98 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY OF COMMERCE 



the previous year. Grounds for apprehension concerning the future 

 of the resource still exist, as the production from areas nearer Ameri- 

 can ports has suffered a disastrous decline. Moreover, the distance 

 from ports to grounds now most productive increases the cost of 

 production. 



The analysis of the commercial landings of the haddock fishery 

 during recent years, based on personal interviews with captains, and 

 size and age analysis of the population sampled by the commercial 

 fishery, yield qualitative data regarding a change in the supply. 

 Hampered by a lack of adequate personnel or sufficient funds, it has 

 been impossible heretofore to study these changes quantitatively. It 

 is essential to discover changes in the rate of natural reproduction 

 and to evaluate as early as possible the abundance of young haddock 

 year classes below marketable size as well as the natural rate of mor- 

 tality. During the past 2 years the Bureau has had no vessel capable 

 of making observations on the fishing grounds; hence one of the most 

 urgent requirements of effective study of the commercial fishery in 

 this and other regions is a sea-going research vessel, the construction 

 of which was authorized by Congress in 1934 but for which no appro- 

 priations have been provided. 



Mackerel in the North Atlantic area is at a high level of abundance, 

 mainly as a result of the unusually productive spawning seasons of 

 1930, 1931, and 1933. Progress has been made in discovering the 

 annual variations in natural reproduction which determine the num- 

 ber of mackerel in the sea and hence the success of the commercial 

 fishery. Predictions of the yield for the following year have been 

 issued with increasing accuracy at the beginning of each season for 

 the past 9 years, and a comprehensive account of the major features 

 of the biology of the mackerel that explains its startling variations in 

 yield has been prepared for publication. 



During 1935 the commercial yield of mackerel reached 53 million 

 pounds, the record for the present century. However, during the 

 decade ending 1935, the average annual yield was 41 million pounds, 

 which contrasts poorly with the average of 80 million pounds pro- 

 duced during the decade ending 1885. Investigations have shown 

 that these remarkable changes in yield are caused mainly by changes 

 in abundance of mackerel and only secondarily by variations in the 

 rate of fishing or by extensive migrations of the fish. Further, it has 

 been learned that the changes in abundance are due to great differ- 

 ences from one year to another in the number of young mackerel that 

 survive to reach commercial size. 



Investigations of the fisheries of the Middle Atlantic States are in- 

 tended to provide a rational basis for more efficient utilization of the 

 fishery resources from southern New England to North Carolina. 

 The fisheries of this region are very productive and extremely diverse. 

 If the fi^ieries are to be jDrotected and at the same time utilized fully, 

 two requirements must be met: (1) The life history and conservation 

 needs of all important species must be known and, (2) some provi- 

 sion must eventually be made for unified administration which is es- 

 sential because of the migratory habits and the interstate traffic in 

 the production of the fishery. 



A comprehensive study of the more important features of the life 

 history of squeteague or weakfish has been completed during the 



