40 



COMMEECIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 8 



in Port Susan to as far south as Port Gardner 

 near Everett. 



The best signs were found in Port Susan off 

 the eastern shore of Caniano Island in about 

 8 to 12 fathoms of water above the bottom 

 depths of 58 to 64 fathoms. The fish signs 

 were not considered heavy. At the time of the 

 survey, the commercial trawler St. Janet 

 was fishing these hake concentrations off the 

 eastern tip of Camano Island and catching on 

 the average about 6,600 pounds an hour. The 

 John N. Cobb 's average catch was about 8,300 

 pounds an hour in the same locality. This 

 was based on 3 tows. The southern end of the 

 Port Susan school was fished off Port Gard- 

 ner where 3,000 pounds of hake an hour were 

 caught. 



Sporadic signs were encountered between 

 Hood Canal and Port Gardner. A 20 -minute 

 tow, made on one of these signs off Posses- 

 sion Point, caught only 100 pounds of hake 

 and 100 pounds of pollock. 



Hake concentrations were found in Hood 

 Canal off the eastern and southern shores of 

 Toandos Peninsula and as far south as Tekiu 

 Point. The echo returns from those fish were 

 light to medium. The fish were from 10 to 20 

 fathoms off the bottom and the catch rate on 

 them was 6,000 pounds an hour. 



Dogfish ( Squalus acanthias ) was the only 

 species of fish taken in any appreciable quan- 

 tities with hake. In Port Susan about 2 to 15 

 percent of the catches consisted of dogfish. 

 They were large fish (2 to 3 feet in total length) 

 and of 52 fish examined, 25 had the remains of 

 Pacific hake in their stomachs. In Hood Ca- 

 nal about 100 pounds of small dogfish (26 to 

 31 centimeters or 10.2 to 12.2 inches in total 

 length) were caught with the 6,000 pounds of 

 hake. 



COASTAL WATERS OFF WASHINGTON: 

 During the first two-thirds of the cruise off 

 the coast of Washington (May 27 to June 5), 

 fish signs were numerous but mostly spor- 

 adic from Destruction Island to the Columbia 

 River. The only sizable and dense concentra- 

 tion of fish was found in the vicinity of the 

 Russian fleet which was operating southwest 

 of Willapa Bay. That school extended from 

 off Klipsan Beach southward to Long Beach 

 (a distance of about 7 to 8 miles) and was on 

 the average about 2 miles wider. It was sit- 

 uated over bottom depths from 32 to 48 fath- 

 oms. The signs were 2 to 4 fathoms in thick- 



ness and were on or about 1 fathom off the 

 bottom. The best signs were about 5 miles 

 in length and 1 to l^ miles wide over bottom 

 depths from 38 to 46 fathoms. This school 

 was located and sounded on May 29. 



A second and more northerly school was 

 located northwest of Grays Harbor on June 

 3. Latitudinally the school extended from 

 off the Queets River south to off Moclips, a 

 distance of some 15 miles. The school was 

 about 4 miles wide at its greatest width and 

 was situated over bottom depths from 43 to 

 60 fathoms. The best signs were over bot- 

 tom depths of 50 to 53 fathoms. However, 

 the signs were mostly light and sporadic in!- 

 dicating that the fish were not formed into a 

 compact school. Fishing this school yielded 

 only 1,000 to 4,000 pounds of fish an hour. 



During the latter third of the cruise off 

 the Washington coast, hake signs were more 

 numerous and in certain localities more 

 dense than was observed earlier in the cruise. 

 The school located off Klipsan Beach near 

 Willapa Bay earlier in the cruise showed a 

 nauch denser trace and when fished yielded 

 from 8,000 to 12,000 pounds of hake an hour. 

 Good hake signs were observed northwest of 

 Cape Shoalwater but a one -hour tow on these 

 signs caught only 6,500 pounds of hake. On 

 the evening of June 8, a small but dense pock- 

 et of fish was located directly off the entrance 

 to Grays Harbor over a bottom depth of 43 

 fathoms. These signs yielded 12,000 pounds 

 of hake an hour. The school to the north be- 

 tween Moclips and the Queets River also 

 showed an increase in the density of the signs, 

 when a number of sounding transects were 

 made through it on June 9. A Soviet side 

 trawler, which was fishing in the vicinity of 

 these dense signs, was observed bringing a- 

 board a catch of some 20,000 pounds of hake. 



BIOLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS : Samples 

 of Pacific hake taken in Puget Sound were 

 smaller than those taken off the coast of 

 Washington. Puget Sound hake ranged in 

 size from 15 to 66 centimeters (5.9 to 26.0 

 inches) with a mode of about 35 centimeters 

 (13.8 inches) whereas the coastal hake ranged 

 in size from 38 to 70 centimeters (15.0 to 

 27.6 inches) with a mode of about 50 centi- 

 meters (19.7 inches). 



A marked difference was found in the sex 

 ratio between hake taken in Port Susan and 

 those taken in Port Gardner and Hood Canal. 

 In two of the hauls made in Port Susan the 



