APPENDIX III APPENDIX III 
NMFS biologists believe that the incidental catch during 
trawling operations is a serious problem contributing to the 
reduced abundance of some groundfish stocks, and that manage- 
ment must recognize interactions between species. For example, 
small haddock are sometimes caught in the silver hake fishery, 
while large amounts of small silver hake are believed to be 
caught and discarded in the shrimp fishery. Incidental catch 
in the ocean perch fishery has included other groundfish 
species such as cod, haddock, and silver hake. An estimated 
20 to 30 percent of catches in New England are discarded at 
sea and thus are not reported in landings statistics. 
Conservation of the resources requires enough data to be 
able to predict the effect of different catch levels on each 
species and to understand the interrelationships among species. 
A good data base is even more important when managing at the 
level of optimum sustainable yield. There is enough data 
available to implement regulations to increase the abundance 
of groundfish species, but there is insufficient data to 
Manage at optimum levels. 
NMFS research, with limited resources, has focused mainly 
On species of primary interest to U.S. fishermen. As a result 
there is relatively little data available for some species 
such as red hake, silver hake and sand flounders. Data on 
red hake and silver hake has been obtained primarily from 
the Soviets, who account for most of the catch of these species. 
NMFS biologists question the reliability of silver hake data 
because they have not reviewed Soviet sampling methods, and 
because large numbers of young fish are believed to be caught 
but not included in their samples. With the decline of the 
yellowtail flounder fishery some fishermen have begun landing 
sand flounders. According to NMFS biologists (1) very little 
information is available about sand flounders and (2) it is 
unknown how much fishing effort can be applied without de- 
pleting the resource. 
Harvesting capability 
A 1972 NMFS study of the New England groundfish industry 
found that about 44 percent of the groundfish trawlers were 
operating at a loss due to high operating costs; depletion 
of species, such as haddock and yellowtail flounder; and 
increased competition from imports produced by subsidized 
foreign fleets. The study concluded that the return on 
investment in the New England groundfish industry declined 
during the 1960s and appeared to be the lowest in any U.S. 
fishery. Low return on investment was cited by a NMFS 
official as the underlying reason for the lack of maintenance 
on many New England groundfish vessels. 
Syil 
