In fishing trials oflf the coasts of Mississippi and 

 Texas, the prototype electric trawl caught during 

 daylight 95 and 109 percent of the quantity of shrimp 

 caught at night by a conventional, nonelectric trawl. 

 In the Dry Tortugas area off Southern Florida, 

 where the substratum is calcareous sand-shell rather 

 than mud as in the substratum of the Northern Gulf 

 of Mexico, the catch taken with the electric trawl 

 during daylight was only 50 percent of that taken 

 with the nonelectric trawl after dark. 



Vol. 4, No. 6. Care of fish holds, by Wayne I. 

 Tretsven. February 1969, pp. 233-239, 3 figs. 

 ABSTRACT 



The stowage of iced fish in the hold of a fishing 

 vessel causes the hold to become wet and dirty, 

 which in turn may cause deterioration of the vessel 

 as well as spoilage of the fish handled thereafter. 



This problem was studied, and procedures for 

 solving it were developed and used effectively on 

 commercial vessels. The procedures involve: (1) 

 use of better methods of cleaning and sanitizing 

 the hold, (2) use of a solubilized, copper-8-quinolin- 

 olate to preserve the wood in wooden holds, and (3) 

 application of plastic sheeting, 6-mils (.006-inch) 

 thick, to line the hold in order to prevent it from 

 becoming wet and dirty and to prevent the fish from 

 contacting it. 



Vol. 4, No. 7. Opening oysters and other bivalves 

 using microvirave energy, by Joseph M. Mend- 

 elsohn, Louis J. Ronsivalli, Frederick J. King, 

 Joseph H. Carver, Robert J. Learson, Barry 

 W. Spracklin, and Ernest M. Kenyon. March 

 1969, pp. 241-248, 5 figs., 2 tables. 

 ABSTRACT 

 A commercial process using microwave energ>' can 

 save 33 percent over hand-shucking costs and has 

 several other advantages as well. 



Vol. 4, No. 7. A new approach for evaluating 

 the quality of fishery products, by Robert J. 

 Learson and Louis J. Ronsivalli. March 1969, 

 pp. 249-259, 3 figs., 3 tables. 

 ABSTRACT 

 Although organoleptic panels lack precision, they 

 are the only instrument that, at present, can inte- 

 grate all the factors that affect quality. Described 

 here is a new approach to improving panel precision. 

 Using the approach, a panel expresses quality in 

 terms of the estimated storage time of the sample 

 rather than in such ambiguous terms as "excellent," 

 "very good," and "borderline." The approach ob- 

 viates the need for arbitrary terms to describe qual- 

 ity and assists the panelists in making his evalu- 

 ations objectively. Statistical analysis of the re- 

 sults obtained when a panel used the method on 

 samples of fresh cod fillets indicates that the storage 



age of such samples can be estimated to within 

 ±2.2 days with a reliability of 95 percent. 



Vol. 4, No. 7. Demersal fish resources: compo- 

 sition, distribution, and commercial potential 

 of the Continental Shelf stocks off Southeast- 

 ern United States, by Paul Struhsaker. March 

 1969, pp. 261-300, 13 figs., 8 tables, Apps. A 

 and B. 



ABSTRACT 



A 5-year study of the demersal fish resources of 

 the Continental Shelf off Southeastern United 

 States resulted in the occupation of 956 exploratory 

 trawling stations in the 6- to 100-fathom depth 

 range. The study showed that the region can be 

 divided into five general habitat types — coastal, 

 open-shelf, live-bottom, shelf-edge, and lower-shelf 

 — each harboring a distinctive association of de- 

 mersal fishes. 



The coastal habitat, which has a smooth, sandy- 

 mud bottom out to depths of 8 to 10 fathoms, has 

 well-known and abundant resources of bottomfishes. 

 Increased use of these stocks (mostly drums and 

 croakers) seems to depend on market development, 

 rather than on additional exploratory fishing. 



The open-shelf habitat, which has a smooth sand 

 bottom to depths of about 10 to 25 or 30 fathoms, 

 has poor potential for a trawl fishery for food fishes. 

 Occasional large catches of scup and filefish indi- 

 cate, however, that these species may be abundant 

 enough to support a small industrial fishery for 

 bottomfish. 



The live-bottom habitats, which are small areas 

 of broken relief and a rich sessile invertebrate fauna 

 within the open-shelf habitat, have the best food- 

 fish potential for commercial utilization. During 

 exploratory fishing, moderate to large catches of 

 snappers, groupers, porgies, and ecologically asso- 

 ciated species were taken consistently with New 

 England-type otter trawls. The best areas were off 

 Northeastern Florida and South Carolina, but other 

 productive areas were found along most of the 

 Southeastern Coast. 



The shelf-edge habitat, which has a smooth to 

 highly broken bottom and runs along the edge of 

 the Continental Shelf at depths of about 30 to 60 

 fathoms, also has large concentrations of snappers, 

 groupers, and porgies in certain localities. Although 

 trawling was often impractical in the rougher por- 

 tions of this habitat, the fishery resources of these 

 areas can be harvested by handlines and traps. 



The lower-shelf habitat has a smooth mud bottom 

 from about 60 to at least 100 fathoms; the limited 

 explorations indicate the presence of large concen- 

 trations of butterfish, spotted hake, and perhaps 

 groupers in this habitat. 



A fishing log and chart of 50 stations where 

 catches of commercial size were made is provided. 

 A list of demersal fishes taken during the explora- 

 tions is given, along with notations on their occur- 

 rences in the trawl catches and habitat occupation. 



