Figure 19. Geographical references of Nova Scotia. 



these waters in the years 1972-1976 

 Large bluefin were remarkably avail- 

 able in those years, and their average 

 size was increasing steadily. 



The purse seine fishery for blue- 

 fin t\ma off the east coast of the United 

 States onginated in Cape Cod Bay 

 and its vicinity (Wilson 1965) After 

 initial expenments in 1951 and 1954, 

 a continuing purse seine fishery be- 

 gan in 1958 with a single small ves- 

 sel operating out of Provincetown, 

 Massachusetts. Very high catch rates 

 were obtained from the schools of 

 medium sized bluefin which were 

 then abundant in the Bay (Sakagawa 

 1975) In 1962 the carrying capacity 

 of the fleet was greatly increased by 

 the purchase of additional vessels by 

 local fishermen and visits by larger 

 ones from other areas, and the fish- 

 ing area was expanded southwest- 

 ward to include the New York Bight 

 and more southerly areas The large 

 fleets which entered the fishery in 

 1963 and 1964 made considerable 

 portions of their catches of small and 

 medium bluefin in Cape Cod Bay 

 and vicinity, especially toward the 

 end of the season. Very few small or 



medium fish have been found in the 

 Gulf of Maine since 1964, For sev- 

 eral years thereafter, seining in the 

 area was limited to occasional trips 

 by one or two vessels after the sea- 

 son for small bluefin southwest of 

 Cape Cod had terminated This situ- 

 ation was altered by the high prices 

 oftered fi-om 1972 on by Japanese 

 interests for the fat bluefin which 

 were caught late in the season A 

 local seiner, who specialized m catch- 

 ing giant fish, had fished in the Bay 

 for the Japanese market toward the 

 end of each season since 1972 In 

 1976 a second vessel joined the fish- 

 ery. 



The prices offered for large blue- 

 fin tuna also caused a dramatic in- 

 crease in fishing effort by the har- 

 poon, handline and sport fisheries 

 The "sport" fishery differed only in 

 the gear used, since virtually all of 

 the anglers were fishing for the mar- 

 ket Boats of all types and sizes, from 

 small outboard motor boats to large 

 trawlers and party fishing boats, par- 

 ticipated 



Mather and Mason attempted to 

 gather catch records during the be- 



ginning of this period of increased 

 effort and estimated catches of 3,000 

 and 3,500 fish in 1972 and 1973, 

 respectively 



In 1974, the Commonwealth of 

 Massachusetts regulated the fishery 

 for large bluefin in its waters and 

 collected data on the landings. The 

 National Marine Fisheries Service 

 also initiated a data collection pro- 

 gram for the fishery. The resulting 

 data are shown in Table 7 (F. H. 

 Berry, personal communication). The 

 data for the rod and reel and harpoon 

 and handline catches were estimated 



Since 1975 quotas have been im- 

 posed on these fisheries to control 

 the number of large fish taken each 

 year and to prevent the capture of the 

 surviving small fish (National Ma- 

 rine Fishenes Service 1975, 1976), 

 Under the 1975 quotas, the recorded 

 catch by hand gears (harpoon, 

 handline and rod and reel) was 2,277 

 fish weighing 693.5 tons, with an 

 average weight of 305 kg. The re- 

 corded seine catch was 1,017 fish 

 weighing 267.2 tons with an average 

 weight of 263 kg (Aloncle et al 1976, 

 ICCAT 1976) 



The time of the best fishing in 

 Cape Cod Bay has vaned consider- 

 ably — partly according to the sizes 

 of the fish which entered the area. 

 The giant fish usually amved early, 

 in June or early July, and stayed into 

 September or October. Peak fishing 

 was usually in August or September. 



Medium sized fish have usually 

 arrived later, and also stayed in the 

 Bay later than the others, being abun- 

 dant in August-October. Exceptions 

 occurred when the smaller (age 5) 

 individuals of this group accompa- 

 nied early summer runs of small (age 

 2-4) bluefin Small bluefin were un- 

 predictable Some strong runs peaked 

 in early summer, as in 1 95 1 and 1953, 

 but others ha\'e occurred in late sum- 

 mer, as in 1950 



As noted above, fishing tech- 

 niques in the area have changed over 

 the years Also, catch records have 

 not been kept in a consistent manner 

 We do have sporadic records of the 

 sizes of fish landed for Ipswich Bay 

 and the Maine coast for 1947-1951 

 (Figure 23) and more comprehen- 

 sive ones for Cape Cod Bay and vi- 

 cinity (including Ipswich Bay Irom 



23 



