16 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 11 



Surf clam shells and other shellfish spe- 

 cies common to the area were taken at most 

 survey sites. A few tows were made where 

 the catch consisted almost entirely of live 

 surf clams, This same catch composition 

 was also reflected in the commercial-length 

 tows made in Area IV. 



Ocean Quahogs : Catches of ocean quahogs 

 ( Arctica islandica) were frequent and of large 

 volume in some parts of Area IV. As ex- 

 pected, the best catches were made in the 

 more offshore parts of the area, and smaller 

 catches coming from the inshore section. 

 For the first time, large catches of this spe- 

 cies occurred along with the surf clam at the 

 same survey site. One station, 18-19, prod- 

 uced 3.1 bushels of surf clams and 8.6 bush- 

 els of surf clams and 8.6 bushels of ocean 

 quahogs, one of the largest catches of this 

 species. Many of the smaller quahogs could, 

 and undoubtedly did, escape through the slots 

 of the dredge and rings of the chain bag dur- 

 ing both the towing and haulback operations; 

 greater quantities of small quahogs would 

 likely be taken in a dredge with smaller slot 

 spacing and bag meshes. 



Sea Scallops: Live sea scallops ( Pecten 

 irradians ) and dead shells were present in 

 many offshore survey catches. Live speci- 

 mens were taken at 145 of these sites from 

 one individual to 1 bushel per 4-minute tow. 

 They were most abundant in the central part 

 of the area's southeast quadrant. The size 

 range for the specimens varied from 2 to 6 

 inches; some dead shells were nearly 8 inches 

 long. 



For more information, contact Keith A. 

 Smith, Base Director, or Phillip S. Parker, 

 EF&GR Base, State Fish Pier, Gloucester, 

 Mass. 01930, Telephone: 617-283-6554, 



The Rorqual tested midwater trawls for one 

 week in Rhode Island's Point Judith area in a 

 joint venture of BCF's Gloucester Exploratory 

 Fishing Base and Rhode Island's Department 

 of Natural Resources. PL 88-309 funds were 

 used. 



The Rorqual now is based at Boothbay Har- 

 bor Biological Laboratory, Maine. 



North Atlantic Fishery Investigations 



DELAWARE CONDUCTS HERRING AND 

 LOBSTER BIOLOGICAL SURVEY 



The Delaware returned toward the end of 

 September from a sea herring and lobster 

 survey in the Georges Bank area, conducted 

 under cooperative agreement with Boothbay 

 Harbor Biological Laboratory. (Cruise 66-7, 

 Sept. 14-23.) Purposes of the cruise were to 

 sample these populations and get related en- 

 vironmental data, obtain samples of blood 

 from lobsters, and make plankton tows for 

 larval herring. 



73° 72° 71° 70" 69° 



60° 67° 



66° 



65° 



6t° 





1 J"- 





1 



'' ' r 







".3° 



I ( 











-43° 



12° 



, ^^-.-J^. 



^45 

 3 © 



4. 



©8 







■42° 



41° 



--^^' 



E|| 



9 











41° 



Legend: 



10° 



(^ ' Plankton & hydrographit stations. 



X Dnfl bottle & sea bed drifters. 

 ^^ Herring Irawl. 

 1 1 Lobster trawl. 











■40° 















.^Q° 





3° 72° 71° 70° 69° 



68° 67" 



66° 



65° 



64° 



Station positions of M/V Delaware Cruise 66-7. 



The area covered was the northern part of 

 Georges Bank, Corsair and Lydonia Canyons. 

 Seven trawl sets (see chart) yielded about 

 1,200 pounds of herring; the 1960 and 1961 

 classes were dominant. Shipboard examina- 

 tion of gonadal development showed only few 

 of the herring had spawned. The majority were 

 in the late stage V of gonadal development. 



8 trawl sets made at 2 stations in waters 

 45 to 150 fathoms yielded 7 lobsters: 2 females 

 and 5 males. Mean weight was 3 pounds, and 

 the range in weight was I2-72 pounds. 



The plankton operation obtained no larval 

 herring. 



For more information, contact BCF Bio- 

 logical Laboratory, W. Boothbay Harbor, 

 Maine 04575. 



The Delaware's October cruise (industrial 

 fish exploration) will be reported in the De- 

 cember issue. 



