SUMMARY 



1. The proposed Passamaquoddy Project 

 would form two impounded areas — the high 

 and low pools, both now important as 

 herring-fishing areas. 



2. A statistical system established in 1947 

 has provided figures on the quantity of 

 herring caught, the date and locality of 

 capture, and gear used. 



3. The Passamaquoddy Project area is im- 

 portant as a sardine-producing area. Few 

 large fish are now caught and their abun- 

 dance is apparently low in the region. 



4. The landings of the Maine herring fishery 

 during 1947-58 have averaged 148 million 

 pounds and have ranged from 75 to 200 

 million pounds. The average value of the 

 catch has been over 2 million dollars. 

 The Washington County catch has aver- 

 aged about 41 million pounds and has ranged 

 from 18 to 74 million pounds. The Passa- 

 maquoddy Project high and low pools, which 

 are part of Washington County, have aver- 

 aged 6 million pounds with a range of 2 to 

 almost 11 million pounds. Herring land- 

 ings immediately outside the Project area 

 (West Quoddy Head to Cross Island) aver- 

 aged 6 million pounds with a range of 2 to 

 18 million pounds. From the variation in 

 the catches, it is apparent that the dif- 

 ferences between years are manyfold, 



5. Annual herring landings in the Passama- 

 quoddy Project area have been between 1 

 and 12 percent of the total Maine herring 

 catch, with an average of 4.4 percent. 



6. Comparison of yearly catches in the high 

 and low pools indicates that they have 

 fluctuated widely. In 1947, there were 

 49,000 pounds taken in the low pool and 

 over 6 million pounds, in the high pool. In 

 1954, the low pool catch was over 6 million 

 pounds, and the high pool was 200,000 

 pounds. In 1953, the catches were not so 

 greatly different, being about 4| million 

 for the high pool and /i^ million for the 

 low pool. 



7. The Maine herring fishery is seasonal; 

 over 90 percent of Maine, Washington 

 County, and Passamaquoddy Project land- 

 ings have been made in June to October. 

 The low pool landings have been prin- 

 cipally in September and October, and the 

 high pool in August to October. 



8. Stop seines have been the most productive 

 herring-fishing gear in all Maine and have 

 taken about three-quarters of the catch. In 

 Washington County, however, weirs have 

 taken slightly more herring than stop 

 seines. In the low pool, stop seines have 

 caught about three-quarters of the herring; 

 and, in the high pool, weirs have taken 

 over 80 percent. 



9. The number of weirs has varied from none 

 to 16 in the low pools and 14 to>l in the 

 high pool. The Washington County weirs 

 have represented over 60 percent of the 

 total Maine weirs. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



Information on the statistics of the herring 

 fishery has been contributed by the personnel 

 of several organizations. The fish inspectors 

 of the Division of Inspection of the Maine 

 Department of Agriculture supplied the basic 

 data on herring landings at sardine factories; 

 two statistical agents, Louis Cates of the 

 Maine Department of Sea and Shore Fisheries, 

 and D, Arthur McKown of the U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, Bureau of Commercial Fish- 

 eries, assisted in the collection of further 

 Information on landings; and John P. Went- 

 worth of the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 Biological Laboratory at Boothbay Harbor, 

 Maine, obtained statistics from herring buyers 

 other than sardine canners. 



LITERATURE CITED 



EARLL, R. EDWARD. 



1887. The herring fishery and the sardine 

 Industry. In G. Brown Goode, The fish- 

 eries and fishery Industries of the 

 United States. Washington, Government 

 Printing Office, sec. 5, vol. 1, p. 417- 

 524. 



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