64 DESCRIPTION OF IMPORTANT FISHERIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS 



rate of haddock is quite rapid with the young entering the fishery as 

 scrod haddock weighing 1>2 to 2)^2 pounds when only 2 to 3 years oldl 



Handling at Sea. The vast majority of haddock are caught by otter 

 trawling; a small inshore fishery using line trawls or gill nets accounts 

 for the remainder of the landings. 



After the fish are dumped from the trawl net on the deck of the vessel, 

 they are eviscerated (in hot weather the gills are also removed), washed, 

 sorted (or culled) into size groups (see Table 5.1), and iced down in pens in 

 the vessel's hold. The amount of ice used varies with the season of the 

 year, but in general about one pound of ice is used for two pounds of 

 fish. The average trip lasts for 10 days, and fishing goes on 24 hours a 

 day while the vessel is on the banks. 



Handling at the Wharf. On arrival at the Boston Fish Pier, the fish 

 are sold at auction and unloading is begun. The typical unloading opera- 

 tion involves the following: The lumpers (stevedores hired by the crew) 

 pitchfork the haddock from the vessel's pens into canvas baskets holding 

 about 100 pounds of fish. The baskets are hoisted out of the hold by 

 means of a winch mounted on the vessel's foredeck, swung over to the 

 wharf, and dumped into tared weighing boxes. When 500 pounds have 

 been dumped into the weigh-box, the fish are transferred by means of 

 pitchforks to carts, barrels, or other boxes for transport to the processing 

 plant, which may be located from a few yards to as much as half a mile 

 from the unloading site. About 25 pounds of ice are added to each 100 

 pounds of fish to keep them cool while awaiting processing. 



At other ports, where haddock is a minor part of the catch, mixed 

 sizes of the fish plus some ice are dumped directly onto the wharf and 

 sorted into wooden boxes on platform scales by means of pitchforks. 

 The boxes, when full, contain 100 pounds of haddock plus about 25 

 pounds of ice and are shipped directly to the fresh-fish market. 



Processing. Fresh (unfrozen) haddock fillets account for slightly more 

 than half of the haddock production in New England. The remainder of 

 the fillets are frozen, primarily in one-pound consumer packages. 



In a typical processing plant, the scales are removed by passing the 

 haddock on a conveyor belt under a series of revolving serrated disks 

 or stiff brushes. In some plants, where haddock is of secondary importance 

 to other species, they may be scaled by hand or in a rotating cyhnder of 

 expanded metal. After scaling, the fish are filleted and in some cases 

 skinned either by hand or machine. 



Packing. Fresh fillets are ordinarily packed in 10, 20, or 30-pound 

 fillet cans. The cans are rectangular, measuring about 15)^4 inches long 

 by 103-2 inches wide with the depth varying depending on capacity. The 

 cans are either enamelled or tin-plated. Recently, wax-impregnated 



