FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



97 



Large herring (Dr. Hunstman tells us) are also 

 present there throughout late winter and spring, 

 though few find their way then into the weirs. 



In the southeastern part of the Gulf, as typified 

 by Cape Cod Bay, large herring appear inshore in 

 greatest numbers to about June and again in the 

 autumn, with very few (and not many sardines) 

 in June or July. This is illustrated by the largest 

 and smallest catches made in 8 traps at North 

 Truro for different months during the years 1946 

 to 1952. The following data are contributed by 

 the Pond Village Cold Storage Company: 



Minimum Maximum 



Month (in pounds) (in pounds) 



April 117,375 



May 221 623,550 



June - -. -. 88,657 



July 



August 1,000 



September.. 57,287 



October 9,526 



November 176,435 



The earliest catch of sardines there in those years, 

 or in 1935, 1938, or 1943 was sometime in May, 

 the latest November 16 to 17; the earliest catcb 

 of large herring was made between April 20 and 

 30, the latest on December 10th. 



In most years the large herring vanish from the 

 Massachusetts coast at some time in December. 

 In 1950, for example, they vanished about De- 

 cember 4th from Ipswich Bay, where considerable 

 catches had been made for some time previous by 

 about 15 boats. 81 



Nothing is known, definitely, as to their sea- 

 sonal appearances and disappearances over the 

 offshore banks. 



About all that is known of the movements of 

 the large mature herring (in their fourth summer 

 and older) is that they are encountered in num- 

 bers only for the brief period before, during, and 

 after the spawning season, when they are seen 

 schooling at the surface, and are caught along 

 shore. Fishermen report that they show about 

 the off-lying islands some time before they make 

 their way up the bays ; two or three weeks earlier, 

 for instance, at Grand Manan, Jonesport, and 

 about Mount Desert Island than within Machias 

 Bay. They are said to appear some time after 

 the middle of July at Isle au Haut at the eastern 

 entrance of Penobscot Bay, and at Castine within 

 the Bay, though not until the end of that month 



11 This happening was reported in the daily papers. 

 210941—53 8 



or the first of August at Matinicus Island. Such 

 of them as visit the Massachusetts Bay region are 

 not expected there until the last week in Septem- 

 ber. But they are in full force on all the spawning 

 areas along the shores of the Gulf by October, 

 from Grand Manan to Cape Cod; they are equally 

 widespread, if less abundant, inshore in November, 

 and they are reported in December occasionally, 

 and even later. It is probable that as the fish 

 spawn out most of them move out promptly from 

 the spawning grounds into deeper water, for fish 

 recently spent are not often reported as taken in 

 the weirs. 



Probably the spawners merely descend into 

 deeper water to winter, as is the case in European 

 waters. How deep the great body of them go is 

 not known. But is has been proved that herring 

 of all ages remain in the open Bay of Fundy 

 throughout the cold season; also in the passages 

 between the inner and outer divisions of Passama- 

 quoddy Bay, even when water temperatures there 

 are as low as 32° F. 62 And the abundance of 

 pelagic euphausiid shrimps (a favorite herring 

 food) in the deeper water layers of the northeast 

 corner of the Gulf suggests this as a rich winter 

 pasture for them. 



Studies carried out from the Atlantic Biological 

 Station at St. Andrews, chiefly under Dr. A. G. 

 Huntsman's M leadership, and by the International 

 Passamaquoddy Fisheries Commission 64 during 

 the early 1930's seem to us to have proved that 

 the factor chiefly responsible for the great concen- 

 tration of young herring in the Passamaquoddy 

 region, and for their availability to the weir fishery 

 there, is the differential circulation of the shoaler 

 and deeper water layers that is set in motion by 

 the inflow of fresh water from the tributary 

 streams combined with superficial currents set up 

 temporarily by the wind. In other words, the 

 sardine-sized herring acts as does any planktonic 

 animal such as the euphausiid shrimps and the 

 copepod crustaceans, on which it feeds, as it 

 swims to and fro, i. e., it drifts with the current. 

 In technical language, it is "denatant." 



The case is not so clear for the larger herring, 

 not because there is any reason to suppose they 

 can direct their journeys more intelligently, and 

 because any directive swimming they may carry 



u Huntsman. James Johnstone Memorial Vol., 1934, p. 82. 

 •» For summary, see Huntsman, James Johnstone Memorial Vol., 1934, 

 pp. 95-96. 

 « See Graham, Jour. Biol. Board Canada, vol. 2, 1936, No. 2, pp. 93-140. 



