NOAAlNMFS Developments

Fishery Management CouncilAppointments Announced

Appointments to serve on the eightRegional Fishery Management Councilshave been announced by U.S. Depart­ment of Commerce Secretary MalcolmBaldrige. The appointments are for3-year terms which began 11 August1985.

Named to the Caribbean FisheryManagement Council was Stephen A.Monsanto, Auditor, Post Audit Divi­sion, Virgin Islands' Legislature, St.Thomas, VI. The Caribbean at largeseat appointment was to be announcedat a later date.

Members reappointed to the Gulf ofMexico Fishery Management Councilwere Walter W. Fondren, III, FondrenFoundation, Houston, Tex.; Dayton M.Graham, President, Deep Sea Foods,Inc., Graham Charter Fishing, Inc., andDeep Sea Boat Builders, Inc., Bayou LaBatre, Ala.; Alex M. Jernigan, formerCouncil Chairman, consulting engineer,Islamorada, Fla.; and Sherman L.Muths, Jr., attorney, Gulfport, Miss.The newly appointed member is "TeeJohn" Mialjevich, Jr., commercialshrimper, Delcambre, La.

South Atlantic Fishery ManagementCouncil members reappointed wereAllen F. Branch, past Chairman andVice Chairman of the Council, ownerand operator of marinas and fish camps,Midway, Ga.; and Gregory S. McIn­tosh, Jr., President, McIntosh Marine,Inc., Ft. Lauderdale, Fla. New mem­bers are Elaine W. Knight, GeneralManager, Knight Seafood, Brunswick,Ga.; and Ernest A. Carl, Deputy Secre­tary, North Carolina Department ofNatural Resources and CommunityDevelopment, Chapel Hill, N.C.

Appointed to the Mid-Atlantic FisheryManagement Council were John H. Bur­ger, President, Burger Construction Co.,Dover, Del.; Alex B. Carlson, Jr., found­er, Carlson's Fisheries, Manasquan,

47(3), 1985

N.J.; H. R. Humphreys, Jr., Chairmanof the Board and CEO, Standard Prod­ucts Co., Inc., Kilmarnock, Va.; andFrances E. Puskas, part owner, Barne­gat Light Yacht Basin and Viking VillageFishing Dock, Barnegat Light, N.J.

Appointed to the New England Fish­ery Management Council were PatrickL. Carroll, III, Chairman "Bunker BoatCommittee", Fairfield, Conn.; JamesCostakes, General Manager, SeafoodProducers Association, New Bedford,Mass.; Gail Johnson, joint owner,swordfish vessel, South Harpewell,Maine; Lester B. Smith, President, Les­ter Smith Color Productions, Natick,Mass.; Robert D. Smith, Liaison forRegulatory Affairs, Point Judith Fisher­men's Cooperative Association, Inc.,Narragansett, R.I.

Appointed to the North Pacific Fish­ery Management Council were James 0.Campbell, President, Alaska Division,Spenard Builders Supply, Inc., Anchor­age, Alaska; Oscar Dyson, commercialfisherman, Kodiak, Alaska; Rudy A.Peterson, commercial fisherman,Seattle, Wash.

Appointed to the Pacific FisheryManagement Council were David N.Danbom, commercial fisherman, MossLanding, Calif.; Allan L. Kelly, Ex­ecutive Director, Oregon Wildlife Heri­tage Foundation, Portland, Oreg.; JerryL. Thomas, Vice President, EurekaFisheries, Inc., Fields Landing, Calif.;William F. Yallup, Chairman, Fish andWildlife Committee, Yakima Indian Na­tion, Toppenish, Wash.

Appointed to the Western PacificFishery Management Council wereLouis K. Agard, Jr., commercial fish­erman, Honolulu, Hawaii; Roy P. Due­nas, General Manager, Port Authorityof Guam, Piti, Guam; Melvin D.Makaiwi, part owner, Star of the SeaFisheries, Inc., Pago Pago, American

Samoa.The eight Fishery Management

Councils were established in 1976 whenCongress passed the Magnuson FisheryConservation and Management Act.The Councils prepare plans to managethe marine resources out to 200 milesoff the United States' coastline beyondstate waters. The members appointed bythe U.S. Commerce Department Secre­tary are selected from names submittedby the state governors. Council mem­bers also include representatives fromeach state marine resource department,the U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Fish andWildlife Service, U.S. Department ofState, Marine Fisheries Commissions,and the National Marine Fisheries Ser­vice Regional Directors.

