Papers in Marine Biology and Oceanography, Suppl. to vol. 3 of Deep-Sea Research, pp. 358-372. 



Report on the results of exploratory otter-trawling along the continental 

 shelf and slope between Nova Scotia and Virginia during the summers 



of 1952 and 1953* 



By William C. Schroeder 



Summary — No large fish populations were found comparable to those present on our known fishing 

 banks. 



The area designated as A, from Long. 63° 17' to Long. 65° 59' W, yielded considerably more fish 

 both in number and pounds than did any of the areas from Long. 66° to Long. 74° 15' W. The 200- 

 400 fathom depth zone, on the overall average, produced the best catches throughout all these areas. 



A total of 75 species of bottom dwelling fishes were caught, most of them in numbers so small 

 as to suggest that they are of little economic importance within this region. 



Among the dominant species were (a) the redfish, Sebastes marinus, which was taken in promising 

 numbers, and large in size, in depths of 220-370 fathoms between Long. 63° 50' and Long. 65° 27' W; 

 (b) the long-finned hake, Urophycis chesteri, found chiefly between 200-450 fathoms throughout 

 all the areas fished ; (c) the oifshore hake, Merluccius albidus, taken west of Long. 66° and chiefly in 

 100-350 fathoms and {d) the grenadier, Coryphaenoides riipestris, present in greatest abundance east 

 of Long. 66° and in depths of 300-500 fathoms. 



Lobsters were caught in relatively large numbers off" southern New England between 70-150 

 fathoms and as deep as 260 fathoms. A deep water lobster fishery in this region has ensued as a 

 result of the discovery of these grounds. 



The red crab, Geryon quinquidens, was found to be distributed throughout the range of our explora- 

 tory trawling in depths beyond 150-200 fathoms and in quantities that might prove sufficient to 

 support a new fishery for this species which up to the present has been unexploited. 



Bottom temperatures in 200-730 fathoms, throughout the region explored, varied but little either 

 up and down the slope or from east to west, indicating a stability in this respect so far as concerns 

 the bottom- and near bottom-dwelling marine life. 



INTRODUCTION t 



In the early 1880's the U.S. Fish Commission Str. Fish Hawk made a number of 

 cruises to explore the bottom fauna along the southern New England coast, particu- 

 larly in depths beyond 50 fathoms. Up until that time very little was known of the 

 bottom dwellers of the outer shelf and the middle and upper slope of this region. 

 However, the Fish Hawk, using a beam trawl, made about 100 successful hauls in 

 depths ranging down to about 600 fathoms along a belt some 5 to 15 miles wide and 

 extending about 150 miles from east of Nantucket to the offing of eastern Long Island. 

 Here a rich fish and invertebrate fauna was found including many rare and previously 



* Contribution No. 790 of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. 



t This Introduction is somewhat repetitious to that given in "Deep water elasmobranchs and 

 chimaeroids from the northwestern Atlantic Slope" (Bigelow and Schroeder, 1954, pp. 38-39. 



358 



