FISHERY INDUSTRIES OF THE UNITED STATES, 1930 249 



The fishing vessels landing fares at these three ports did not always 

 operate the same type of gear throughout the entire year. At one 

 season a certain vessel may be outfitted as a fine trawler; at another 

 season as a purse seiner; and at still another season for swordfish 

 fishing wdth harpoons. Thus, vessels may be fished with two or more 

 types of gear during the course of a year. In such a case the vessel is 

 classed with others operating similar gear, while it is fishing that type 

 of gear. 



From the total it will be noted that the grand total of the number of 

 vessels operated, is exclusive of duplication, and that the total number 

 of vessels operating each type of gear also is shown. 



Line trawls. — A line-trawl fishery was prosecuted by 115 vessels in 

 1930. These vessels made 1,903 trips to 24 main fishing grounds, and 

 were absent from port 11,999 days, or an average of 6.3 days per trip. 

 Their catches aggregated 74,973,078 pounds, or 21 per cent of the total 

 landings by vessels at the three ports. Of this amount, haddock 

 constituted 50 per cent; cod, 32 per cent; and hake, 9 per cent. Other 

 species of importance in the catch by line trawls were cusk, halibut, 

 and pollock. Of the total catch, 32 per cent were taken on Browns 

 Bank, and 32 per cent on South Channel. Other banks on which 

 considerable quantities of fish were taken by fine trawls were Georges 

 Bank, La Have Bank, Jeffreys Ledge, Gulf of St. Lawrence, and on 

 miscellaneous banks along the shore. 



Hand lines. — A hand-line fishery was prosecuted by 27 vessels in 

 1930. These vessels made 153 trips to 6 main fishing grounds, and 

 were absent from port, 1,334 days, or an average of 8.7 days per trip. 

 Their catches aggregated 4,968,226 pounds, or sUghtly over 1 per cent 

 of the total landings at the three ports. Of this amount, cod consti- 

 tuted 83 per cent; haddock, 6 per cent; and pollock, 4 per cent. Only 

 minor amounts of other species were taken by hand fines. Of the 

 total catch, 44 per cent were taken on Georges Bank and 31 per cent 

 on Cape Shore. Other grounds on which considerable quantities of 

 fish were taken by hand lines are Nantucket Shoals and Browns Bank. 



Harpoons. — A fishery with harpoons was prosecuted by 91 vessels 

 in 1930. These vessels made 330 trips to 7 main fishing grounds and 

 were absent from port 5,399 days, or an average of 16.4 days per trip. 

 The catch amounted to 3,300,084 pounds of swordfish and 1,750 

 pounds of other fish, making a total of about 1 per cent of the entire 

 landings by vessels at the three ports in 1930. Of the total catch, 

 72 per cent was taken on Georges Bank. 



Otter trawls, large vessels. — A fishery with otter trawls was 

 prosecuted by 64 vessels of 91 net tons and over in 1930. These 

 vessels made 1,038 trips to 8 main fishing grounds, and were absent 

 from port 10,672 days, or an average of 10.3 days per trip (8.7 days 

 in 1929). This is the same number of vessels that operated in 1929, 

 although they made fewer trips and were absent fewer days than in 

 1929. Their catch amounted to 87,279,581 pounds, or 25 per cent of 

 the total landings by vessels at the three ports. Of the total 66 per 

 cent consisted of haddock, 19 per cent of cod, 6 per cent of hake, 5 

 per cent of flounders, and 3 per cent of pollock. The remainder of the 

 catch consisted mainly of halibut. Of the total catch, 74 per cent 

 was taken from Georges Bank and 18 per cent from South Channel. 

 Only minor catches were made on the other grounds where large 

 otter trawlers fished. 



