Except when spawning, adult hake are primarily 

 residents of the upper Continental Slope and Shelf. 

 It is hypothesized that adult hake undertake an 

 annual niipi-ation northward in the spring and 

 summer and southward beginning in the fall to the 

 offshore spawning region. During the late spring 

 to fall, feeding adult fish are found from British 

 Columbia to northern California and are most 

 abundant off Washington and Oregon. By December 

 most fish have moved out of the Vancouver Island- 

 Oregon area. 



Adult hake feeding in inshore areas during the 

 spring to fall period characteristically form long 

 narrow schools just off bottom. They make pro- 

 nounced diel vertical migrations. Hake feed on a 

 large variety of fish and invertebrates. In the 

 Washington-Oregon region, euphausiids appear to 

 be their primary food. 



Hake grow rapidly to age 6. Preliminary age 

 composition analysis suggests that after age ^ 

 their annual natural mortality rate is about 43 per- 

 cent. Apparent fluctuations in year class strength 

 have been observed. 



(332.) Pacific Hake— Food of Pacific Hake, 

 Merluccius productus, in Washington and 

 Northern Oregon Coastal Waters. By Miles 

 S. Alton and Martin 0. Nelson. March 1970, 

 pp. 35-42, 2 figs., 4 tables. 

 ABSTRACT 

 Examination of the stomach contents suggests 

 that Pacific hake feeds principally on pelagic or- 

 ganisms during its seasonal residence (spring to 

 fall) off the Washington and northern Oregon coasts. 

 Euphausiids. Thysanoessa spinifeni and Eiiphaiisia 

 pacifica, were the leading food items of Pacific hake 

 in both frequency of occurrence and contribution by 

 weight. Other important forms were fish and panda- 

 lid shrimp. Similar to Pacific hake, several of the 

 prety of hake (euphausiids. pandalid shrimp, and 

 Sergestes similin) undergo a vertical movement dur- 

 ing the evening and early morning. A high incidence 

 of empty stomachs in fish captured late in the day 

 may suggest that hake resume feeding sometime 

 between sunset and the following morning. 



(332.) Pacific Hake — Pacific Hake Fishery in 

 Washington and Oregon Coastal Waters. By 

 Martin 0. Nelson. March 1970, pp. 43-52, 2 

 figs., 2 tables. 



ABSTRACT 

 In 1966 both United States and Soviet vessels 

 began harvesting hake from coastal waters. Egg 

 and larvae and trawl surveys have shown the hake 

 resource to be large and capable of supporting a 

 sizeable fishery. In offshore waters hake are fished 

 from May to November between northern California 

 and Vancouver Island. Four U.S. vessels partici- 

 pated in the offshore fishery in 1966, and 10 vessels 

 in 1967. Total U.S. catches reported by fishermen 

 were 3.7 million pounds in 1966 and 18.5 million 



pounds in 1967. The increased U.S. production in 

 1967 was due to increased fishing and increased 

 catch-per-hour-trawled. Most of the U.S. production 

 came from the region between lat. 46° and 48° N. 

 in waters between 20 and 80 fathoms deep. Highest 

 catch rates were during June and July. As the 

 season progressed the fishery shifted to the north 

 and to deeper water. Conspicuously few species 

 were mixed in with the hake catches. The size of 

 the offshore fishery is difficult to predict and will 

 be gi'eatly influenced by economic factors and fluctu- 

 ations in stock abundance. 



(332.) Pacific Hake — Operation of the Soviet 

 Trawl Fleet off the Washington and Oregon 

 Coasts during 1966 and 1967. By Charles R. 

 Hitz. March 1970, pp. 53-75, 16 figs., 4 tables. 

 ABSTRACT 

 A large Soviet fishing fleet has been trawling for 

 Pacific ocean perch and Pacific hake off the north- 

 western coast of the United States since April 1966. 

 The report describes the types of vessels making 

 up the fleet and the fishing techniques used. 



The fleet comprised side trawlers, stern trawlers, 

 and support ships. Details are given on the SRT. 

 SRTR Okcciii, SRTM Mityuk, RT Pioneer, BMRT 

 Pushkin and Matjakovukii, RTM Tiopik and At- 

 lantik, Skryplcr, and seven support ships. 



The entire fleet worked as a unit with a command 

 ship that directed the scouting and harvesting. It 

 moved into the area in April and left in December. 

 In 1966 the fleet reached a peak of 111 ships in 

 July, and in 1967 it peaked at 114 ships in May. 



(332.) Pacific Hake— Midwater Trawling 

 Equipment and Fishing Technique for Cap- 

 turing Hake off the Coast of Washington and 

 Oregon. By Leonard J. Johnson, and William 

 L. High. March 1970, pp. 77-101, 20 figs., 8 

 tables. 



ABSTRACT 

 The Bureau of Commercial Fisheries has designed 

 and developed midwater trawls, special otterboards, 

 and a system to continuously indicate trawl depth. 

 Cobb pelagic trawls have caught hake in midwater 

 and the BCF Universal trawl has caught hake both 

 on bottom and in midwater while being towed by 

 Pacific Northwest trawlers at only 1.6 to 2.3 knots. 

 Both Cobb pelagic otterboards and China V-doors 

 have been used to spread the trawls. The trawls 

 were designed to open 40 to 80 feet. Comparative 

 fishing trials have shown that trawls of light-weight 

 monofilament catch more fish than trawls of multi- 

 filament nylon. To trawl effectively for hake in mid- 

 water the fisherman must invest about $16,000 for 

 equipment — two trawls, two depth telemeti-y sys- 

 tems, otterboards, cable meters, and 20-inch diame- 

 ter trawl blocks. 



(332.) Pacific Hake — Economic Aspects of the 



