they had to spend more days on the grounds. 



The decline in productivity resulted 

 mainly from two factors; (1) increased 

 fishing effort; and, (2) slow replacement 

 of stock due to the long period of matirrity 

 for ocean perch. Reference to table IV-2 

 shows a sharp decline in productivity in 

 19h9, such that prior levels have never 

 been regained. In the period 19h2-lS, 

 average annual productivity in the G\alf of 

 Maine was about 12,000 pounds per day. ££/ 

 From I9I49 to 1957, the annual average has 

 been only about 8,ljOO pounds per day. 

 Consequently, fishing in the Gulf of Maine 

 is now done almost exclusively by small 

 and medium trawlers, while the larger 

 vessels go to the more productive distant 

 banks seeking better catches. This has 

 meant a corresponding decline in fishing 

 effort in the Gulf of Maine, with the re- 

 sult that this fishery has stabilized at 

 a level of about 9>000 pounds per day's 

 fishing. This is believed by some to be 

 at a rate very close to that required to 

 obtain the maximum sustained yield. lA' 



As the catch ftom the New England 

 grounds declined, the large trawlers went 

 farther to increase their landings. Ex- 

 ploitation of the Nova Scotia banks began 

 in 1936 when nearly I6 million pounds of 

 ocean perch, representing ?3 percent of 

 the total landings from all banks, were 

 caught there. Landings from these banks, 

 however, followed the pattern of those 

 from the New England banks; early large 

 catches were followed by declines both in 

 catch per unit of effort and in average 

 size of fish caught. In the early 195o«s, 

 the fishery on the Nova Scotia banks began 

 leveling off at an average catch per day 

 of some 20,000 pounds. 



As this latter stabilization was 

 taking place, the New England fleet moved 

 still farther out to the highly productive 

 Grand Banks, and to the Gulf of St. Law- 

 rence. Here again, however, the same 

 pattern occurred. The average catch per 

 day from 1951 to 1957 dropped from 2lj,000 

 to 20,000 pounds in the Gulf of St, Law- 

 rence, and from 67,000 to 37,000 pounds 



on the Grand Bank, (table IV-2). It cannot 

 be said that the fishery has stabilized on 

 the latter two fishing grounds, since fish- 

 ing on them commenced only in 1951. How- 

 ever, biologists feel that the more distant 

 grounds, when they do stabilize, will do so 

 at higher levels of abundance, just as the 

 New England grounds are now stabilized at 

 their levels of abundance. 



3, The Ocean Perch Ports 



As noted above, virtually all ocean 

 perch landed in New England are landed at 

 Gloucester, Portland, and Rockland. The 

 distribution of the landings among the 

 three ports has changed substantially, 

 however, over the years. The share of the 

 catch landed in Gloucester has declined 

 from almost 100 percent in 1935 to only 

 ii5.5 percent in 1959. This decrease in 

 landings in Gloucester has also been an 

 absolute decrease, since the total New 

 England catch of ocean perch has been de- 

 creasing since the early 1950' s» 



Although Gloucester continues to be 

 the country's leading ocean perch port, 

 the landings of this species have been 

 declining continually. In 1959, ocean 

 perch landings were the lowest since 19iiO, 

 vrhen the fishery was still very young. 



The decline in landings of ocean 

 perch at Gloucester is attributatle to 

 many factors, chief among >rtiich is the in- 

 creased foreign competition for the market. 

 Unlike the haddock market, which is partial- 

 ly insulated from competitive effects by 

 the existence of a fresh-fish market, 

 practically all ocean perch go into the 

 frozen market, in which, as we have seen, 

 the Canadians hold a decided edge. Thus, 

 it is more profitable for American proc- 

 essors to import frozen fillets rather 

 than to buy ocean perch from New England 

 fishermen since the ex-vessel price for 

 these fish is if to 2^ cents higher per 

 pound than in Canada, 



The reasons for this ex-vessel price 

 spread are enumerated in Chapter V. Suf- 

 fice it to say here that, in general, the 



92/ Catch, per day is based on a 12-hour day, 



53/ "An Appraisal of the New England Fisheries," by Clyde C. Taylor, 

 Ftffliing Gazette, January -February, 1958. 



56 



