8 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 
During the past year an extra effort was made by the North Atlantic 
staff to develop a more widespread knowledge of and interest in the 
marine fisheries problems of the region. Working in cooperation with 
Dr. Daniel Merriman, of Yale University, a marine section was added 
to the annual meeting of the New England Game Conference. 
After 8 years with no sea-going equipment, the Division finally ob- 
tained a 41-foot hull by transfer at Boothbay Harbor from the Division 
of Fish Culture. With the assistance of Supt. Thomas Dorr and his 
crew, the boat has been renovated, a cabin and engine room added, and 
an engine installed. She was christened Skimmer, and will be used in 
inshore waters principally for flounder work. However, the major 
contribution to our fleet came through a gift of the 152-foot steam 
trawler Harvard from the General Seafoods Corporation. This boat. 
was built in 1926, and although the hull was in good condition, had 
been tied up for several months due to the relatively high cost of 
operating steam-powered trawlers, compared to Diesel-powered. A 
grant of $125,000 has been obtained from the P. W. A. and this boat, 
which has been named A/batross II, will be renovated during 1940. 
Commissioning of the Albatross [77 will make it possible to under- 
take annual surveys of the fishing grounds from Cape Cod to the 
Newfoundland Banks. These surveys will provide information on 
the abundance and distribution of the various species of marketable 
fish and will enable us to assess the strength of year classes 1 and 2 
years before they enter the commercial fishery. Numerous problems 
connected with the mackerel investigation, tagging, and gear experi- 
ments also can be attacked. ‘ 
Although good progress is being made in the various investiga- 
tions, in many cases the work has been seriously limited by the lack of 
sufficient technical and clerical assistance to collect and analyze the 
data required for certain phases of the work. W. P. A. projects Nos. 
365-14-3-4 and 702-3-2, which expired in the spring of 1939, and 
No. 765—-14-3-20, which was begun on July 5, 1939, have made possible 
the continuation of the compilation and charting of statistics bearing 
on the development of the New England fisheries and the analysis of 
the records of the haddock fishery for early years, as well as a study 
of the early groundfish fishery. 
The headquarters of the North Atlantic Fishery Investigations has 
remained in Cambridge and Boston, Mass. Harvard University has 
generously provided the staff with space and facilities in its biological 
laboratories. The cooperation of the Woods Hole Oceanographic 
Institution is gratefully acknowledged, as is the personal advice and 
interest of Prof. Henry B. Bigelow. The assistance and cooperation 
of fishermen and dealers in providing the use of their records, and 
in other ways, is also acknowledged with pleasure. 
MACKEREL 
Catch records indicate that mackeral landings on the Atlantic 
coast in 1939 were considerably less than in 1938. This decrease is 
shown by receipts of mackerel at the three principal New England 
ports, Boston, Gloucester, and Portland; 20,887,000 pounds in 1938 
compared to 12,319,000 pounds in 1939. In 1935, the last year of high 
mackerel landings, 45 percent of the total Atlantic coast mackerel 
catch was landed at these ports. To the fishermen, this drop in land- 
