214 American Fisheries Society. 



too liberal as it was arrived at on the assumption that 1,500,0(X) 

 eggs is the average number per female, whereas this figure is 

 much too low. Furthermore, it is hardly probable that stripped 

 spawn has a 100 per cent advantage over the natural product, 

 since it is known that fish culturists expect to obtain only from 

 25 to 50 per cent good eggs, due to the fact that the eggs do not 

 all ripen at one time. 



No consideration has been given above to losses incident to 

 handling and planting, which while highly variable are no doubt 

 considerable for any one entire season. All the eggs hatched at 

 Woods Hole moreover are not taken in the above manner, the 

 Norwegian method also being used in which live cod are allowed 

 to spawn more or less naturally in large tanks. The only ad- 

 vantage that can be claimed for this method is that the eggs are 

 afforded protection during incubation, for it is the practice to 

 release them immediately on hatching. Records show that 90 

 to 95 per cent of the eggs are fertilized by this method and there- 

 fore it can hardly be assumed that much better results are to be 

 obtained from a few fish in confinement than from a hoard in the 

 ocean. It is further hard to believe that the planted fry are as 

 well able to withstand the vicissitudes due to oceanic environ- 

 ment as are those which have been in open water from the start. 

 The simple shock of change must work some havoc among them. 

 The previously given figures are ridiculously liberal to the 

 hatcheries and besides none of these draw-backs have been reck- 

 oned with. What would be the actual number of mature hatchery 

 fish at the end of four years if these could be figured in, to say 

 nothing of numerous others which have not even been men- 

 tioned? Certainly it could be at best only a small fraction of 311. 



For the year of 1931, four years later, the Bureau of Fisheries' 

 Statement of the quantities of cod landed at Boston, Gloucester 

 and Portland ^ is as follows: Large (10 lbs. or over) 33,238,407 

 pounds; market (over 2>4 and under 10 lbs.) 19,126,030; and 

 scrod (1 to 2y^ lbs.) 1,150,577 pounds. Exact figures are not 

 available but it is believed that the average weight of the large 

 cod is about 20 to 35 pounds, depending on the grounds from 

 which taken and the time of year. The large and market cod 

 taken together probably average about 15 pounds, while that of 



1 statistical Bulletin No. 517— U. S. Bureau of Fisheries. 



