July 1951 



C0MM5RCIAL FISHERIES R37IEW 



15 



The sturgeon, a slow-grovdng fish, vri.ll be taken incidentally to other fish- 

 ing by commercial crews. Roe or caviar, taken from females, greatly adds to the 

 value of the fish. 



The annual catch amounted to over one million pounds before the turn of the 

 century. In 1928, the last open season, the catch dwindled to 1,688 pounds, with 

 Lake Michigan accounting for all except 15 pounds of the total. 



New England Tuna Explorations 



" WESTERN EXPLORER " SIGHTS TUM ON FIRST CRUISE ; Since reports were received 

 frcm mackerel seiners that tuna had been sighted off Cape Ann, the Western Exiplorer 

 searched f or bluef in tuna between Cape Ann and Cape Elizabeth on its first cruise. 

 The vessel, which is searching for untapped resources of bluef in tuna in waters off 

 the shores of Maine and Massachusetts, left East Boston on June 23 and returned on 

 July 2. 



TYPICAL WEST COAST-TYPE TUNA PURSE-SEINE OPERATION BEING USED BY WESTERN EXPLORER 

 IN ORDER TO DETERMINE WHETHER IT IS FEASIBLE TO CATCH BLUEF IN TUNA BY THIS METHOD 

 IN NEW ENGLAND WATERS. 



BLUEF IN TUNA (tHUNNUS THYNNU? ) 



