Fish populations are important ecologically and as a renewable commercial and 

 recreational natural resource. For many species the management of fisheries 

 on a single species basis has not been entirely successful. The existing 

 structure and process for management of the fishery resources is discussed in 

 this chapter under "Management." Research priorities and additional data are 

 identified under "Research Priorities." The consumer role of fishes in 

 aquatic food webs is discussed further in "The Marine System," chapter 4; "The 

 Estuarine System," chapter 5; "The Riverine System," chapter 6; "The 

 Lacustrine System," chapter 7; and "The Palustrine System," chapter 8. 

 Relevant fish distributional data are given in atlas map 4. The corresponding 

 scientific names of all common names of fishes mentioned in the text are found 

 in the appendix to chapter 1. A brief life history of the shortnose sturgeon, 

 a Federally listed endangered species, is given. 



DATA SOURCES 



Most of the information on the distribution of coastal marine and estuarine 

 fishes in this chapter comes from Chenoweth ( unpublished ) , The Research 

 Institute of the Gulf of Maine (TRIGOM; 1974), Maine Yankee Atomic Power 

 Company surveys (1970 to 1976), Central Maine Power Company (1974 to 1975), 

 Tyler (1971), and MacKay and coworkers (1978). Detailed data from these 

 surveys covers the Boothbay region (lower Sheepscot and Damariscotta Rivers) , 

 the Sheepscot River-Montsweag Bay area, Penobscot Bay (near Sears Island), 

 central Passamaquoddy Bay and the Deer Isle/Campobello Island area. Complete 

 lists of species found in these surveys are provided in appendix tables 1 to 

 7. 



Ongoing surveys that have provided and will continue to provide data on the 

 seasonal distribution of groundfish along the Maine coast are: National 

 Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Groundfish Survey Program, and Maine 

 Department of Marine Resources (MDMR) Inshore Groundfish Survey Program which 

 began in spring 1979. The NMFS Fishery Research Center in Woods Hole, 

 Massachusetts, also provided extensive data on the food habits of important 

 Atlantic marine fishes. General distribution, life history, and behavioral 

 information on Gulf of Maine fishes was acquired from Bigelow and Schroeder 

 (1953), Clayton and coworkers (1976), Scott and Messieh (1976), and Leim and 

 Scott (1966). Data on the distribution of inshore, freshwater fishes was 

 provided by Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife (MDIFW) . Fish 

 life history information was obtained from Scott and Crossman (1973), Everhart 

 (1958), and Scarola (1973). 



THE MAJOR FISHES OF COASTAL MAINE 



Many fishes of coastal Maine are of commercial and sport value and some are 

 important ecologically because of their role in the food chain or their 

 scientific interest. The major fishes of coastal Maine and their primary 

 realms of importance are listed in table 11-1. 



The gadids are members of the cod family and are principally marine bottom 

 fishes. (The burbot is a freshwater gadid.) They include Atlantic cod, 

 haddock, the hakes (red, white, and silver), American pollock, and Atlantic 

 tomcod. All but the tomcod are fished commercially. These species 

 contributed over 28 million pounds of the total Maine landings in 1977 (Lewis 

 1979). The hakes are important summer migrants to Maine waters; the other 



11-2 



