FISHES OF THE GULF OF MAINE 



181 



even to the continental slope as the European 

 silver hake do. Scattered catches, in fact, of half- 

 grown silver hake and larger are made by otter 

 trawlers off southern New England, and off New 

 York in January and February. 64 But it seems 

 more likely that these are fish that either remain 

 there throughout the year or that visit the coasts 

 of New York and of southern New England at 

 other times of year, than that they come from 

 the Gulf of Maine. 



Fluctuations in abundance in the Gulf of Maine. — 

 Every shore fisherman in the Massachusetts Bay- 

 Cape Cod region knows that silver hake vary 

 widely in abundance from year to year. Catches 

 by one set of six pound-nets at North Truro on 

 Cape Cod yielded about 60,000 pounds in 1946; 

 237,000 pounds in 1948; 232,000 pounds in 1949; 

 and only about 10,000 in 1944; but about 458,000 

 pounds in 1950. Yearly fluctuations of this sort 

 are to be expected at any given locality, in the 

 case of any predaceous wanderer. And there is 

 nothing in the available record to suggest that a 

 major alteration has taken place in the numbers 

 of silver hake in its center of abundance in the 

 Gulf, whether upward or downward, since it has 

 been an important fish on the market. 



Occurrence to the westward and eastward of the 

 Gulf of Maine. — Silver hake are described as abun- 

 dant from October to December as far westward 

 as New York, sometimes in May also, though few 

 are seen there in summer. And yearly catches of 

 some 2 to 5 million pounds of "whiting" by pound 

 nets w suggest that the beaches of New Jersey 

 rival those of the Cape Cod Bay region in the 

 seasonal abundance of silver hake. But we have 

 not heard of any great numbers of them close in 

 shore beyond Cape May, though pound nets do 

 take a few as far south as the mouth of Chesapeake 

 Bay. Farther out on the shelf, silver hake of all 

 sizes are to be found at all times of the year, from 

 the offing of southern New England, westward and 

 southward, in numbers large enough for otter 

 trawlers to land 3 to 5 million pounds yearly in 

 New York and New Jersey, 56 and smaller amounts 

 in Delaware. 



Eastward from our limits we find the silver 

 hake described as abundant 67 in outer Nova 

 Scotian waters generally. But we have no clue as 

 to their actual numbers there, relative to the Gulf 

 of Maine, for they are not yet important enough 

 commercially to be included in the Canadian 

 fisheries statistics. The experimental cruises of 

 the Newfoundland Fisheries Research Commission 

 took them on Banquereau and Misaine Banks; in 

 the northern side of Cabot Straits; on the southern 

 part of the Grand Banks ; and at Bay Bulls on the 

 east coast of the Avalon Peninsula, which is the 

 most northern record for them of which we chance 

 to know. But it seems they are not known 

 anywhere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 68 



Importance. — Silver hake are as sweet a fish as 

 one could ask, if eaten fresh or if slack salted over 

 night and used for breakfast next morning. But 

 they soften so fast that there was no regular 

 market demand for them of old, and most of those 

 that were caught incidentally were thrown over- 

 board. In fact, we can remember seeing them 

 used locally for fertilizer. Thus only some 37,000 

 pounds were saved in Maine and Massachusetts 

 combined, even as recently as 1895. But improved 

 methods of freezing fish were followed by landings 

 of about two million pounds by 1902; of between 

 four and five million pounds in 1905, rising through 

 the years of the first world war to more than 14 

 million pounds in 1919. 69 The yearly landings 

 then fell off, for some reason, to only about 6 million 

 to 9 million pounds for the period 1924 to 1933, 

 which was far less than the potential catch. But 

 the landings then increased again, as frozen whit- 

 ing became more popular in the Middle West, to 

 about 15 million pounds in 1935, to about 40 mil- 

 lion pounds by 1940, with from 46 million to 74 

 million pounds during the 6-year period 1942 to 

 1947. 60 



All but a small part of the Maine and Massa- 

 chusetts landings, recorded in the following table, 

 are from within the limits of the Gulf of Maine. 



The silver hake now ranks fourth or fifth among 

 Gulf of Maine fishes in amount landed. But it 



'< Albatross II trawled 8 fish, 7 to 9 Inches long, off New York, February 

 28, 1929, at 28 fathoms; and the dragger Euaene H., Capt. Henry Kllmm, 

 picked up 115 of market size in a week's trip, about 80 miles off Martha's 

 Vineyard, at 47 to 67 fathoms, January-February 1950. 



" 1942, 5,343,300 pounds; 1945, 5,842,900 pounds; 1947, 1,784,500 pounds. 



" Otter trawl landings of "whiting," for New York and New Jersey com- 

 bined, were 3,468,200 pounds In 1942; 5,243,700 pounds In 1945; and 7,498,600 

 pounds In 1947. Delaware trawlers reported 203,500 pounds for 1947. 



»' Vladykov and McKenzle, Proc. Nova Scotia Inst. Scl., vol. 19, 1935, p. 72. 



w According to Dr. Huntsman all ostensible reports of their presence In 

 the Gulf of St. Lawrence have been based In reality on the other hakes of the 

 genus Urophycis (p. 221). And it is these that are meant when "hake" are 

 mentioned In the early publications of the TJ. S. Fish Commission, such as 

 Balrd's (Eept. TJ. S. Coram. Fish. (1886) 1889, app. A.) report on the fisheries 

 of eastern North America. 



» Landings for Maine and Massachusetts combined. 



" Maine and Massachusetts combined. 



