44 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 7 



more averaged 23 percent below Decem- 

 ber. 



Prices broke at the ex-vessel and whole- 

 sale levels in December because cold-stor- 

 age holdings in the United States and Canada 

 were at record highs. Wholesale prices lev- 

 eled off in January and February 1966 but 

 dropped steadily in March, although not as 

 emphatically as at the close of 1965. 



Following the large drop in ex-vessel 

 prices in December, part of the loss was re- 

 covered in January. Since the middle of Feb- 

 ruary, ex-vessel prices have edged downward. 



Million pounds 



JAN APR JUL OCT JAN APR JUL OCT JAN APR JUi OCT 



1964 



1965 



1966 



First of month scallop cold-storage holdings. 



Prices at all levels dropped during the 

 first quarter of 1966 because of abundant sup- 

 plies. In addition to the high U. S. and Ca- 

 nadian inventory carryover of frozen scallops 

 at the end of 1965, scallop fishing has been 

 good. New England landings in the first quar- 

 ter of 1966 were about 27 percent above a 

 year earlier. When the increased U. S. and 

 Canadian landings are added to frozen inven- 

 tories on hand January 1, 1966, total U. S.- 

 Canadian supplies in January were 10.4 mil- 

 lion pounds, or more than double the supplies 

 of a year earlier. 



With lower prices stimulating consumption, 

 the larger supplies have moved quickly into 

 retail channels, U. S, cold-storage holdings 

 were cut sharply in the first quarter 1966 be- 

 cause consumption was greater than U.S. land- 

 ings and imports. By April 1, U. S. cold- 

 storage holdings were only 3.8 million pounds -- 

 down from the 5.9 million pounds on hand Jan- 

 uary 1. Although April 1, 1966, holdings were 

 much above the 2 million pounds on hand A- 

 pril 1, 1965, price levels prevailing in the 

 first quarter of this year probably will re- 



duce frozen stocks to near year-ago levels by 

 mid-1966. 



Further price weakness would appear un- 

 warranted because: 



1. Stocks were reduced substantially in 

 March when retail prices showed a tendency 

 to level off. 



2. The scallop fleet was fishing off New 

 York and New Jersey during April. Although 

 production in the first quarter 1966 was well 

 above a year earlier, there is some question 

 as to how long that area can sustain heavy 

 fishing effort. 



3. The fleet must return to the fishing 

 grounds on Georges Bank when the fishing 

 area off New York and New Jersey is depleted 

 for this season. Biologists of the U. S. Bu- 

 reau of Commercial Fisheries see no in- 

 crease in abundance for 1966 on Georges 

 Bank, and it might possibly be less. With 

 little competition from the United States fleet, 

 Canadian vessels on Georges Bank in January 

 increased their catch only 19 percent over the 

 previous year. While the American fleet is 

 off New York and New Jersey, the Canadian 

 fleet can be expected to harvest scallops from 

 the most productive areas on Georges Bank. 

 Therefore, if the United States fleet fishes out 

 the New York and New Jersey beds, there is 

 the question of what will be the abundance and 

 size of scallops on Georges Bank when the 

 United States fleet returns to those grounds. 



There is a possibility of light scallop sup- 

 plies and rising prices in the last half of 1966. 

 This is primarily dependent on how soon the 

 Middle Atlantic grounds are fished out and the 

 abundance of market scallops on Georges Bank. 

 (U. S. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, Branch 

 of Current Economic Analysis, Shellfish Sec- 

 tion.) 



Shark 



REWARD OFFERED FOR 

 TAG RECOVERIES: 



A shark tagging program covering the en- 

 tire east coast is being conducted by the U. S. 

 Bureau of Sport Fisheries and Wildlife Sandy 

 Hook Marine Laboratory in Highlands, N.J., 

 to determine migratory patterns and other as- 

 pects of the life histories of Atlantic sharks. 

 A $5.00 reward is offered for shark tags re- 



