﻿38 
  

  

  OTTER-TRAWL 
  FISHERY. 
  

  

  the 
  average 
  catch 
  per 
  trip 
  fell 
  rather 
  sharply 
  from 
  1891 
  to 
  about 
  

   1896 
  to 
  1897, 
  but 
  that 
  since 
  those 
  years 
  there 
  has 
  been 
  a 
  net 
  in- 
  

   crease 
  both 
  on 
  the 
  banks 
  fished 
  by 
  the 
  steam 
  trawlers 
  and 
  on 
  those 
  

   which 
  are 
  rarely 
  or 
  never 
  so 
  fished. 
  The 
  sharpest 
  fluctuations, 
  

   however, 
  are 
  shown 
  on 
  the 
  banks 
  and 
  during 
  the 
  period 
  covered 
  

   by 
  the 
  otter-trawl 
  fishery. 
  On 
  Georges 
  Bank, 
  South 
  Channel, 
  and 
  

  

  Catch 
  per 
  trip 
  by 
  otter 
  trawlers 
  Ashing 
  principally 
  on 
  Georges 
  Bank 
  and 
  South 
  Channel. 
  

  

  Nantucket 
  Shoals, 
  the 
  heaviest 
  catch 
  of 
  haddock 
  ever 
  made 
  as 
  well 
  

   as 
  the 
  lowest 
  since 
  1896 
  occurred 
  within 
  this 
  period, 
  but 
  the 
  lowest 
  

   catches 
  per 
  trip 
  were 
  when 
  but 
  one 
  steam 
  trawler 
  was 
  operating, 
  

   and 
  the 
  largest 
  and 
  next 
  to 
  the 
  largest 
  came 
  after 
  the 
  fleet 
  had 
  

   been 
  considerably 
  augmented. 
  

  

  After 
  this 
  report 
  had 
  been 
  nearly 
  completed, 
  it 
  was 
  represented 
  

   to 
  the 
  committee 
  that 
  during 
  the 
  year 
  1914 
  the 
  fishery 
  on 
  Georges 
  

   Bank, 
  particularly 
  for 
  haddock, 
  had 
  been 
  very 
  unsatisfactory 
  and 
  

   that 
  the 
  line 
  fisherman 
  had 
  practically 
  ceased 
  to 
  resort 
  to 
  these 
  

   grounds 
  on 
  that 
  account. 
  To 
  test 
  this 
  allegation, 
  the 
  following 
  

  

  