Georges Bank have averaged approximately 

 91 million poiinds, catch per day has 

 averaged 13,1jOO po^iods while effort has 

 been at an annual level of 6,96U days. A 

 comparison of the 1917-26 and 1931-57 eras 

 shows that in the latter period total 

 annual landings are 35 percent higher but 

 at a cost of 212 percent more effort and 

 a reduction of $7 percent in the catch per 

 day. Here, then, is a fact of basic im- 

 portances the present fishery is a much 

 hi^er cost one. 



The modem fishery, wLth stabilized 

 landings, entails a much greater depend- 

 ence on scrod haddock than in earlier 

 years. Plsheiy Research Biologist John R. 

 Clark declares that Georges Bank has become 

 a scrod haddock fishing ground during re- 

 cent years, 72/ With the exception of the 

 World War II years, there had been from 

 1931 to 19 5U a continued decline in the 

 proportion of large haddock in the catch, 

 (table III-5). In 1931, about 85 percent 

 of the landings were large j in 195Ii only 

 about a third were. Only 11.5 percent of 

 Boston landings were scrod in the 191U-30 

 period, fron 1950-57 over half were scrod, 

 and in 1958 the proportion was about even, 

 (table III-6), 



Another indication of the dependence 

 on scrod is the annual catch in nuniiers 

 (not pounds) of fLsh. In the 1931-iiO 

 years this averaged 35,li77,000 annually. 

 In the 19h7-57 period there was an actual 

 increase in the nui?4)er of fish taken com- 

 pared to the former period. The fact that 

 poundage did not increase in a correspond- 

 ing manner was not due to a scarcity of 

 haddock in general, but to a decline in 

 the relative numbers of large haddock. 

 This is also clear from consideration of 

 the average weight per fish caught in the 

 1931-57 period, (cf. table Ill-li). Again, 

 if the influence of the World War II 

 fishery is discounted, the average weight 

 dropped fairly steadily from 1931 until 

 1955. 



Before 195ii, the age of first cap- 

 ture of haddock was 1^ years, A new mesh 

 net ruling, adopted in 1953 has had the 

 effect of raising this minimum to 2^ years. 

 IJie net regulation has resulted in a re- 

 versal of the average weight trend, and in 

 1958, for the first time since 19h9, more 

 large haddock than scrod were caught on 

 Georges Bank. Despite the larger unit 

 weight of the fish landed, however, the 

 success of the fishery is still largely 

 dependent upon the success of scrod re- 

 production. 



"Ihe stocks of Georges Bank haddock 

 have been fished down to the point where 

 the catches depend upon large numbers of 

 comparatively small fish. ...In terras of 

 age, the fishery was once supported in 

 large part by fish 5-9 years old but in 

 recent years 2-k year old fish have domi- 

 nated the catches. The depletion of the 

 large fish has placed the fishery in a 

 precarious position." 73/ 



As fillets of scrod have less con- 

 sumer demand and involve a higher labor 

 cost, scrod visually sells ex-vessel at a 

 discount from the price for large haddock. 

 Analysis of the differentials gives a 10- 

 year average discount of $2.28 per hundred 

 weight in the 19l;8-57 period, (table III- 

 7), The narrowing of the differential 

 since 195U can be attributed to the effects 

 of the 1953 mesh regulation. The larger 

 mesh has not only increased the proportion 

 of large haddock in the catch but has also 

 increased the average size of the scrod 

 caught. 



If the 1957 Boston landings of 9h 

 million pounds had been 88,5 percent large 

 haddock (as in the 191ii-26 period) instead 

 of only 1(9.5 percent, as was the case, the 

 additional revenue at 1957 price differen- 

 tial for large and scrod haddock would have 

 amounted to over a half million dollars 

 ($551,000) to the primary industry. This 



72/ Sep No. L50, "Georges Bank Haddock Fishery - Changes in Scrod Abimdance in 

 Recent Years." United States Fish and Wildlife Service, October, 1956. 



73/ Commercial Fisheries Review , October, 1958. p. 29 (quoting recent release from 

 Wooais Hole Laboratory, United States Fish and Wildlife Service ) . 



Ul 



