JQ U. S. BUREAU OF FISHERIES 



The past year also showed a continuation of the trend toward a 

 broadened base for the otter trawl fishery in terms of kinds of fish 

 utilized, resulting from the lack of sufficient haddock to supply an 

 expanding market, the use of modern processing methods which pre- 

 pare the various species in equally convenient form, and changes in 

 the market as the result of the above factors. In 1929, 66 percent of 

 the catch of the groundfish fleet consisted of haddock. By 1937, 

 owing largely to the increasing catch of other species, the proportion 

 of haddock had decreased to 36 percent, while redfish had increased 

 from to 15 percent, and cod, pollock, whiting, and flounders showed 

 smaller mcreases. Partly as a result of this shift to other species 

 during periods when haddock were scarce, and partly owing to the 

 increased use of frozen fillets, haddock price fluctuations have been 

 greatly reduced. 



This fundamental change in the groundfish market should have sig- 

 nificant repercussions in the fishery for haddock and other species. 

 In the past, with the mass production marliet concentrated on one 

 kind of fish, it was possible for the commercial fishery to reduce the 

 average abundance of that species far below the level of others found 

 in the same general region. With the present development of a less 

 specialized market this should no longer occur. Increased scarcity of 

 one species will cause a shift in fishing intensity to another before 

 severe depletion occurs, with the result that the abundance level of the 

 various marketable species will tend to fluctuate together. 



With the above developments the haddock problem in many respects 

 becomes a groundfish problem, for it no longer will be possible to 

 explain or predict fluctuations in the haddock catch on the basis of 

 the haddock population alone. The general condition of the other 

 major commercial species must also be known. This extension of the 

 catch analysis is one of the most pressing requirements of the inves- 

 tigation. Continued progress toward the accurate prediction of 

 catches and rationalization of the fishery requires understanding of 

 the abundance of cod, redfish, and pollock as well. 



Progress of investigation. — The haddock investigations are designed 

 primarily to provide an accurate measure of the extent and cause of 

 changes in abundance and to develop a practical plan of exploitation 

 that will maintain the yield at the optimum level. Accurate figures 

 of total haddock catch are collected for each major fishing area in 

 cooperation with the Division of I'ishery Industries. Assembled 

 records of total catch show that haddock landings at principal New 

 England ports increased from about 60,000,000 pounds in 1921 to 

 nearly 250,000,000 pounds in 1929, dropped to 140,000,000 pounds in 

 1932, and have since then fluctuated about that level. 



The relative abundance of haddock from year to year is being 

 studied through the detailed analysis of the catch records of three 

 groups of trawlers. This yields an accurate measure of their average 

 "catch per day's fishing." Extensive and detailed analysis of otter 

 trawl catch records demonstrates that in the Georges Bank-South 

 Channel region the catch per unit of effort more than doubled between 

 1923 and 1927, then dropped precipitously to one-fifth that value in 

 1931. Catch per unit then gradually increased to a level in 1936 

 nearly double that found 5 years earlier, but little more than one-third 

 as high as during the 1927 period. 



