McLellan's papers (1954a, 1954b, 1957) 

 should be mentioned here as they include data 

 for the southwestern extremity of the Scotian 

 Shelf, contiguous to the Bay of Fundy and the 

 Gulf of Maine. The first two papers describe 

 bottom temperatures, T-S relations, and mix- 

 ing processes on the Scotian Shelf based on 

 seasonal observations made during 1950, 1951, 

 and 1952, and describe mixing processes and 

 characteristics of the water over the Browns 

 Bank area. The third paper is a study of the 

 origin of the slope water south of Nova Scotia 

 and the currents within it. On the basis of 

 investigations carried out by the Atlantic 

 Oceano graphic Group during the period 1950-52 

 and in previous years, McLellan described in 

 detail the T-S characteristics, rate ofproduc- 

 tion, and currents of the slope water. 



A new edition of "Fishes of the Gulf of 

 Maine", entailing a general revision and the 

 addition of much new material, was prepared 

 by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953). In 1953, the 

 Fish and Wildlife Service inaugurated a pro- 

 gram to study the early life history of haddock 

 in the Gulf of Maine in an attempt to relate 

 spawning location and the pattern of drift of 

 eggs and larvae to the success of year class. 

 The Albatross III made cruises during the 

 spring of 1953, 1955, 1956, and 1957. The 

 procedure involved Continuous Plankton Re- 

 corder tows at the surface and 10 m., T-S 

 observations, drift bottle releases, and meter 

 net tows. Marak and Colton (1961) described 

 the methods and operational procedures per- 

 tinent to the surveys of 1953, 1955, and 1956. 

 They presented in tabular and graphic form 

 the basic data on the distribution of fish eggs 

 and larvae of all species and surface tem- 

 perature and salinity for the 1953 cruises. 

 Marak, Colton, and Foster (1962) gave the 

 basic data for the 1955 cruises; and Marak, 

 Colton, Foster, and Miller (1962) for the 1956 

 cruises. In 1956, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service in cooperation with the Fisheries 

 Research Board of Canada began a similar 

 program of study of the early life history 

 of herring (Clupea harengus ) in the Gulf of 

 Maine. In these surveys they used the vessels 

 Albatross III , Silver Bay , Delaware , and 

 Harengus and made cruises from September 

 through February in 1956-57 and 1957-58. 

 A summary of papers describing the results 

 of various phases of these two investigations 

 follows. 



Bumpus, Chase, Day, Frantz, Ketchum, and 

 Waldan (1957) launched radio drift buoys in 

 the Trinity Ledge area off Yarmouth, Nova 

 Scotia; in Grand Manan Channel, and off Cape 

 Spencer, New Brunswick, in October, Novem- 

 ber, and December, 1956. The experiments 

 added some detail to the earlier descriptions 

 of the circulation in the Bay of Fundy and 

 confirmed the existence of the same general 

 pattern observed previously for other seasons 

 of the year. The current velocities observed, 



however, were greater than those observed 

 by earlier investigators using drift bottles. 



Day (1958) described the surface circulation 

 patterns in the Gulf of Maine from late 

 February through June as deduced from drift 

 bottles. The greater bulk of these drift bottle 

 releases was made on the Albatross III 

 cruises of 1953, 1955, and 1956, but, for 

 comparative purposes, data from Albatross II 

 cruises in April 1931 and 1932 and in May 

 1931, and the Atlantis cruises in April 1934 

 and June 1933 also are included. Bumpus and 

 Day (1957) tabulated the basic data used in 

 this paper. They noted seasonal and yearly 

 differences in surface circulation and showed 

 that Bigelow' s (1927) July- August pattern of a 

 relatively closed circulation appears to evolve 

 with the seasons as a result of vernal warm- 

 ing and the consequent formation of density 

 structure. They demonstrated that winds may 

 strongly modify the prevailing circulation and 

 that this accounted for the marked differences 

 between conditions in the 1930's and 1950's. 



Tibbo, Legare", Scattergood, and Temple 

 (1958) analyzed the abundance and distribution 

 of larval herring in the offshore waters of 

 the Gulf of Maine during the fall and winter 

 of 1956-57 and 1957-58. They determined 

 the spawning areas and seasons and presented 

 data on the length composition, growth rate, 

 and day and night variations in the catch of 

 larval herring. The major spawning area was 

 on the northern edge of Georges Bank, but 

 appreciable spawning also occurred off the 

 western coast of Nova Scotia. They concluded 

 that spring spawnings are of minor impor- 

 tance and that late summer and fall spawnings 

 are the major contributors to the herring 

 stocks in the Bay of Fundy and Gulf of Maine. 



Colton (1959) noted that the mortality of 

 marine fish larvae resulted from warming 

 because of the intrusion of slope water over 

 the southern edge of Georges Bank during 

 May 1956. He described the hydrographic 

 conditions occurring at that time, and dis- 

 cussed the consequence of such intrusions 

 of relatively warm slope water on the popula- 

 tions of boreal fish species inhabiting Georges 

 Bank. 



Bumpus (1960) reviewed the surface cir- 

 culation in the Gulf of Maine and southwestern 

 Scotian Shelf on the basis of an analysis of 

 the returns from drift bottles released in the 

 Gulf of Maine since 1919. Most of the bottles 

 were launched during the 1953-58 larval fish 

 surveys, but data are also included concerning 

 drift bottles released before this period as 

 well as bottles launched monthly from Lurcher 

 Lightship during 1957 and 1958. His analysis 

 shows that the source of surface flow into 

 the Bay of Fundy expands from a minimum 

 during January in the immediate approaches 

 of the Bay to a maximum in May which in- 

 cludes most of Georges Bank and the south- 

 western Scotian Shelf. By September, the flow 



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