STATISTICS OF THE HADDOCK FISHERY IN NORTH 

 AMERICAN WATERS ' 



By A. W. H. Needler, University of Toronto 



CONTENTS 



Page 



Introduction , 27 



North American haddock catches since 1880 and the question of deple- 

 tion 27 



Newfoundland, France, and Portugal 28 



United States 28 



Canada 29 



Changes in the haddock catch 32 



Canada 33 



United States 34 



Otter-trawl fishery 34 



Changes in the distribution of the catch of the Boston and Gloucester vessel 



fisheries 35 



The question of depletion 37 



Geographical distribution of the North American haddock catch 37 



Preparation of the chart 37 



Catch 39 



Summary 39 



INTRODUCTION 



The haddock fishery in the western North Atlantic is of consid- 

 erable importance, and its catches are increasing. In this report 

 certain results of a consideration of the available statistics are 

 presented. 



Chiefly, the statistics collected and published by the Governments 

 are considered here, and we are concerned particularly with those 

 giving, directly or indirectly, the weights of the haddock catches 

 made at various times and places. Two subjects on which these data 

 throw light are discussed — (1) changes in the amounts of the catch 

 from year to year and the question of depletion, and (2) the geo- 

 graphical distribution of the haddock catch. 



The haddock catches are all given in this report as weights of 

 fresh haddock gutted but with the heads still on. This is the form 

 in which the catches are most often purchased from the fishermen 

 and is referred to as " fresh " in the United States statistics and 

 as "caught and landed (in a fresh or green state) " in the Cana- 

 dian statistics. The whole weight is about 1.15 times the above 

 weight in the summer and larger in the winter. 



NORTH AMERICAN HADDOCK CATCHES SINCE 1880 AND THE 

 QUESTION OF DEPLETION 



The statistics of the total haddock catches since 1880 are given 

 below. On account of the diversity of form, those of each country 

 are given separately. 



'Appendix II to the Report of the U. S. Commissioner of Fisheries for 1930. Bureau of Fisheries Docu- 

 ment No. 1074. 

 Contribution No. 2 from the North American Committee on Fishery Investigation. 



86483—30 27 



