HAKE FISHERIES OFF THE WEST COAST OF CHILE 243 



were found rather frequently right up to sizes of 80 cm. It must in this 

 connection be borne in mind that the investigation only covered part of 

 the area of distribution, and that the difference in size between the sexea 

 in the material caught may be due to a different pattern of migrations 

 for the older year classes of each sex. 



Food and Feeding Habits 



According to the stomach contents, the hake is mainly feeding on 

 plankton animals; sardines, anchovies and various crustaceans. True 

 bottom animals, as worms and molluscs, were hardly ever found in the 

 stomachs. 



In accordance with this feeding habit the hake undertakes diurnal 

 vertical migrations following the same migrations of the food animals, 

 shunning the upper layers of the sea during the day. 



This habit of feeding on macro-plankton makes it possible for the 

 hake to live independent of the bottom. In this connection it is of in- 

 terest that bigger concentrations of hake can only be found on the 

 trawling grounds along the coast from September to May (in the spawn- 

 ing season). Taking the feeding habits into consideration it is well pos- 

 sible that, apart from this period, the hake is living in the free water- 

 layers either over the fishing grounds along the coast or farther sea- 

 wards. 



Regional Distribution According to Size 

 It was the general opinion that in order to protect the young hake, 

 trawling should be prohibited in shallow coastal waters, and in fact 

 large areas of shallow water along the coast were closed to trawlfishing. 

 However, the investigations showed beyond doubt that the younger and 

 smaller individuals lived in deeper water; in the shallow coastal water 

 only large and medium-sized individuals were found. Thus for the pro- 

 tection of the growing hake, the prohibition of trawlfishing in shallow 

 water was of no avail. 



Migrations 



For the assessment of stock and for an accurate determination of 

 the probability of overfishing, a knowledge of the migrations is essential. 

 The investigations showed the following pattern of migrations: 



As the smallest (youngest) bottom stages are found far away from 

 the shore, it is probable that the larvae live over this deeper water. 

 The scarcity of spawning and spent females in the catches on the coastal 

 fishing grounds indicates that part of the spawning is likely to occur 

 over deeper water. The first migration of the merluza is a drift of eggs 



