210 U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



taken in the one-half -hour tow of a 1-meter tow net with No. mesh 

 was 156,000, The greatest number of larvae was 7,500. The average 

 number per one-half-hour tow was 17,300 eggs and 695 larvae. Dur- 

 ing June and July additional collections were made by the Alhatross 

 II incidental to the cod-tagging program in the Gulf of Maine. 

 These tows were taken too late in the season to yield a large number 

 of eggs, but good catches of postlarval forms were taken. Judging 

 from these results, the spawning season was fairly satisfactory; 

 whether it was worse or better than normal can not be determined, 

 for we have no data for other years for comparison. 



The appearance of unusual numbers of juvenile mackerel in the 

 pound nets near Newport, Woods Hole, Nantucket, and Province- 

 town leads us to believe that the production of mackerel in 1927 and 

 their survival through the embryo and larval stages were unusually 

 successful. These will have reached " tinker " size in 1928 and in 

 1929 should be of good commercial size. Future observations will 

 show whether or not the abundance of eggs and larvae and the un- 

 usual appearance of juvenile mackerel in the pound nets presage an 

 important year class in the commercial fishery. 



Tagging operations were virtually discontinued in 1927. The tags 

 used in previous seasons were found to have undesirable effects on 

 the fish, and therefore we have attempted, unsuccessfully so far, to 

 develop a more suitable tag. 



FISHERIES OF THE MIDDLE ATLANTIC STATES 



Funds were made available at the beginning of the fiscal j^ear 

 ended June 30, 1928, for an investigation of the fisheries of the 

 Middle Atlantic States. Very little is known concerning the extent 

 to which the catch of the important food fishes in this region is 

 subject to fluctuations from year to year, nor are the life histories 

 of these fishes sufficiently well known to make it possible to deter- 

 mine the causes of such fluctuations as occur. The object of the 

 investigations now being conducted is to determine the safe maximum 

 capacity to withstand depletion that is provided by each natural 

 population unit of each species studied, and to determine whether 

 the fishery as it is conducted is exceeding this maximum. This in- 

 volves observation of the seasonal and annual fluctuations in abun- 

 dance over a period of years at a number of localities within the 

 range of each species. It involves, further, appropriate biological 

 observations in order to determine the causes of such fluctuations, 

 with particular reference to distinguishing between the effects of 

 natural causes and the effects of the fishery. 



As the squeteague is the most important species taken in the Middle 

 Atlantic region and is of interest to commercial fishermen and sports- 

 men alike, it is being given especial attention. Data bearing on 

 other species, such as butterfish, summer flounders, croaker, sea bass, 

 bluefish, and scup, are being collected as far as is practicable. During 

 the 1927 fishing season observations were limited to the territory 

 between Delaware Bay and Nantucket, Mass. This is not the full 

 range of some of the species observed, and therefore it may become 

 necessary to extend the territory under observation. A preliminary 

 survey was undertaken b}^ R. A. Nesbit to discover sources of unpub- 



