates 

 (Kelly and Stevenson, 1985) of fecundity for the coastal Maine 

 stock for 1982. This was apparently a large school of fish since 

 annual estimates of age 4+ spawning stock for the entire Gulf of 

 Maine stock between 1975 and 1982 only ranged from 50,000 to 

 100,000 tons (Fogarty and Clark, 1983). 



Table 3: Herring egg density and abundance in shallow and deep 

 water, Little Machias Bay, as estimated from intact egg mat 

 fragments collected with a Ponar grab sampler (B samples) and by 

 SCUBA divers (S samples), September 1986. 



8-25 30 217+23 94-332 2.5±.22 1.2-3.6 

 Deep Water (31-34 m) 



271 



