Cusk is taken incidentally to the 

 catch of haddock or ocean perch, Thris, 

 three- fourths of the entire New England 

 catch is landed at the ports of Boston 

 and Gloucester J the remainder is landed 

 at Portland, 



Cusk is marketed largely as fresh 

 and frozen f illets, or is \ised to make 

 fish sticks* 



Very little is knovn about the 

 biology of the cusk on the New England 

 coast and practically nothing about the 

 size and extent of the cusk popvilations 

 and potential catch* 



Hake 



Hake is a name applied to several 

 species of closely related fishes found 

 from Newfoundland to Cape Hatteras. Two 

 types of hake are taken commercially by 

 New England fishermen: white hake and red 

 hake* 



Vlhite hake is the principal food fish 

 in this group and is landed incidentally 

 >rith catches of haddock and ocean perch, 

 mainly by large and medium otter- trawlers* 

 Consequently, the principal ports of 

 Massachusetts and Maine account for practi- 

 cally all the landings of \rfiite hake. In 

 the past decade, landings have dwindled 

 from III million pounds to slightly over 2 

 million pounds. Whether this decrease is 

 due to scarcity or merely underutilization 

 is undetermined since little is known of 

 the biology of hakes or the extent to >rtiich 

 the supply is being utilized. It is be- 

 lieved, however, that, if the market 

 warranted, this fishery could probably 

 be expanded. 



Red hake is utilized principally by 

 the industrial fishery of southern New 

 England. Although it is a good-flavored 

 species and, until recently, had been land- 

 ed as food fish, it is so soft-bodied that 

 it does not keep well fresh or frozen, Ihe 

 negligible quantities landed for food fish 

 arie also landed incidentally to the major 

 groimdfish species. It is not ejqsected 

 that red hake will assume any importance 

 as a food fish, but will remain of major 

 importance to the industrial fishery* 



Whiting 



Altho\igh vJiiting (silver hake) is not 

 included in our definition of groundfish, 

 the tremendous growth in landings of this 

 species in New England commands attention* 

 Landings in New England have increased 

 from some 7 miU.ion pounds in 1932 to 126 

 million pounds in 1957, the peak year, 

 (table IV-ii). The rapid growth of the 

 fishery is attributable to an increased 

 demand for the fish as human food, animal 

 food, and industrial products* The major 

 source of demand comes from the Midwest, 

 where whiting is popular in fried-fish 

 sandwiches . 



Gloucester and Portland are the prin- 

 cipal whitdng ports, accounting for well 

 over 90 percent of all New England landings. 

 In fact, whiting is gaining in importance 

 in Gloucester where, in the past few years, 

 landings of this species have been almost 

 equal to landings of ocean perch. Indeed, 

 in 1957 and 1959, -vrfiiting landings actually 

 exceeded those of ocean perch. In terms of 

 value, however, the ocean perch, with an 

 ex-vessel price roughly twice that of whit- 

 ing, remained predominant, 



Ifliiting is a summer fishery, the great 

 bulk of the catch being landed froir. April 

 to September. Practically all whiting are 

 landed by medium and small trawlers oper- 

 ating on the inshore grounds. In recent 

 years, however, there has been some fish- 

 ing on northwest Georges Bank which result- 

 ed in tremendous catches. There is no in- 

 dication that this caused any decline in 

 the whiting population on the Georges Bank, 



^fliether the current high levels of 

 landings can be sustained is xindetermined* 

 Though \riuting is a fast-growing fish - 

 maturing in fovtr years - not too much is 

 known of the existence of populations other 

 than those in the Giilf of Maine and on 

 Georges Bank. The decline in landings in 

 1956 and 1959 are attributed to biological 

 factors, since the level of fishing effort 

 did not decline substantially. Biologists 

 do feel, however, that it is possible that 

 tliere are offshore areas, other than those 

 presently being exploited, irfiere comnercial 

 quantities of whiting are available. This 

 can be determined only by further surveys* 



58 



