a U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
MULTIGRAPHED PUBLICATIONS 
UNITED STATES BUREAU OF FISHERIES. 
The Progressive Fish Culturist. Memorandum [-131, 8 issues. 
Progress reports of the investigations conducted by the various 
sections, prepared in the main by the section heads, are given in the 
following pages: 
_ 
NORTH ATLANTIC FISHERY INVESTIGATIONS 
WuutiamM C. Herrineron, in charge 
On the basis of landings at the three principal New England ports 
during the first 11 months of the year, the total catch of the New 
England vessel fisheries during 1988 will be approximately 4 percent 
greater than that during the previous year, but the value will be 9 
percent less. The increase in catch is largely the result of consider- 
able increases in the landines of redfish (rosefish), whiting, and 
mackerel, which more than offset declines in haddock and cod. The 
decrease in value reflects the decline in price for nearly all species. 
The past year also witnessed a general slowing down in the program 
of replacement of the old steam trawler fleet by modern vessels. 
During the year, but 3 new trawlers of the so-called super-trawler 
class were launched, compared with 10 during the previous year. 
The addition of new boats to the fleet has been partially or com- 
pletely balanced by the decommissioning of older boats, so that the 
total intensity of the fishery did not change as much as the construc- 
tion of new boats would indicate. 
Probably the outstanding development in the New England fish- 
eries during 1938 was the recovery of the mackerel fishery to more 
normal proportions after the disastrous year of 1937, and the start 
toward the development of a commercial tuna fishery in the Gulf of 
Maine. From the total of 14,000.000 pounds landed in 1937, the 
mackerel catch increased to 29,000,000 pounds in 1938; while the off- 
shore tuna fishery showed an increase from around 110,000 pounds in 
1937 to about 760,000 pounds in 1938. 
The catch of both cod and haddock declined somewhat from that of 
the previous year, but it has not yet been possible to make a suffi- 
ciently complete study of the factors involved to determine whether 
this decline was due to a decreased fishing effort or to a decreased 
abundance of fish. Probably the most significant trend in the had- 
dock fishery was toward the greater concentration of the fishery on 
serod haddock, a trend which it is believed is definitely prejudicial to 
the future of the fishery. 
Development of a Gulf of Maine shrimp fishery appears to be defi- 
nitely under way. In the spring of 1938, between February and 
April, a total of about 75,000 pounds of shrimp was landed at Port- 
land by small otter trawlers which caught them in inshore waters 
along the coast of Maine and New Hampshire. Smaller quantities 
were landed at other ports. 
In the New England offshore fishery, the principal problems con- 
tinue to be the determination of the causes of the great fluctuations 
in yield and the development of methods which, if adopted by the 
industry, will reduce these fluctuations and maintain the yield at the 
