Table 2. — Catch locations and average standard lengths of herring brit samples, 1956 — Continued 



Date 



Location 



Average 



standard 



length 



Aug, 26 

 29 



29 

 29 



29 



30 



Sept. 27 



27 



Oct. 4 



4 



4 



11 

 11 

 11 



25 



Damariscotta River: 



Plummer Point 



Sheepscot Bay: 



Ebenecok Harbor 



Barter Island, lower tip 



Casco Bay: 



New Meadows River, mouth 



Hussey Sound, entrance 



Little Chebeague Island 



Hussey Sound, mouth 



Little Chebeague Island 



Broad Bay, Little Whaleboat Ledge 



Hussey Sound, mouth 



Penobscot Bay: 



Great Spruce Head 



Long Island, east 



Between Rockland and North Haven Island. 

 Passamaquoddy Bay: 



Center 



Inches 

 4.5 



3.1 

 2.6 



5.3 

 3.6 

 3.6 

 3.6 

 3.4 

 3.8 

 4.0 



3.5 

 2.7 

 3.3 



2.7 



HERRING WINTER HABITAT 



During the winter and early spring, herring 

 are generally absent from the surface waters 

 of the Maine coast. From December 1 to 

 April 15, the Maine sardine season is legally 

 closed, primarily due to the lack of fish in 

 these waters. Sardine seiners, packers, and 

 biologists have speculated on the whereabouts 

 of the sardines in the winter. It has been 

 generally suspected that they either go off- 

 shore, perhaps appearing later as the mature 

 sea herring of the open ocean, or that they 

 seek deeper waters and spend the winter in 

 warmer water layers near the ocean's bottom. 

 Information gained from occasional reports of 

 trawler and gill net fishermen have Indicated 

 through the years that either or both areas 

 may be the winter habitat of the Maine sar- 

 dine. 



Otter trawl tows were conducted aboard 

 the Fish and Wildlife Service research ves- 

 sel Delaware along the Maine Coast, on Georges 



Bank, and in Passamaquoddy Bay during De- 

 cember and January of 1957-58 in search of 

 bottom-dwelling herring. Areas of trawlable 

 bottom are uncommon and difficult to find 

 along the Maine coast and many inside loca- 

 tions were too restricted to operate a vessel 

 of this size. Where suitable bottom was found, 

 however, most of the inside tows (within bays 

 or estuaries) and a high percentage of the 

 outside tows yielded small quantities of her- 

 ring (fig. 3). As shown on this diagram, tows 

 were made from Cape Ann, Mass., to Mt. 

 Desert Rock, Maine, ranging offshore to 

 Jeffreys Ledge and to 40 miles south of 

 Monhegan Island. Small catches (up to 75 

 pounds per tow) of small herring, measuring 

 4 to 6 inches in standard length, were made in 

 Luckse Sound of Casco Bay, and East Penob- 

 scot, West Penobscot, and Bluehill Bays. 

 Catches of a few to 25 small herring, meas- 

 uring 5 to 6 inches in standard length, were 

 taken in several tows made in positions 12 to 

 36 miles south by east of Monhegan Island. 

 Small catches of large sea herring were 



