The quantities of haddock culled and discarded at sea by small-mesh 

 and large-mesh vessels during each quarter cf the present study are presented 

 in tables 1 to 6. Reference to these tables and to the size-composition 

 curves (figs. 1-6) shows how the araoiint of c-olling and discard is related to 

 the size of mesh used and to the sizes of fish present on the banks during 

 this period of study. 



During the first quarter (January to March 19^3) of the present study 

 (table 1 and fig, 1) only small mesh was used. The dominant year class at 

 that time was 3 years old and of such a size that only moderate amounts were 

 discarded. The following year class of 2-year-olds was the weak 195l year 

 class and only a fev^ were caught. Consequently the total discard during that 

 quarter was moderate, about 3,000 fish per trip (table 7). 



The second period of this study, April to June 1953, (table 2 and fig. 2) 

 was also before regulation, when all vessels used small mesh. By this time 

 the fish of the dominant 1950 year class were all of marketable size, so 

 practically none of this group were discarded. The weak 195l year class again 

 was caught only in small numbers. The heavy discard during this quarter 

 shown by the mode in the lengt-h frequency curve at about 27 cm. was composed 

 largely of the next dominant group in the population, the 19$2 year class. 

 The discard per trip for this quarter was over 7,000 fish. 



The next quarter, July to September 19^3, (table 3 and fig. 3) can be 

 considered the first quarter of regulation (see footnote 1, p. 3). By 

 this period some of the 1952 year class had attained marketable size. This 

 group was taken in considerable quantities by the vessels with small mesh, 

 but most were discarded. The discard by small-mesh vessels was over 3,000 

 fish per trip. The large-mesh nets retained practically none of this group, 

 and the discard by large-mesh vessels was accordingly very light (table 7) . 



The dominant 1950 year class along with the weak 19^1 year class pro- 

 vided many fish within the selection range of both sizes of mesh. Conse- 

 quently, during the first quarter of regulation the large mesh was very 

 effective not only in preventing the waste of undesirable sizes but also in 

 permitting the escape of many fish in the smallestsizes normally retained 

 for market. This effect is vividly demonstrated by the two length frequency 

 curves for this quarter (fig. 3) . 



Although this effect tends to reduce the landings of the large-mesh 

 vessels, these vessels, in fact, landed more pounds cf haddock per trip 

 than the small-mesh vessels during this quarter (table 8) . The reason for 

 this was a greater catch of larger fish by the large-mesh nets. Apparently 

 the large-mesh nets are more efficient in capturing the larger, older fish. 

 This effect, too, is amply demonstrated by the length frequency curves 

 (fig. 3) . The result of the differences in selectivity and in efficiency of 

 the larger mesh is a larger average size of fish landed by the large-mesh 

 vessels. For the quarter under discussion, the average weights were 2.0 and 

 2.3 pounds, respectively, for the small and large meshes. The number of fish 

 landed per trip by the large-mesh vessels was less, but the total weight of 

 fish was greater (table 7) . 



