July 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



17 



larvae work was limited to a brief survey by 

 the vessel Alexander Agassiz of Scripps In- 

 stitution of Oceanography. Further^ the A- 

 laska was delayed because of her annual over- 

 haul and joined the Cobb only during the final 

 week. The reduced survey located no areas 

 of concentrated spawning, and no spawning 

 hake were taken. 



Although no adult hake were found, a school 

 of juveniles was located and sampled by the 

 Cobb in Santa Monica Bay. Those fish were 

 80-130 fathoms from the surface in a subma- 

 rine canyon that was 150 to 250 fathoms deep. 

 The school was broken into small groups and 

 extended for at least 2 miles in length but 

 less than i mile in width. Midwater trawling 

 on that school by the Alaska was ineffective 

 because the fish were too deep for the ves- 

 sel's net-depth telemetering equipment. 



Considerable experience was gained in op- 

 erating equipment for fish occurring at deep 

 levels. Through combined operations with the 

 Cobb , it was learned how hake appear on the 

 echO'Sounder and what adjustments are re- 

 quired to record them at 80 to 140 fathoms. 

 Observations were made of the Cobb's com- 

 mercially-oriented operations which uses 

 gear considerably larger than on the Alaska . 



Echo-sounding for hake detected many 

 schools of anchovies. The Precision Depth 

 Recorder was operated for 337 miles and re- 

 corded 373 schools. The schools were dis- 

 tributed over most of the area traversed and 

 included considerable numbers 20 or more 

 miles offshore. Most schools appeared as 

 small "plumes" on the recorder occurring at 

 5-40 fathoms beneath the surface. Attempts 

 to sample those fish were unsuccessful be- 

 cause of clear water and "flighty" fish. One 

 mixed catch of anchovies and several species 

 of bottom dwelling forms was made in shal- 

 low turbid water at Port Hueneme. 



A Hach Turbidimeter (model 1720) was 

 tested for measuring sea-water turbidities. 

 Results indicate it is suitable for use at sea 

 although the absolute range of turbidities in 

 Jackson turbidity units is quite small. 



Trial plankton tows were made to deter- 

 mine the suitability of the Alaska for egg and 

 larvae surveys; no problems were encoun- 

 tered^ 



Note: See Commercial Fisheries Review, March 1966 p, 19. 



Cans— Shipments for Fishery Products, 

 January-February 1966 



A total of 239,907 base 

 boxes of steel and aluminum 

 was consumed to make cans 

 shipped to fish and shellfish 

 canning plants in January- 

 February 1966 as compared with 414,359 base 

 boxes used during the same period in 1965. 



Note: Statistics cover all commercial and captive plants known to 

 be producing metal cans. A "base box" is an area of 31, 360 

 square inches, equivalent to 112 sheets 14" x 20" size. Tonnage 

 figures for steel (tinplate) cans are derived by use of the factor 

 23,7 base boxes per short ton of steel, 



Soiorce: U, S, Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census, 



Caribbean and Tropical Atlantic 

 Fisheries Explorations 



FISH PUMP TESTED EST 

 CARIBBEAN FISHERIES : 



M/V " Oregon" Crui"ie 107 (February 15- 

 April i, 1966): To initiate field studies onthe 

 application of fish pumps to harvest anchovies, 

 herring, and sardine -like fish was one of the 

 several objectives of this cruise in the Less- 

 er Antilles between Puerto Rico and Trinidad, 

 Secondary objectives by the exploratory fish- 

 ing vessel Oregon of the Bureau of Commer- 

 cial Fisheries, U. S, Department of the Interi- 

 or, were to: (1) determine seasonal distribu- 

 tion and relative abundance of swordfish and 

 tuna; (2) survey the fishery potential of Do- 

 minica, W, I., in cooperation with the Smith- 

 sonian Institution and the United Nations Spe- 

 cial Fund Caribbean Fisheries Project; and 

 (3) collect zoogeographic data for developing 

 resource potential estimates. 



Extensive observations were made on the 

 attraction of small schooling fishes to night 

 lights and their susceptibility to capture with 

 an experimental 6- inch (1,500 g.p.m,) fish 

 pump, A total of 17 nights was devoted to the 

 studies at the locations covered. Submerged 

 1,000 -watt lights were used in combinations 

 of from 1 to 4 units with precise intensity con- 

 trol. Species showing direct positive response 

 to various light intensities included Anchoa 

 lyolepis, Anchoviella eurystole, Jenkinsia sp,, 

 Membras sp., Harengula clupeola , H. humera - 

 lis, and Chirocentrodon bleekerianus , all of 

 which appeared in dense concentrations at 

 various times during the observations. Spe- 

 cies showing indirect positive response in- 



