the Canadian production of cod has been 

 landed from Subarea 3, and Canadian fish- 

 ermen are now abandoning Subarea 2 as a 

 fishing ground, as other countries have 

 been moving in, (table VII-1) . Participa- 

 tion by Euix)pean countries in the Subarea 

 3 fishery has increased rapidly since World 

 War II, so that they now take about half 

 the catch. 



The Royal Comraission estimated that 

 the stock of Subareas 2 and 3, based on 

 195l-5h average landings, was some 5.6 bil- 

 lion pounds, of vrtiich Canada utilized ^UO 

 million pounds and other countries utilized 

 300 million poxinds. It is expected that by 

 1980 the stock will decline to 5 billion 

 pounds, but that utilization will increase 

 to 600 million pounds by Canada and hOO 

 million pounds by other countries. Such an 

 estimate takes cognizance of two trends. 

 First, the recent decline of the Canadian 

 catch is due to a fall in production of 

 salt cod. The wet fish fishery has in- 

 creased, but not as rapidly as the salt 

 fish industry has declined. It is expected 

 that salt fish production will continue to 

 decline in the immediate future, since its 

 production by present methods is only pos- 

 sible on the basis of a very low landed 

 value for the raw material. As production 

 of wet fish increases, however, and mechani- 

 cal drying methods are utilized, the catch 

 of cod will rise above present levels. 

 Second, since salt fish is a very important 

 part of the protein diet of the European 

 nations which fish the Subareas, they will 

 undoubtedly subsidize their fishermen and 

 ships, and regulate their imports and the 

 price of salt fish to the advantage of their 

 own salt fish producers and consumers, and 

 to the disadvantage of other producing 

 countries. Hence, the European nations 

 will in future take a larger proportion of 

 the cod landed in the Subareas. 



Because of the foregoing and the fact 

 that the present stocks of Subarea 3 are 

 probably only moderately exploited, the 

 Royal Comraission expects that total Cana- 

 dian catch could be doubled if markets were 

 available, if landed prices were a lit- 

 tle higher, if the Labrador stocks were 

 used fully, and if Canadians prosecuted the 

 offshore fishery vigorously. The more re- 

 alistic prediction, however, is that the 

 Canadian catch will at first decline some- 

 >rtiat because of the reduction in fish 

 salted, and then gradually come back and 



rise above present levels by I960 mainly 

 because of increased use of cod for fillet- 

 ing. This forecast assumes that European 

 competition will not become milch greater 

 than at present. 



Based on the latest available figures, 

 the prediction of a short-term decline in 

 cod landings from Subareas 2 and 3 is a 

 valid one. Landings, based on 19^1-5^4 av- 

 erages in the Royal Commission stxidy, were 

 500 million pounds by Canada and 3UU mil- 

 lion pounds by other countries. Using av- 

 erage landings for the period 195U-56, it 

 is seen that utilization by Canada had fall- 

 en to a level of UOO million pounds, and 

 that of other countries had risen to hOO 

 million pounds. Thus, vrtiile the total 

 landings remained the same, Canadian land- 

 ings made up a smaller part of tne total. 

 It is not unreasonable then, to expect that 

 the estimates for 1980 are on the conserva- 

 tive side, and that landings might be high- 

 er than expected, with European trawlers 

 landing a higher proportion of the total 

 than forecast. 



In Subarea U, cod are common at the 

 mouth of the Bay of Funcfy, on inshore and 

 offshore Nova Scotian grounds, and through- 

 out the Gulf of St. Lawrence. It is esti- 

 mated that the present stock is some 1.2 

 billion pounds and that this will increase 

 to 1.5 billion pounds by 1980. Based on 

 1953-51i, utilization amounted to about 31U 

 million pounds: 210 million by Canada and 

 100 million by other countries. It is ex- 

 pected that this utilization will increase 

 to 37U million pounds by 1980j 250 million 

 pounds by Canada and 120 million pounds by 

 other countries. 



The best available statistics of the 

 Subarea h catch are given in table VII-2. 

 The annual yield has varied from 32? to 

 U37 million pounds (all countries), and 

 the Canadian share of the catch has varied 

 from Z6h to 291 million pounds during the 

 period 1953-56. The catch taken by United 

 States trawlers has fallen to a level where 

 it is insignificant, but the European catch 

 is becoming a larger and larger share of 

 the total. By improving fishing methods 

 and quality of products, however, Canada 

 should continue to take the preatest share 

 of the catch from this Subarea. 



Based on 1955-56 averap-es, the annual 

 catch by Canada from Subarea h was in the 



82 



