88 U.S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



No Bureau personnel was available in 1932 for the study of the 

 collections of eggs and larvae. Fortunately, however, we were able 

 to arrange with L. A. Walford for the analysis of the data in conjunc- 

 tion with his research work at Harvard University. The results so 

 far have confirmed the conclusions from our hydrographic studies and 

 help to provide an explanation why the small haddock of the 1931 

 class have so far been found in abundance only on eastern and south- 

 eastern Georges. Haddock of the 1929 class also were first found 

 there in large numbers, apparently spreading as they grew older to the 

 Northern Edge and to the South Channel. The evidence also indi- 

 cates that there is little or no drift of eggs or larvae across the Fundian 

 Channel either from Georges to Browns Bank or the reverse. 



Savings gear. — During January and March 1932, three trips were 

 made on the Kingfisher of the Portland Trawling Co. fleet and one on 

 the Exeter of the Whitman, Ward, and Lee fleet to obtain data on the 

 action of " savings cod-ends " used commercially on standard nets. 

 The work was under the direction of Messrs. Herrington and D. Mer- 

 riman, assisted by Messrs. Widerstrom, Dallas, and E. M. Leupold, 

 The gear was satisfactory. It proved as durable as the standard type ; 

 fished as effectively; and released a large proportion of the small 

 haddock. The amount of small fish taken, in comparison with a 

 standard cod-end, depended on the average size of the small fish 

 present on the banks. In the case of small haddock 20 to 35 centi- 

 meters in length, there was an escapement of 90 and 75 percent; 

 between 35 centimeters and the commercial size of 40 centimeters the 

 escapement was progressively less with practically no loss of haddock 

 above the minimum commercial size. 



The results of the work were described briefly in the April issue of 

 Fishing Gazette and recommendations for the "savings gear" were 

 published in the same journal in September. These recommendations 

 consist primarily of an increase in the size of mesh in the net to give 

 a minimum stretched mesh of 4^ inches clear, measured inside of the 

 knots, or 5 to 5}^ inches measured between knot centers, depending 

 on the weight of twine used. Other modifications in the construction 

 of the net were recommended to give it increased strength and to 

 assist in keeping the cod-end meshes open when the net is in operation. 

 Certain other types of construction were found to give somewhat 

 better selective characteristics but were not recommended as it has 

 been considered that simplicity of the gear would facilitate its 

 adoption by the industry. 



MACKEREL 



Among the leading fisheries of the Atlantic coast, that for mackerel 

 is notable for its extreme fluctuation in yield. For the purpose of 

 ascertaining the causes of such fluctuations and exploring the possi- 

 bilities of alleviating the periods of scarcity, or of taking full 

 advantage of the years of abundance, investigation of this fishery 

 was begun by O. E. Sette in 1925 and has been continued through 

 the succeeding years. The nature of the fluctuations was such as to 

 indicate that the causes might lie in the variability from year to year 

 in the numbers of young mackerel resulting from spawning. Hence 

 the work was designed to determine the relative success of each 

 spawning season, bj^ observing the proportion of fish of each age in 



