Ninety-four percent of the discarded fish were frcra the I9S0 year 

 class (2-7ear=.olds)s the 19k9 (3=year-c.id3) ar-d IQ^i. (l-yea"-:'Id?) year 

 classes cor.tributed the remaining 5 p8.rcen."f/o Almosic- 16 perient of the 

 haddock caught from the 195^0 year class (2=^, sar-olds) were di.s warded, while 

 only about 1 percent of those from the 'lSh9 jsai class (3-yesr-oxds) vsre 

 in the discard. All of the haddock from the 1950 year class (l=yea:"-oids) 

 were discarded. During 1951p however, $8 percent of the £=/ear=oldg were 

 dlscardedo Scarcity of fish during 19.?^ forced the f^ieet to save many 

 borderline sizes of scrod whi;h would hare been discarded in 195l<. 



Fifty=eight percent of the haddock l,a:aded duri'.ig 1952 came from 

 the 1950 year class (2-year-olds) » The 19l48 (I^-year-olds) and 19i;9 

 (^^^year-olds) year classes contributed about I6 and 21 percent, respec- 

 tively» The remainder of the lar_d&d poi'tion was frcm other year classeso 



It is readily e-videni from these data "hat, the 19^0 year class of 

 2-year''0ld haddock supported the Georges Bank fishery during 1952. All 

 svidence indicates that this year class is a very good one and heralds a 

 good cat3h of 3-year-oid scrod during 19^3 o In 1951, the I9U8 ^-ear class 

 of 3°year'-olds supported the fisher^'^ and tliis. year class still exerted 

 considerable influence on the fishery d-oring 19!j2, The 19li9 year class of 

 2=year=olds was below average in its contribution to the 195'1 catcho As 

 3"year=-olds in 1952., these haddock were still below average in their con.= 

 tribution to the fishery. The 19ij8 jear class of ii^year-olds contributed 

 as much to the fishery in 1952 as the 19ii9 year class of 3-jear-old5 » 



Size conposition of the ageg 



The size composition of the ages in the discarded and landed 

 portions of the 19$2 catch shows more strikingly zhe effect of cull.ing on 

 the different ages of haddock. These size conf/csitions aie presented in 

 table 9 and figui's 12, 



Referring to figure 12, the dominance of the i95C year class 

 (^-year'-olds) in the landings is immediatel;/ evident. Also clearly shown 

 is the division of this year class between the discards and the landed 

 fish^, with the smaller of these being reTected and the lai'ger included lit 

 the rcsTketed group. The small pcrxdon of the fish from t.he 19ii9 y^sT 

 class (3-'year-clds) that is discair'ded is also clearlj' shown-,. One can also 

 see that the irifluence of the 19i;8 year class (a very strong year class, 

 as previously noted) is almost a-s great in its fourth year as is that of 

 the 19ii9 year class in its third ye.ir » 



A seasonal breakdown of the sis-f. c^mp^osition of the ages is 

 presented in figures 13 tc 15', The prcgr>?s3ion of the various year classes 

 through the fishery is graphically .onown in tnese seasonal ^t-siae cox- 

 pcsitions. 



28 



