70 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 8 



Saint Pierre-Et Miquelon (Contd.): 



aged fish to the United States. Traffic was 

 especially active in the winter of 1964 and 

 early spring of 1965 when a number of Polish 

 fishing vessels anchored at this Common 

 Market port. Most of the packaged fish was 

 frozen cod, and some of it also went to Canada. 

 (Canadian Fisherman .) 



Editor's Note: During 1965 at least 10 

 fishing nations used the port of Saint Pierre. 

 The Spanish vessels were most frequent vis- 

 itors; Portuguese, Norwegian, Danish, Jap- 

 anese, and Venezuelan vessels visited the 

 port. To accommodate the increased traffic, 

 a new fishing harbor is being completed at 

 Saint Pierre, and negotiations are underway 

 to obtain the necessary capital to build a 

 large fish factory near the new fishing port. 



South Africa 



FISHING SEASONS CHANGED: 



Changes in the fishing seasons for spiny 

 lobster and for pelagic species of fish were 

 announced by the Division of Sea Fisheries 

 of South Africa. The lobster season along 

 the west coast will be closed from June 1 to 

 Septenaber 30 each year (previously Septem- 

 ber and October only). The open season for 

 smaller fish, such as sardines, mackerel, 

 and maasbankers, was extended to eight 

 months, January 1 to August 31. (This season 

 previously closed on July 1, with extensions 

 in recent years for anchovies only.) (United 

 States Embassy, Pretoria, June 1, 1966.) 



;|e 5lc ?!e :^ sic 



FISHING TRENDS, MAY 1966: 



Fish Meal, and Fish Oil: Good catches 

 were reported during May, with the only lim- 

 iting factor on occasions being the weather 

 conditions. At Walvis Bay, South-West Af- 

 rica, the last of the factories commenced op- 

 erations and fairly heavy catches were landed. 

 Cape operations were confined in the main 

 to meal and oil production, owing to the un- 

 suitability of the fish for canning purposes; 

 at Walvis Bay, however, production included 

 all the major products. The industry is now 

 fully committed for the current year in ac- 

 cordance with sales programs, which have 

 been based upon forecasts of likely availa- 

 bility. 



Fish meal and fish oil prices on the world 

 market tended to decline somewhat in May, 

 owing mainly to continued heavy production 

 in Peru. In view of the global availability of 

 these products tending to equate generally 

 with demand, no great fluctuations in price 

 are anticipated, however. 



Spiny Lobster : May spiny lobster oper- 

 ations reflected little change from the late 

 March and early April pattern. Shipments 

 were maintained to all markets at price 

 levels which remained constant, despite the 

 prevailing easier tone in the United States. 

 Catching was affected to some extent by the 

 heavy snoek runs which annually attract the 

 attention of some fishermen. 



Vema Seamount : Early in 1966, it was 

 reported that the Division of Sea Fisheries 

 was undertaking a scientific investigation of 

 the lobster population around Vema Seamount. 

 This area, some 16 square miles in extent, 

 attracted an intensive concentration of fish- 

 ing operations after the occurrence of a 

 prolific lobster population on the summit 

 zone of the Mount was discovered towards 

 the end of 1964. After initial heavy catches, 

 signs of rapid and early depletion soon be- 

 canae evident. 



It was ascertained that the composition as 

 such of the lobster population around Vema 

 Seamount had not revealed any marked change. 

 This conclusion was arrived at after a com- 

 parative examination of the average sizes 

 of a fairly representative cross section of 

 individual lobsters sampled before and after 

 the period of exploitation. According to the 

 survey, the decline in the availability of lob- 

 sters in this area may be attributable, there- 

 fore, in no small measure to a decrease in 

 numerical strength. A further lack of avail- 

 ability maybe, the report suggests, the pos- 

 sibility that the abundance of plant life a- 

 round the rocky slopes of the Mount made 

 baiting difficult. Malpractices of fishermen, 

 moreover, could also have contributed to de- 

 clining catches. Excessive dumping of lob- 

 ster offal, for example (only the tail of each 

 lobster is utilized, the remainder- -some 60 

 percent of the total weight--is thrown over- 

 board), was found to have not only a toxic 

 effect on lobsters themselves but also a con- 

 taminating influence on supporting fauna and 

 flora. 



The possibility of, and probable length of 

 time involved before the lobster population 



