Before 1957, there were no detailed 

 records of landings by gear. Though there 

 are almost 1,100 registered weir sites in 

 Charlotte and Saint John Counties, only 

 a small proportion are licensed annually. 

 During 1957 and 1958, weirs caught 70 to 

 85 percent of the catch in the two coun- 

 ties. The balance was made by drag or 

 stop seines {5 to 7 percent) and purse 

 seines (9 to 22 percent). 



From 1947 to 1958, the number of 

 weirs built and operated varied from 56 

 to 85 in the high pool, from 9 to 21 in the 

 low pool, and fronn 111 to 205 in the 

 remainder of the Quoddy Region. Over 

 the same period, the average catch per 

 weir was about 240,000 pounds in the two 

 pools, while in the outside area it was 

 approximately 130,000 pounds. 



Detailed information on the Maine her- 

 ring fishery was available from the daily 

 catch records that have been collected 

 since 1947. From these records, statis- 

 tics of the fishery by weeks, nnonths, 

 areas of capture, and gear were compiled. 

 Certain facts pertinent to the Passama- 

 quoddy studies are evident. In the past 

 12 years, the total Maine catch varied 

 from 75 to 200 million pounds, while that 

 of the Quoddy Region varied from 2 to 1 1 

 million pounds or from 1 to 12 percent 

 of the total. However, the processing 

 industry does not depend solely on herring 

 taken locally, but draws upon Canadian 

 Quoddy and other areas of Maine, New 

 Brunswick, and Nova Scotia. 



Many marked fluctuations are noted 

 from the statistics. For example, in 1947, 

 the low-pool catch was 49,000 pounds, 

 and the high-pool catch 6,273,000 pounds; 

 in 1954, the low-pool catch was 6,369,000 

 pounds; and the high-pool catch 238,000 

 pounds. The average high-pool catchfrom 

 1947 to 1958 was 3,613,000 pounds, and 

 the low-pool catch 2,878,000 pounds. In 

 the high pool, weirs caught 82 percent of 

 the herring landed; stop seines took the 

 remainder. In the low pool, stop seines 

 caught about 77 percent of the herring, 

 and weirs about 23 percent. Since 1947, 

 the number of weirs in operation in both 

 pools has varied from 14 to 31. Weirs in 

 the low pool have fluctuated markedly: 

 from none to 16. In 1958, there were 10 

 weirs in the high pool and 4 in the low. 



From 1947 to 1958, Maine herring 

 landings immediately outside the dams 



(from West Quoddy Head to Cross Island) 

 averaged 6,121,000 pounds, and the re- 

 mainder of Washington County (from Cross 

 Island to Gouldsbbro) 28,134,000 pounds. 

 In 1958, there were 59 weirs between West 

 Quoddy Head and Gouldsboro and these 

 accounted for 64 percent of the catch; 

 stop seines took the remaining 36 percent. 



The herring fishery is seasonal. Ninety 

 percent of Maine landings and 94 percent 

 of Washington County landings are made 

 from June through October. Landings in 

 the high pool are greatest from August 

 through October and in the low pool, from 

 Septenriber through October. 



Populations . - -Population studies in- 

 cluded an analysis of data on length and 

 age composition, year-class variation, 

 and growth, collected in the Quoddy Region 

 in 1957 and 1958. Studies of parasites 

 and reactions of blood components were 

 made from 1955 through 1958 including 

 samples from the entire Atlantic area 

 from Newfoundland to New Jersey. 



Length and age analyses were based 

 on 71,000 herring sampled for length and 

 23,000 fish sampled for scales. All 

 samples were drawn from the commercial 

 fishery for immature herring. Determina- 

 tions of age and growth were made by 

 length-frequency analysis because a high 

 proportion of the scales were unreadable. 

 The fishery is sustained by herring which 

 grow to a length of between 4^^ and 5 

 inches in their first year of life and to a 

 length of between 6^ and 7\ inches 

 in their second year. This growth is in 

 agreement with results of investigations 

 made in 1915 (Huntsman 1919) and 1932 

 (Graham 1936). 



Studies of parasites and serological 

 reactions show that adult herring spawn- 

 ing off the Nova Scotia coast are dis- 

 tinguishable from those spawning on 

 Georges Bank. Immature herring from 

 the Gulf of Maine are distinguishable as 

 two subgroups - -"eastern" and "west- 

 ern" --with a zone of mixing in the vicinity 

 of Penobscot Bay. The "eastern" sub- 

 group showed greater serological simi- 

 larity to southwest Nova Scotia adults 

 than to Georges Bank adults. This simi- 

 larity suggests that spawning off the Nova 

 Scotia coast is principally responsible 

 for eastern sardine stocks, including those 

 of the Quoddy Region. 



10 