NOAA EstablishesEstuarine Office

The National Oceanic and Atmo­spheric Administration (NOAA) hasestablished the Estuarine Programs Of­fice (EPO) to coordinate estuarineresearch and monitoring among NOAA,other Federal and state agencies, andresearch institutions. The EPO directoris John B. Pearce.

Pearce said U.S. estuaries have under­gone dramatic changes in the past cen­tury. New estuarine-related science,technology, and productivity have bene­fited the environment, but the conse­quences of progress and change havecaused serious problems in the estuarineecosystems, he said.

These problems include decreasedwater quality, declines in fishery catch,near extinction of some species, and lossof protective, spawning, feeding, andnursery habitats. The EPO will functionas an advocate for long-term commit­ment to the restoration, protection, andconservation of living marine resourcesand fisheries habitats.

Initially, the EPO concentrated its ac­tivities in Buzzards Bay, Long IslandSound, Narragansett Bay, Puget Sound,and the Chesapeake Bay. It has inter­agency agreements with the Environ­mental Protection Agency, other Federalagencies, coastal states, and academicinstitutions to encourage development of

67

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Year

Foreign nations caught more fish in1984 within the US. 200-mile fisheryconservation zone than in the year be­fore but less than the average for thepreceding 5 years, according to theCommerce Department's NationalOceanic and Atmospheric Administra­tion (NOAA). NOAA's National MarineFisheries Service said foreign countriesharvested 3 billion pounds of fish andshellfish, compared with 2.9 billionpounds in 1983, a 4 percent increase.

However, the harvest was 11 percentbelow the average for the preceding 5years-3.4 billion pounds. Meanwhile,the US. share of fish taken from theconservation zone increased. It hit 50percent of all fish taken last year, upfrom 47 percent in 1983, and the highestsince the 200-mile fishery conservationzone was established in 1977. In the late1970's US. fishermen were harvestingonly about one-third of all the fish takenfrom the fishery conservation zone.

US. fishermen landed 6.4 billionpounds of edible and industrial fish andshellfish, down slightly from 1983, butclose to the record domestic landings of6.5 billion pounds in 1980. About 2.9billion pounds were caught in the fish­ery conservation zone.

Joint-venture harvests by Americanfishermen, who sell their catches at seato foreign processing vessels, continuedupward in 1984. Last year almost 1.5billion pounds of fish, valued at $79billion, were loaded onto foreign ves­sels. This represents a substantial in­crease over 1983 when American jointventures sold 959 million pounds of fishworth $51.2 million. Japan continued tobe the leading harvester in the US. fish­ery conservation zone, catching 2.1billion pounds, or 69 percent of theforeign total. South Korea, with 605

groundfish resources (haddock, redfish,yellowtail flounder) have declined.Should fishing pressure remain at cur­rent levels, further declines in cod abun­dance are anticipated.

Foreign Fish HarvestBelow 5-Year Averagein U.S. 200-Mile FeZ

--GEORGES BANK---GULF OF MAINE

Figure i.-U.S. otter trawl effort(thousands of days fished) and catchper unit of effort (t/day fished) forAtlantic cod from Georges Bank andthe Gulf of Maine, 1965-84.

than any value since 1983. NEFC re­search vessel survey data showed com­parable trends. The estimates of abun­dance from such research data for bothstocks in 1984 were among the lowestever obtained.

Since 1981, fishing mortality on codhas doubled on Georges Bank and hasincreased fourfold in the Gulf of Maine.In both stocks, recent fishing mortalityrates are the highest in over 20 years,exceeding even those observed whenforeign fleets were exploiting the NewEngland cod stocks in the mid-1960's.The current levels of fishing mortalityare much in excess of the levels whichwould produce the maximum yield.

Although abundance of scrod cod onGeorges Bank will improve in 1985 dueto recruitment of an above-average yearclass of cod hatched in 1983, the abun­dance of this year class is not as strongas those produced in 1971, 1975, and1980 which contributed to large in­creases in commercial landings.

The recent increases in fishing pres­sure on the New England cod stockshave resulted from increased effortsdirected specifically toward cod as other

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Fishing Pressure Growson Atlantic Cod Stocks

More Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua,are landed in the New England ground­fish fishery than any other two ground­fish species combined. Cod landingsduring 1980-83 averaged 51,000 metrictons (t), or 112 million pounds, annual­ly, the highest for any 4-year period inthis century. In 1984, however, US.landings from the Georges Bank and theGulf of Maine cod stocks declined to43,600 t (96 million pounds), 14 percentless than in 1983, and the lowest annualcatch since 1979.

