224 



BULLETIN OF THE BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



1909-1915 



I9!5 



The swordfish, like mackerel, tuna, and bonito, is purely a summer fish on the 

 North American coast, appearing simultaneously ofE New York and Block Island, 

 on Nantucket Shoals, and on Georges Bank sometime between the 25th of May and 

 the 20th of June, but they are seldom on the Scotian Banks until somewhat later or 

 in the inner parts of the Gulf of Maine before July. They are most numerous in 

 July and August, and vanish at the approach of cold weather. This seasonal ebb 

 and flow is clearly reflected in the^'catch, month by month (fig. 103). So far as we 

 can learn, not one has ever been reported east of Cape Cod after the first days of 



November, and most of them are gone from the 

 Gulf by the last week in October; but an odd fish 

 has been taken off New York and New Jersey in 

 December and even in January, the most recent 

 report of such occurrence being of 13 entangled 

 in line trawls set for tflefish in 95 to 125 fathoms 

 off Long Island between December 20, 1921, and 

 January 1, 1922.«« 



It is generally believed that swordfish come 

 in from the open seas when they appear on the 

 offshore banks in spring, some few to enter the 

 Gulf of Maine, but the majority to remain about 

 the banks at its mouth or to work slowly east- 

 ward along the outer part of the continental shelf, 

 wliich is the only regular longshore migration they 

 carry out. When they depart in autumn it is to 

 return to the open Atlantic, but how far they go 

 when they leave us, or how deep, is unknown. 

 We are equally ignorant of where our local sword- 

 fish breed — certainly not in American coastwise 

 waters, as no ripe fish have ever been seen there. 

 In fact, most of the fishermen of whom we have 

 inquired assure us they have never seen a trace 

 of "spawn" in a swordfish, although they have 

 dressed hundreds, and a "green" fish with ovaries weigliing 15 pounds, brought 

 into New Bedford on June 25, 1922, was considered so unusual that it caused 

 much comment. Furthermore, it seems that very young fish never visit us, one 

 of lYs pounds, caught on Georges Bank by the schooner Anna, August 9, 1922, 

 being the smallest so far recorded from off New England." Goode, et al. (1884), 

 it is true, describe a sword only one-half inch long found in the nostril of a mackerel 

 shark caught at Gloucester, but there is no knowing how long the shark may have 

 carried it, nor whence. One slightly more than 2 feet long with the sword and weigh- 

 ing about 24 pounds alive was also recorded by them, but fish smaller than 50 to 

 60 pounds are decidedly unusual. In the Mediterranean young fry as small as 

 half a pound are often brought to market. 



" Towmsend, Science, new series, Vol. LVI, July-December, 1922, pp. 18-19. New York. 

 "U.S. Bureau of Fisheries Service Bulletin, No. 88, Sept. 1, 1922, p. 3. 



(0UND5 

 LANttD 

 1,000,000 



550,000 

 900,000 

 650,000 

 900,000 

 750,000 

 700,000 

 650,000 

 600.000 

 550,000 

 500,000 

 450,1)00 

 400.000 

 350,000 

 300,000 

 250,000 

 200,000 

 150,000 

 iOO,00f 

 50,000 



Fig. 103. — Monthly landings of swordfish for 

 the year 1919 at Boston, Gloucester, and Port- 

 land, and average monthly landings in New 

 England for the period 1909 to 1913 



