was 25,000 tons, of which New Jersey landed 2,928 and 

 New York 876 metric tons. 



Estimated total maximum sustainable yield for 

 ICNAF subareas 5 and 6 combined is about 150,000 met- 

 ric tons. Total allowable catch for 1976 has been set at 

 103,000 metric tons. The estimated standing crop in 1975 

 was about 43''r below the level required to produce the 

 maximum su.stainable yield (Hennemuth 1975, see foot- 

 note 11). 



Silver hake and other species important to domestic 

 fishermen concentrate at the edge of the continental 

 shelf in winter and early spring. Bilateral agreements 

 with the USSR and Poland (U.S. Department of State 

 1970a, 1970b) provide protection for the species from 1 

 January to 15 April, when they are particularly vul- 

 nerable to fishing (Fig. 1). 



The decline in silver hake landings in the New York 

 Bight area after World War II probably had economic 

 causes. New Jersey fishermen apparently were unable to 

 compete with the much larger New England fishery 

 (LoVerde 1966), especially in Massachusetts and Maine. 

 Most of the New Jersey catch is made in winter and 

 spring, when higher priced species are scarce in the area. 

 Taylor et al. (1957) suggested that general warming of 

 coastal waters from the 1920s into the 1950s might have 

 been responsible for the drop in silver hake landings in 

 New York and New Jersey, which was especially 

 noticeable m pound net catches. Low prices for silver 

 hake have been a recurrent problem. Another com- 

 plication has been that silver hake are used for indus- 

 trial purposes as well as for human food. Since 1949 

 (Grosslein et al. 1973, see footnote 7) the proportion of 

 the total U.S. catch of silver hake used as industrial fish 

 has varied from 22 to 78%, the greatest percentages as- 

 sociated with the largest catches. 



Silver hake apparently is not a major recreational 

 species in the Middle Atlantic Bight (Table 7), but in 

 1970 it ranked among the first 10 species taken by party 

 boats in New York Bight (Buchanan 1972). 



Squids 



Squids have never been of major importance in coastal 

 fisheries of the United States. Rathjen (1973) identified 

 the two most abundant species in this area as long-fin- 

 ned squid, Loligo pealei (Lesueur), and short-finned 

 squid, Illex illecebrosus (Lesueur). Both are taken by 

 domestic commercial fisheries in the New York Bight 

 area, although most of the catch probably is Loligo. In 

 New Jersey and New York most of the catch is taken by 

 otter trawls. 



Maximum landings reported in New Jersey were about 

 750 metric tons in 1939 (Fig. 9). Landings have been ir- 

 regularly downward since that time (Table 8). Two major 

 peaks occurred in New York landings, at about 7.50 met- 

 ric tons in 1939 and about 660 metric tons in 1962. In the 

 United States squids are used mostly as bait, but cer- 

 tain ethnic groups, especially in large cities like New 

 York, value them as food. The highly variable landings, 

 like those of silver hake, probably are related more to 



Table 7. — Estimated ccsmmerclal and recreational catches of silver 

 halte in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united States 

 coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch 

 estijnates are available. Weights in metric tons. 



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

 not give data by individual states. New York was included with the 

 New England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic 

 states. 



Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 



1976 quota for silver hake in subareas 5 and 6 was 103,000 metric 



tons. 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings 

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



900001020 3040 S0607D 



Figure 9.— Annual commercial landings of squids in New York and 

 New Jersey 1888-1975. 



variable demand and price than to fluctuating abun- 

 dance. 



Japanese trawlers began fishing long-finned squid in 

 the Middle Atlantic Bight about 1969 and started ex- 

 perimental trawling for the short-finned species in 1972 

 (Rathjen 1973). Fleets of several other nations now take 

 considerable quantities. 



Edwards (1968) estimated that the standing crop of 



12 



