22(3 NATURAL HISTORY OF AQUATIC ANIMALS. 



they had increased so rapidly that the markets -were glutted. In 1864 they were caught in great 

 numbers and were still on the increase. In 1870 the same observer related to the Massachusetts 

 senate the story of another period of scarcity and abundance. His statements may be found in 

 the Report of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, part 1, 1873, p. 119. He 

 elsewhere says : 



" If over -fishing were possible, it seems to me that.we should see some of its results where great 

 changes have taken place in the modes of our fisheries of Cod and Haddock in Massachusetts Bay. 

 What is called 'trawl fishing' was first introduced about 1850, and it resulted in the taking of a 

 vast number of fish of these varieties. In consequence of the competition in the business, the 

 Swampscott people petitioned the legislature .for a law prohibiting trawl-fishing, on the ground 

 that it would exterminate the Haddock. At that time I proved before the legislature that Had- 

 dock was much more abundant than it had been at any previous time, and that I was selling 

 them at thirty-seven and a half cents per hundred pounds. That fishery has been going on ever 

 since, and the amount taken was greater this last winter than for many years past. A fisher- 

 man in a dory fifteen feet long has often brought in as much as 1,800 pounds in a single day. 

 There are eighty boats fishing out of the harbor, and 83,000 pounds have been caught in one day. 

 This increase has taken place in spite of the constant practice of the new mode of fishing, by 

 which twice as many are taken in the same time as formerly." ' 



Captain Atwood explains the great increase at this time by the introduction of fishing with 

 long trawl lines, which destroyed many species of fish preying -upon haddock spawn. At the 

 present time Haddock are very abundant; they are caught 'throughout the summer HI great 

 numbers by the Irish market-boats of Boston, and in winter a large fleet of Gloucester and Port- 

 land vessels are engaged in catching them upon George's and other off-shore banks. These 

 vessels fish with trawl lines, and it has been stated that a single crew has been known to 

 take nearly 60,000 pounds in a day. 2 



FOOD. The food of Vhe Haddock resembles that of the Cod, except that they are, if possible, 

 more omnivorous; their diet consists, however, largely of invertebrates. They are rarely seen 

 feeding at the surface, though they devour the spawn of other fishes, particularly that of the 

 herring, with great eagerness. They devour great quantities of shells, many of them of the bur- 

 rowing species. Professor Verrill has well said that a complete list of the animals devoured by 

 the Haddock would doubtless include all the inollusks belonging to the fauna of New England. 



The Haddock are said to be particularly abundant on clam-banks. From this habit of feeding 

 on shells has originated the German name for the fish. The difference between the habits of the 

 Haddock and the Cod is illustrated by the remark of Captain Atwood that Haddock will take a 

 baited hook as it rests upon the ground, while the Cod will only notice it when it is raised a short 

 distance from the bottom. Salted menhaden is a favorite bait for Haddock, but not desirable for 

 Cod, while both Cod and Haddock will readily take stale clams, which are much better for bait 

 than fresh ones. 



REPRODUCTION. The spawning habits of the Haddock in our waters have been carefully ob- 

 served by Mr. Earll, whose statements are quoted below: On the German coast the Haddock spawn 

 on rocky bottoms in February and early March at a depth of twenty-two to twenty -five fathoms; 3 



1 Extracts from Captain At wood's manuscript biography. 



"BlG HADDOCK TRIP. Schooner "E. L. Howe," of this port, Capt. Sewell W. Smith, arrived from George's on 

 Monday at Boston, with 70,:!HO pounds of Haddock, the largest trip rvn- hmdrd. Time absent, five days. The largest 

 trip previous to this was landed by thr HUMH'. skipper in schooner " Cora E. Smith," 5'2,(i?y pounds, 1'ebrnary 13, 1877. 

 lu February of the same year, schooner "Paul Revere," Capt. John ISciitlcy, landed 51,700 pounds of Haddock and 

 2,500 pounds of Codfish as the result of one day's fishing. Cape Ann Advertiser, February 21, 1878. 



"WlTTMACK, L. : Beitriigo znr Fischerei-Statistik des Deutschen Eeichs, 1875, p. 25. 



