CHAPTER III 



THE HADDOCK RESOURCE 



Introduction 



The New England groundflsh fleet 

 obtains its catch principally from a 

 260,000 square mile continental shelf ex- 

 tending from Long Island to Newfoundland, 

 Recently some New England ocean perch 

 vessels have ranged north of the Newfound- 

 land banks* 



Fishing on the offshore banks in the 

 North Atlantic is subject to regulation by 

 the International Commission for the North- 

 west Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF). This 

 Conmission classifies the fishing grounds 

 as follows: New Qigland grounds. Nova 

 Scotia and Gulf of St. Lawrence grounds, 

 and Newfoundland grounds, (map on p. 38). 

 Ihe United States accounts for nearly all 

 groundfish caught in New Qigland waters. 

 Canadian fishermen land about two-thirds 

 of the groundfish caught in the Nova Scotia- 

 Gulf of St, Lawrence area, (table III-l) . 

 Less than 20 percent of landings in the 

 latter area were by American vessels, 

 primarily ocean perch boats, Americans 

 account for only 3 percent of the catch 

 taken in Newfoundland waters, 



The major part of the analysis of 

 New England's groundfish resource poten- 

 tial and the effects of this on fishing 

 costs will be devoted to two species, 

 haddock and ocean perch, Ihese accounted 

 in 19^7 for approximately 83 percent of 

 the value of all the region' s groundfish 

 landings. Furthermore, the available 

 biological evidence indicates that while 

 other groundfish species could be utilized 

 more than they are at present, they still 

 must be considered of minor importance with 



respect to the staples of haddock and 

 ocean perch. 



The haddock fleet is centered in 

 Boston and fishes principally on the 

 grounds off New England and on the more 

 southerly Nova Scotian banks. A study of 

 the period from 1938-ij9 reveals that 82 

 percent of the total fishing effort was 

 concentrated on Georges Bank off New 

 England and the remainder on the Canadian 

 banks. °I' 



Analysis of 19$ 7 haddock landings at 

 Massachusetts ports indicates that Georges 

 Bank continued to furnish the bulk of the 

 catch (78.9 percent) with other New Ehgland 

 waters siqDplying 6,7 percent and Canadian 

 waters lU,U percent, (table III-2). 

 Trips from Massachusetts ports to Canadian 

 waters are, also, mainly short runs, since 

 the greater part of the catch ft:om Cana- 

 dian waters comes from Brown's Bank. The 

 latter is separated from tiie most heavily 

 fished area of Georges Bank, the Northern 

 Edge, by but a 30-mile channel, 68/ Both 

 banks, are from 1 to 1^ days steaming time 

 from Boston, and together in 1956 account- 

 ed for 87 .ii percent of all haddock landed 

 in Boston, 



The Economic Implications of the 

 Haddock {fesource Available to the 

 New England Groundfish Fleet 



One of the determinants of the cost 

 of any good is its relative scarcity or 

 abundance. Only a few goods such as sun- 

 shine, air, and water are so plentiful as 

 to be of little or no cost. Indeed, 

 economics has been defined as "the admin- 

 istration or use of scarce resources." 69/ 

 Much of the cost of production difficulties 

 that have plagued the New England ground- 

 fishery may be attributed to the adjust- 

 ments that have been necessitated by the 

 relative abundance or scarcity of the raw 

 product, the fish. 



67/ Schuck, Howard A. Offshore Grounds Important to the United States Haddock 

 Fishe^ , Research Report 32, United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, Washington, D. C, 1952, 



68/ Until 1932 the Bureau of ELshories classified Brown's Bank as being in New Qigland 

 waters, instead of Canadian, 



69/ Harriffs, C. Lowell, The American Econony, 1956, Irwin, Homewood, Illinois, p. 3, 



39 



