SUMMARY 



1. During the period 19U7 to 195l, the annual destruction of under- 

 sized haddock on Georges Bank by the Boston fleet alone averaged over U l/2 

 million pounds (based on skippers' estimates as reported to port interviewers). 

 This quantity represented over 6 million individual fish. 



2. Most of the destruction occurred between the months of June and 

 October during which time most of the 2-year-old fish^ which were caught in 

 great numbers, were imder 1 pound in weight and unmarketable, 



3. The areas of c^reatest discard were the Northern Edge and Southeast 

 Part. Areas of lesser destruction were the western side and the southern 

 end of South Channel o Areas of most intense discard coincided with areas 

 of most intense fishing. 



h„ During 195lj observers went to sea on seven commercial trips to 

 analyze the catch„ Skippers' estimates of pounds discarded were found to 

 be within 12 percent of estimates made by the Service observers at sea. 



5. The size of fish discarded varies with the size of the catch. 

 Smaller fish are saved when the catches are small. The 00-percent point 

 on the average cull curve was 13 3/U inches (0.9 pounds). Practically all 

 fish of this size were 2 years old. The' smaller fish discarded included 

 niany 1-year-olds while the largest individuals in the discards included 

 many 3-year-olds, 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



ALEXANDER, A. B., H„ F. ^DORE, and W. C. KENDALL 



1915. Otter-trawl fishery. Appendix VI, Rept. U. S. Commissioner 

 of Fisheries for I91U, 97 pp.? 9 figs. 



HERRING TON, W. C, 



1932. Conservation of immature fish in otter trawling. Trans. 

 Amer. Fish. Soc, vol. 62, pp. ;37-63. 



1930, Modification in gear to curtail the destruction of under- 

 sized fish in otter trawling. Bureau of Fisheries, U. S. 

 Dept. of Comoierce, Investigational Reoort No. 2[|,, liQ pp. 



1936. Decline in haddock abundance on Georges Bank and a practical 

 remedy. Bureau of Fisheries, U. S. Dept, of Commerce, 

 Fishery Circular No. 23, issued July 1936, 22 pp. 



32 



