STATISTICS OF NOKTH AMEItlCAN nADDOCK FISHERY 37 



afield, the line fishery by itsell" does so, and tlie increases on the 

 nearer <>-roun(ls are (hie to the otter-ti-awl fishery. 



THE QUESTION OF DEPLETION 



It has been shown above that since 1903 there has been a definite 

 tendency for the haddock catch to increase both in tlie United States 

 and Canada. Althongli the Canadian catch has been set back by 

 economic conditions following the war, the total catch has continued 

 to increase. This fact by itself does not eliminate the possibility of 

 depletion. It might be that increasing fishing effort has ]irodiiced 

 increasing catches with decreasing abundance of the haddock. Suffi- 

 cient data are not available for the earlier years to test this. The 

 annual catch per otter trawler is the nearest approximation avail- 

 able to the catch per fishing effort. Although small on the average 

 since 1920, it was large agam in 1927, and no lasting scarcity of had- 

 dock is indicated. In the preceding section it is shown that the 

 grounds to the south of the Gulf of Maine fished longest and most 

 intensively still yield the greatest haddock catches. No general de- 

 crease of' the catch on the near grounds and shift of the fisher}^ 

 farther afield are in evidence. 



Fluctuations in the abundance are to be expected, due to the varia- 

 bility in the survival of successful year classes to attain commercial 

 size, W'hich has been found both in Europe and America. Local 

 scarcity is probable in both inshore and offshore grounds, but no 

 general or lasting depletion is evident from the available statistics. 

 It must be borne in mind, however, that sufficient data are not avail- 

 able to make this lack of evidence conclusive. 



GEOGRAPHICAL DISTRIBUTION OF THE NORTH AMERICAN. 

 HADDOCK CATCH 



PREPARATION OF THE CHART 



In Figure 2 an attempt has been made to represent, quantitatively, 

 the distribution of the haddock catch in North American w-aters for 

 the years 1917 to 1925. Each circular dot represents an average 

 annual catch of 200,000 pounds in the locality represented by its 

 position. Vertical crosses indicate small catches recorded in the 

 various fisheries statistics. Diagonal crosses represent other records 

 of the occurrence of a few haddock in commercial catches. 



The average annual inshore and offshore catch landed in each 

 county on the Canadian coast was calculated for the period 1917 to 

 19^5. The detailed distribution of the Canadian offshore catches 

 was estimated from information provided by the overseers in whose 

 districts they were landed and by members of the industry. 



The average annual catch lantfed at Boston, Gloucester, and Port- 

 land from each fishing ground was calculated from the annual sta- 

 tistics published. It was assumed that the catches landed at New 

 York were made on similar grounds to those of Boston. For the 

 shore fisheries and vessel fisheries other than the above (amounting 

 together to about 15 per cent of the total United States catch) the 

 chart is based on the average catch in each State for the vears 1919 

 and 1924. 



