FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1930 237 



VESSEL FISHERIES AT PRINCIPAL NEW ENGLAND PORTS 

 ECONOMIC ASPECT 



The landings of fishery products at the three principal New Eng- 

 land ports (Boston and Gloucester, Mass., and Portland, Me.) by 

 vessels of 5 net tons and over, during 1930, amounted to 350,801,470 

 pounds as landed, valued at $12,785,452. This exceeded the amount 

 landed for any year for which records are available, exceeding the 

 amount landed in 1929 by 7 per cent. However, the value of the 

 landings were 2 per cent less than the value of the fish landed in 

 1929. Of the total landings, 99 per cent consisted of fresh fish and 

 1 per cent of salted fish. The landings at Boston accounted for the 

 lion's share of those landed at the three ports in 1930, accounting for 

 285,257,478 pounds, valued at $10,870,586, or 81 per cent of the 

 total quantity. This is an increase over 1929 of 11 per cent in amount 

 but only 1 per cent in value. Landings at Gloucester in 1930 amounted 

 to 47,359,467 pounds, valued at $1,348,087, or 14 per cent of the 

 total quantity. This is a decrease of 12 per cent in amount and 11 

 per cent in value compared with the amount and value of the land- 

 ings at this port in 1929. At Portland, 18,184,525 pounds of fishery 

 products, valued at $566,779 were landed. This was 5 per cent of 

 the total landings at the three ports in 1930. It represents an in- 

 crease of 4 per cent in amount, and a decrease of 7 per cent in value 

 compared with the landings in 1929. 



Species landed. — Among the landings of fresh fish, haddock far out- 

 ranked other species in volume landed, the amount of all sizes in 

 1930 being 189,371,333 pounds, or 55 per cent of the total fresh fish. 

 This is an increase of only 1 per cent over the amount landed in 1929. 

 Of the total haddock landed 52 per cent were taken from Georges 

 Bank, 26 per cent from South Channel, and 11 per cent from Browns 

 Bank. The remainder (except for 9,593,470 pounds which were taken 

 on banks off Canada) were taken from various other banks off the 

 United States, principally on Nantucket Shoals and those near the 

 shore. 



Cod was of next importance, although a very poor second. The 

 landings of all sizes of this species fresh amounted to 64,528,811 

 pounds, or 19 per cent of the total amount of fresh fish landed at the 

 three ports in 1930. This is an increase of 30 per cent compared 

 with the landings of fresh cod at the three ports in 1929. Cod was 

 taken chiefly on Georges Bank, where 43 per cent of the catch was 

 made. Considerable quantities were also taken on South Channel, 

 Browns Bank, and various fishing banks along the shore. 



Mackerel landings, fresh, amounted to 33,433,723 pounds at the 

 three ports, or about 10 per cent of the total landings of fresh fish. 

 This is a decrease of 11 per cent compared with the landings in 1929. 

 This amount is 77 per cent of the total catch of mackerel by the 

 United States Atlantic mackerel fleet. 



Hake, with landings of 15,613,523 pounds, or 4 per cent of the 

 total fresh-fish landings, ranked fourth in importance and increased 

 30 per cent over the landings of this species during the previous year. 



Flounders, a species which have become popular in the fishery 

 during the past few years, ranked fifth in importance among the 

 fresh fish, with landings of 14,406,737 pounds. This is about 4 per 

 cent of the total landings of the fresh fish, and an increase of 33 per 

 cent compared with the landings during 1929. 



