T.ible 6. — Fstimated commercial and recreational catches of red 

 hcike in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States 

 coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch 

 estimates are available. Weights in metric tons. 



Domestic Recreational 



commercial catch catch 



Me-NY NJ-NC Me-NY NJ-NC 

 NJ incl. incl. incl. incl. 



ICNAF 

 Foreign catch 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did 

 not give data by individual states. New YorJc was included witli the 

 New England states and New Jersey with thie ot)ier middle Atlantic states. 



Foreign catclies for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 1976 

 quota for red ha]ce in subareas 5 and 6 was 42,000 metric tons. 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in 

 N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years. 



An unreported catch is possible. 



been greatly reduced, domestic commercial landings 

 have not improved because markets are limited. 



Red hake and some other species spend winter and ear- 

 ly spring offshore at the outer edge of the continental 

 shelf. There they have been subject to foreign fishing. Ac- 

 cording to Edwards (1968) the fishing fleet of the USSR 

 had been taking the available surplus prior to the spring 

 inshore migration, and this had serious effects on domes- 

 tic fisheries for the species. This led to bilateral 

 agreements with the Soviet Union and Poland under 

 which, among other things, these nations agreed not to 

 fish for red hake and other species in zones at the edge of 

 the shelf between 1 January and 15 April (U.S. Depart- 

 ment of State 1970a, 1970b, 1973a, 1973b). These zones 

 (Fig. 1) include the entire offshore boundary of New York 

 Bight. Later, a somewhat similar agreement was con- 

 cluded with Romania (U.S. Department of State 1973c). 

 The total allowable catch of red hake for 1976 in ICNAF 

 subareas 5 and 6 combined has been set at 42,000 metric 

 tons. The estimated standing crop in 1975 is 117,000 met- 

 ric tons (Hennemuth 1975, see footnote 11) down sharply 

 from the period 1963-65 when the standing crop was 

 about 694 million pounds or 315,000 metric tons ac- 

 cording to Edwards (1975, see footnote 10). 



Red hake also is of growing importance as a saltwater 

 sport fish in the area. Reintjes and Roithmayr (1960) 

 reported that the species ranked fifth in numbers caught 

 in the party and charter boat fisheries of New Jersey in 

 1954, exceeded only by scup, black sea bass, weakfish, 

 and bluefish. The national saltwater angling surveys es- 



timated that in the area from New Jersey to Cape Hat- 

 teras inclusive the sport catch of red hake almost tripled 

 from 1960 to 1970, from 350,000 to 900,000 pounds (159 to 

 408 metric tons). 



Silver Hake 



Silver hake or whiting, Merluccius bilinearis (Mit- 

 chill), has been an important commercial species in the 

 New Jersey area since the 1920s (Fig. 8). Most of the 

 catch is taken in otter trawls. Landings in New Jersey, as 

 in New York (McHugh 1972a), were high in the 1940s, 

 dropped sharply in the late 1940s, and stayed relatively 

 low for several years. Landings in both states have risen 

 since the early 1950s, but have fluctuated widely, per- 

 haps partly from differences in recruitment (ICNAF 

 1973), but also because markets are limited and variable. 

 The 1971 year class was strong and stock size was ex- 

 pected to increase in all divisions of ICNAF subareas 5 

 and 6. New York landings of silver hake have been 

 somewhat less than in New Jersey, but the major trends 

 have been similar. 



Graham (1968) pointed out that although silver hake 

 was the most abundant groundfish on New England 

 Banks, the U.S. market could absorb only a small part of 

 the potential harvest at that time. He stated that total 

 domestic landings had decreased since the peak in 1957 

 and concluded that the catch was controlled by economic 

 forces. This is reflected in widely variable prices paid to 

 fishermen in New York and New Jersey as well (McHugh 

 1976),'-' and in limits placed by buyers on the amount of 

 hake they would accept. 



From Nantucket Shoals through the middle Atlantic 

 area, there is a single stock of silver hake which migrates 

 to deep offshore waters at about 150 fathoms (273 m) in 

 winter and moves inshore to depths less than 50 fathoms 

 (91 m) from spring to fall (Grosslein et al. 1973, see foot- 

 note 7). Relative abundance of this stock declined rapid- 

 ly after 1965, but strong year classes in 1971 and 1972 

 were expected to increase abundance in 1973-74, 

 Estimated maximum sustainable yield of this stock is 

 69,000 metric tons. The U.S. share of the quota for 1973 



'-McHugh, J. L. 1976. Trends in fish prices in the New Yorii Bight 

 area. Manuscript in preparation. 



90 1900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70 



Figure 8.— Annual commercial landings of silver hake in New Jersey 

 1897-1975. 



11 



