78 THE HADDOCK PEOBLEM 



Meek, in discussing the incident, suggests as possible that 

 ' in the summer of 1789 the summer deep-sea quarters of the 

 haddock and other fish were flooded by Arctic water ', and 

 that the observations of the skippers ' referred merely to a local 

 manifestation '. He thinks ' the smaller haddocks of more 

 southern latitudes may have been equally affected without 

 their death bringing them to the surface '. The young fish 

 escaped, he thinks. Whatever the explanation, the fact of the 

 scarcity is interesting, and may have some bearing on the 

 modern problem. Thirteen years before this catastrophe, 

 according to Pennant, in 1776 haddock were so plentiful a mile 

 off Scarborough that three men long-lining in a coble could 

 catch two tons a day. 



Up to the year 1870 again haddock were common off 

 Mevagissey. That year they left Cornish waters. Again, 

 ' in the nineties ' haddock were plentiful in the Irish Sea and 

 disappeared in a few years. The reason for this disappearance 

 is not known. All this was before the days of statistics. But 

 there is some evidence that fluctuations occurred long before 

 the steam trawler could be made the scapegoat for a shortage. 



Life-History 



The haddock lives and spawns for choice on soft muddy flats 

 covered with 25 to 50 fathoms of water. Given these con- 

 ditions it does not appear to be repulsed by cold. It is common, 

 for instance, on grounds of this nature both off Iceland and 

 in the Barents Sea.^ The main spawning-grounds are in the 

 northern portion of the North Sea especially north of longitude 

 58° N. There is little spawning south of 56° N. (Kussell). 

 Other spawning grounds are situated on the south and west 

 coasts of Iceland, round the Faeroes, at Kockall, north and 

 west of Scotland, and west of Ireland, always inside the 100 

 fathom line. The number of eggs varies with the size of the 

 fish, but the American ^ fish-culturists (who handle many thou- 

 sands of haddock) give the average as about 100,000 per fish. 



The spawning season is from January to June, and is at its 

 height in March and April. The eggs are one-seventeenth of an 

 inch in diameter,^ and are delicate and easily damaged. They 

 are slightly glutinous, and have a tendency to form into small 

 lumps during hatching. They hatch in fifteen days at 37° F. 

 and in thirteen days at 41°. The yolk-sac is completely 

 absorbed in ten days at a temperature of 41°. Holt in June 

 has hatched eggs in six days. 



' Hjort, Depths of Ocean. ^ Manual of Fish Cultnre, p. 223, 



^ i. e. -058 inch. About 347,000 eggs are contained in a quart. 



