54° 



53° 



52' 



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47° 



46° 



LABRADOR 



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NEWFOUNDLAND 



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MiOUELON IS 



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CAPf BRE TON I 5LAN0 



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Figure 15. Geographical references off Newfoundland and Labrador 



been of very large giants. Their aver- 

 age weight has also increased in re- 

 cent years, reaching 761 lbs (.'^45 kg) 

 in 1974 and 824 lbs (394 kg) in 1975 

 (D A. MacLean, personal communi- 

 cation) The fishmg off southwestern 

 Nova Scotia usually extended from 

 early July to late September or Octo- 

 ber. The giants have been most abun- 

 dant in August and September, but 

 the medium fish, which arrived and 

 departed later than the giants, have 

 been most abundant in September and 

 October. Nova Scotia has been the 

 locale of the prestigious International 



Tuna Cup matches since their incep- 

 tion in the 1937 season. As docu- 

 mented by Farrington (1974), these 

 competitions were held at Wedgeport 

 through 1957, except for one at 

 l.iveipool and an interruption caused 

 by World War II Subsequent matches 

 were held at Cape St Mary in 1958 

 and from 1965 through 1975 



niuefin tuna have been an im- 

 portant incidental catch in the mack- 

 erel trap fishery at St Margaret's Bay 

 (near Halifax) Nova Scotia (Figure 

 19) Young (1974) briefiy reviewed 

 the history of the fishery, and Butler 



(1977) has provided details on its 

 recent trends and developments, and 

 Its status in 1976 Additional data are 

 available in Butler (1975), Caddy and 

 Butler (1976) and statistics of Envi- 

 ronment Canada (D A. MacLean, 

 personal communication) 



Young (1974) stated that land- 

 ing statistics for the fishery have been 

 recorded since 1918, but the fishery 

 predated the establishment of statis- 

 tical systems The recorded annual 

 catches of large fish have been in the 

 order of 400, but have ranged as high 

 as 1,500 There was also a second 

 later run of much smaller fish, m the 

 20-70 kg range. 



None of the small fish have been 

 seen in recent years, and the average 

 weight of larger fish increased con- 

 siderably, reaching 295 kg in 1974 

 ■fhe weight composifion of the 1973- 

 1975 catches (Figure 21) shows a 

 considerable increase in sizes ol fish 

 taken each year, and only fragmen- 

 tary recruitment of younger fish to 

 the fishery 



The estimated numbers of fish 

 caught in the period 1964-1975 var- 

 ied between 104 (in 1972) and 865 

 (in 1974) (Butler 1977) In June 1974 

 an additional 150 tuna caught in the 

 traps were tagged and released Ton- 

 nages in the years 1971-1975 ranged 

 from 23 6 mt m 1972 to 256 mt in 

 1974 (Caddy and Butler 1976, Butler 

 1977, D A MacLean, personal com- 

 munication). The average weight of 

 the fish increased from about 227 kg 

 in 1971-1973 to 295 kg in 1974 and 

 319 kg m 1975. 



Butler (1977) described a most 

 interesting development in this fish- 

 ery — the holding of giant bluefin in 

 impoundments, and fattening them, 

 to secure optimal prices. Japanese 

 interests offer verv' high prices for 

 fresh giant tuna in the fat condition 

 which thev attain in late summer and 

 fall through heavy feeding The prices 

 offered for the typically lean fish 

 taken in the early season are much 

 lower Butler stated that the average 

 price per pound offered to Canadian 

 fishermen for giant bluefin in 1976 

 varied from $0 20 m July-August to 

 $ 1 40 in October. The St. Margaret's 

 Bay traps normally take most of their 

 catch of giant tuna in the early sea- 

 son, when the price is low. In an 



20 



