shared by the two countries through a 

 cooperative program sponsored by 

 ICNAF, At present, the principal re- 

 sponsibility for the biostatistical pro- 

 gram for ICNAF Subdivisions 4X, 5Y, 

 and 5Z is carried by the Bureau of Com- 

 mercial Fisheries, Biological Labora- 

 tory at Woods Hole. Responsibility for 

 Subdivisions 4R to 4W is carried by the 

 St. Andrews Biological Station and for 

 all of Subarea 3 by the St. John's 

 Biological Station, both of the Fisheries 

 Research Board of Canada. Haddock 

 data and material collected by the agen- 

 cies outside their respective areas of 

 responsibility are exchanged at in- 

 tervals. 



The present report gives, inasnnuch 

 detail as practicable, a summary of the 

 total removals of haddock from Sub- 

 divisions 5Y and 5Z during the 1956 

 haddock year. A basic account of the 

 methods used in deriving the estimates 

 is given by Schuck (1951). 



The data are arranged by "haddock 

 year" to conform most nearly to the 

 seasonal physiological cycle of the fish. 

 The haddock year differs from a cal- 

 endar year by one month; i. e., it com- 

 mences February 1 and ends January 31 

 of the following year. The seasonal 

 arrangement of the haddock year de- 

 vised by Schuck is used herein and is 

 shown below: 



Spring February, March, April 



Summer May, June, July 



Fall August, September, October 



Winter November, December, January 



To permit maximum usefulness of the 

 data. Subdivision 5Y has been divided 

 into northern and southern sections, 

 and 5Z into eastern and western sec- 

 tions. 



Most haddock caught are landed and 

 sold for human consumption and these 

 shall be of primary concern. However, 

 two other categories of removals from 

 the stock shall be considered: had- 

 dock too small to be marketed which 

 are discarded at sea, and haddock taken 

 in the industrial fishery. 



FISHING METHODS 



Otter trawls accounted for over 98 

 percent of the U. S. landings from 5Y 

 and 5Z in 1956, the rennainder being 

 taken by handlines, longlines, and gill 

 nets. Approximately 86 trawlers were 

 engaged in the U. S. haddock fishery 

 during 1956. About 35 of these were 

 large otter trawlers (gross tonnage of 

 151 to 360 tons) which can easilyrange 

 Sonne 600 miles from port. The re- 

 mainder were mostly medium trawlers 

 (gross tonnage of 51 to 150 tons) which 

 usually range no more than 300 nniles 

 from port. The few smaller trawlers 

 engaged in haddock fishing usually 

 range no farther than 75 miles from 

 port. U. S. line trawlers, handliners, 

 and gill netters mostly make 1 -day 

 trips. They do not venture far from 

 their home ports and, consequently, 

 fish only in the western parts of Sub- 

 divisions 5Y and 5Z. 



THE CATCH 



Haddock catches are nearly always 

 separated (culled) into nnarket cate- 

 gories of large and scrod. Large had- 

 dock weigh more than 2-1/2 pounds 

 (gutted) and scrod haddock weigh from 

 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 pounds. Undersized 

 haddock, those smaller than 1-1/2 

 pounds, are presumably discarded at 

 sea because they are not of marketable 

 size. This definition of market cate- 

 gories provides only an approximate 

 standard and, in practice culling pro- 

 cedures vary considerably, particularly 

 in response to changes in the relative 

 price or abundance of large and scrod. 



When undersized haddock (as small 

 as 3/4 pound) are landed, they are 

 marketed as scrod and thus included in 

 landings statistics with scrod. The oc- 

 currence of undersized haddock in the 

 landings has been negligible since the 

 advent of the ICNAF mesh regulation in 

 1953. 



The catch is culled by the fishermen 

 before landing at the ports of Boston and 

 Gloucester. Dealers typically cull the 

 landings at other U. S. ports. Haddock 

 are nearly always gutted by the 



