g U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



MISCIE[LLANEX>U8 PUBLICATIONS 



The following publications were issued by the Division of Scientific 

 Inquiry or prepared with its cooperation : 



U. S. BuRKAXj OF Fisheries. 



The Progressive Fish Culturist. Memorandum 1-131, 9 issues. 



Fishes of the Great Lakes. INIemorandnm I-134D. 



Migratory fish of the Atlantic and Gulf coasts. Special memorandum No. 

 3239'. (With Division of Fishery Industries.) 

 Senate Document No. 87. 



Bonneville Dam and the protection of the Columbia River fisheries. A re- 

 port of the Commissioner of Fisheries transmitting, in response to Senate 

 Resolution No. 113, a survey of the facilities for the passage of salmon at 

 Bonneville on the Columbia River with recommendations for the con- 

 servation and the preservation of the fishing industry. July 22, 79 pp. 



Progress reports of the investigations conducted by the various 

 sections, prepared in the main by the section heads, are given in the 

 following pages. 



NORTH ATLANTIC FISHERY INVESTIGATIONS 



Wllliam C. Hereington, in charge 



In many respects 1937 was a disappointing year in the New Eng- 

 land vessel fisheries. After a steady increase since 1932 in both 

 quantity and value of catch, 1937 witnessed a decline of 6 percent in 

 catch and 12 percent in value below the previous year. The decline 

 in catch is particularly noteworthy, occurring as it did in spite of 

 the increase in size of the fishing fleet through the addition of 10 

 large otter trawlers and several smaller vessels. The decrease in 

 value per pound also is worthy of comment in view of the fact that 

 meat prices during the same period were at their highest in many 

 years. 



Although the catch of several species, notably cod and flounders, 

 increased, this gain was more than counterbalanced by declines in the 

 catch of mackerel, whiting, redfish (rosefish), haddock, and pollock. 

 The decrease in whiting and redfish possibly w^as a reaction from the 

 meteoric expansion of these fisheries during the previous year, but 

 the drop in mackerel and haddock was due to other than economic 

 causes. 



The most outstanding event both economically and biologically was 

 the relative failure of the mackerel fishery. The 1937 catch reached 

 but 14 or 15 million pounds, a decline of about 65 percent below the 

 catch of the previous year. This scarcity was reflected in the price 

 which increased from an average of 2.8 cents a pound in 1936 to 5.1 

 cents a pound in 1937 (Boston, Gloucester, and Portland landings). 

 All other species decreased sharply in value except redfish which 

 showed a slight increase. 



In spite of the increased fishing capacity of the groundfish fleet 

 from the construction of new boats, the haddock catch continued the 

 decline begun in 1936. Preliminary calculations indicate that this 

 decrease was due to a decline in catch per unit of effort of about 20 

 percent on Georges Bank and 26 percent on the Nova Scotian banks. 

 This is the first decline on the former since 1933, and the third con- 

 secutive year of decrease on the latter. The total catch declined 5 

 percent from the 1936 total of 144,000,000 pounds. 



