590 Memoir Sears Foundation for Marine Research 



the first quarter of the 19th century, to be dried for shipment to London, to be exported 

 "by the thousands of barrels to the eager French fishermen on the Bank" as bait 

 (Hardy, 38: 8), and to be used locally as manure. Then there followed a period lasting 

 down through the first quarter of the present century when Capelin were in so little 

 demand in Newfoundland that Sleggs, writing in 1933, estimated the local consumption 

 of them to be not "more than a few pounds per head, annually" and the exports for 

 some time past as "insignificant" (joo: 57). Capelin were'in greater demand, however, 

 along the Quebec shore of the Gulf of St. Lawrence than in Newfoundland (see Periodic 

 Fluctuations in Abundance, p. 589); 130,268 pounds of dried Capelin plus 29,1 17 pounds 

 of fresh and salted fish were exported from the Island of St. Pierre to France in 1924; 

 and 116,855 pounds (frozen) were shipped to the United States in 1925 {10: 151). 



Of late years Capelin have been taken in much larger quantities in Newfoundland 

 than had been the case for many years previous to the Second World War, sure evi- 

 dence of an increase in the demand (for catches 1952, 1954, see p. 589). We owe to 

 F. B. Clark, of the Canadian Consulate General, the information that 634,000 pounds 

 (2 "/o) of the Newfoundland catch for 1954 were used for human consumption (fresh, 

 dried, or smoked), and the remainder (98 "/o) for other purposes, such as fresh and 

 frozen bait for cod fishermen, fertilizer, etc. In addition, it has been reported that 

 Capelin are utilized as fish meal, as food (lightly salted and dried) for dog teams, as 

 canned cat food, and as a source for a high quality marine oil {ill: 7, 8, 18).^^ 



Methods of Capture. Wherever Capelin are caught they are taken chiefly in cast 

 nets or dip nets, but sometimes in beach seines and even in tubs, buckets, and hand 

 scoops, as has been described in vivid terms by Hardy for Conception Bay, Newfound- 

 land {^8: 8). We have never heard of one being caught on hook-and-line. 



General Range and Occurrence in the Western North Atlantic. The general range of 

 the Capelin is outlined on p. 574. In Greenland, Capelin are known on the east 

 coast northward to Scoresby Sound (about 70° N) and on the west coast northward 

 to Thule (76°3o'N); on the west coast they did not occur of old with any regularity 

 north of Vaigat (about 70° N), but by the 1930's they were abundant in Northeast 

 Bay, and by 1935 ^^^7 ^^'^ spread to the northern part of the Upernavik district 

 (about 74°25'N); one was even taken at Thule that year, and a second was taken in 

 1936 {48: 87, 88). 



On the American side of the Labrador Sea, the most northerly point where we 

 find them reliably reported on the Atlantic coast of northern Labrador is Saglek Bay 

 between 57 and 58° N (^j: 5). Capelin have not been recorded for Baffin Island, but for 

 Ungava Bay a few have been reported recently though larger numbers were recorded 

 for 1884 {22: 104). They have also been recorded for many localities in the northern 

 part of Hudson Bay southward to James Bay, sometimes in great abundance {lI2: 20), 

 for Melville Peninsula in the Arctic {y8: 7), for Bathurst Inlet {8y. 710), and for 



39. We are indebted to Leslie W. Scattergood, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, for bringing this reference to our at- 

 tention, and to W. P. Templeman, St. Johns, Newfoundland, and John D. Kay lor, General Foods Corporation, 

 for personal communications regarding the utilization of Capelin. 



