Fishes of the Western North Atlantic 589 



each hundred yards of beach" on this particular occasion. Templeman has written simi- 

 larly of "possibly hundreds of millions" spawning at Grand Beach on the east coast 

 of Newfoundland (jjo: 52). With this same sort of thing taking place here and there 

 from Saglek Bay in northern Labrador to southeastern Newfoundland and St. Pierre 

 Island, along western Greenland, and along at least the coast of southern Iceland, 

 (where Jespersen has recorded a catch of 5,900 larvae in one 20-minute haul with a 

 "young fish" trawl \^50\ i i]), the total number of Capelin involved must surpass human 

 reckoning. 



Periodic Fluctuations in Abundance. It has long been known that Capelin may be 

 decidedly erratic from year to year in their appearances at particular localities within 

 short distances; for example, around the southwestern angle of Newfoundland, where 

 they may even fail to spawn at all, as seems to have happened locally in 1941 and 1942 

 {110: 55—58, figs. 14, 15), and around Ungava Bay near the northern boundary of their 

 range, where they were reported as far more plentiful in 1884 than in 1947— 1949 

 {22'. 104). Capelin also appear from time to time in schools far to the south of their 

 regular range, as in the Gulf of Maine in the west and off Norway in the east (jJp : 

 1 5). The fish also range much farther eastward along the Murman coast in some 

 years than in others (5o: 119). Catches of 4,800,000 pounds of Capelin in the Gulf 

 of St. Lawrence in 1919, 1,990,000 in 1951, 677,000 in 1952, 147,000 in 1954, 

 and 497,000 in 1956 suggest that the numbers of Capelin declined greatly there 

 during recent years. But the decline suggested by these figures seems as likely to have 

 resulted from a decrease in the demand for Capelin as from any general reduction 

 in their numbers. We question also whether the poundage credited to Newfoundland 

 for 1952^* is realistic, for we have been informed by letter from John D. Kaylor of 

 the General Foods Corporation, a fisheries expert of long experience, that "on the 

 spot inquiries in many places, plus personal observation during the height of the 

 capelin run [of 1958] show a total catch for all uses at less than 5 million pounds for 

 all Newfoundland." 



It is said that Capelin have not visited the coast of western Greenland in such 

 hordes of late years as they did during the colder-water period from about 1885 down 

 to the 1920's, but they may have continued equally abundant in deeper water, farther 

 out from the immediate tideline. 



Relation to Man. The Capelin, a delicious morsel as we can bear witness, is an 

 important fish, not only in the natural economy of northern seas but in that of the 

 native inhabitants of Greenland, where great quantities are dried in good Capelin years 

 during the spawning run, to be used for human food during the winter. So vital an item 

 is the Capelin in the winter diet of the Greenland Eskimos that they suffer great hard- 

 ship in any particular district in a year when the run fails. The Capelin are used 

 there for dog food as well. 



In Newfoundland, great quantities were netted for human consumption during 



38. We are greatly indebted to the late A. H. Leim and \V. P. Templeman of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada, 

 and to F. B. Clark, Canadian Consul (commercial) at Boston, for information regarding the commercial landings 

 of Capelin in Newfoundland for recent years. 