NMFS Northeast Fisheries Centerscientists expected landings to declinefurther in 1985. Analyses of commer­cial fishery and research vessel informa­tion indicated that fishing mortality onboth cod stocks had markedly increasedand was at near-record high levels. Thenumber of days fished' for cod by theUS. otter trawl fleet reached historicallyhigh levels in both stock areas during1984 (Fig. 1). While fishing effort wasincreasing, the abundance of cod (catchper day fished for trips in which codcomprised 50 percent or more of the tripweight) declined by 30 percent onGeorges Bank and by 35 percent in theGulf of Maine from 1983 levels.

The estimate of abundance for theGeorges Bank stock in 1984 was thelowest since 1965 (when such recordswere first kept) while the estimate ofabundance in the Gulf of Maine for 1984was the third lowest observed and lower

estuarine study plans.The office has held several estuarine

seminars for scientists and managers toidentify important issues for study inNarragansett Bay, Delaware Bay, andLong Island Sound. EPO's plan to studythe Chesapeake Bay includes observingliving marine resources, improving fish­eries statistics from data acquired bybay-wide sources, and evaluating effectsof oxygen depletion on marine life.Pearce said, "Through these coordin­ated efforts, the Chesapeake Bay and allof our estuaries will be restored, pro­tected, and used appropriately for oursociety and future generations."

68 Marine Fisheries Review

million pounds, 20 percent of the catch,was second. Other foreign fishing fleetsincluded those from Canada, Spain, and

Italy. About CJ7 percent of the totalforeign fish harvested was taken fromthe Gulf of Alaska and the Eastern

Bering Sea. Less than 100 millionpounds were taken by foreign fishingvessels from the Northwest Atlantic.

IrlJ GeOf"ges Ba"DWd-Atlantic• Gulf of Maine

~ 11 ~~ ~ J ~ ~ ~ ~

Sea Scallops Decline;Fishing Patterns Shift

Preliminary 1984 commercial seascallop landings data indicate that thetotal 1984 scallop catch (U.S. and Can­ada) from the Georges Bank, Mid-At­lantic, and Gulf of Maine regions de­clined to 9.900 metric tons (t) (meats),the lowest annual harvest in 10 years.Georges Bank landings in 1984 (4,800I) were the lowest since 1948, with theU.S. catch the lowest since lCJ76 and theCanadian catch the lowest since 1958(Fig. I). U.S. 1984 landings from theMid-Atlantic (4,000 t) increased 24 per­cent from 1983 while U.S. Gulf ofMaine landings (800 t) declined 11 per­cent from 1983.

For the first time in 5 years, more

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Year

Figure 2.-Percentage distribution of total annual U.S. commercial sea scalloplandings (metric tons, meats) from Georges Bank (Area 5Ze), the Mid-Atlantic(Area 6), and the Gulf of Maine (Area 5Y), 1961-84.

Drift Bottle MakesLong Ocean Journey

A drift bottle released from theNOAA ship Townsend Cromwell morethan 111!z years ago on 4 February lCJ73at lat. Olo48'N, long. 15r04'W nearChristmas Island was recovered on 15June 1983 over 4,600 miles away duewest on a beach on the northeast coastof Mindanao near lat. 09°48'N, long.125°29'E in the Philippines, reportsRichard S. Shomura, Director of theNMFS Southwest Fisheries Center'sHonolulu Laboratory.

The bottle was reportedly found byCesar L. Cabrera at White Beach inCagwait, a town in Surigao Sur, Minda­nao, a southern Philippine island. It is

the disparity in scallop abundanceamong the various offshore regions andthe exclusion of U.S. fishing activity onthe Northeast Peak in areas east of theWorld Court boundary line, the U.S.scallop fleet was expected to continueconcentrating much of its activity in theMid-Atlantic region during 1985.

catch was taken by the U. S. fleet fromthe Mid-Atlantic region that fromGeorges Bank (4,000 t vs. 2,850 t),reflecting a change in fishing patterns(Fig. 2). Substantial increases in fish­ing effort occurred in the Mid-Atlanticregion during 1984. Both the number oftrips and the days fished per trip werehigher in 1984 than in 1983.

Data from the NMFS's annual seriesof summer sea scallop research vesselsurveys show that scallop abundance inalmost all areas fished by the U.S. fleethas declined in recent years. The 1984survey results indicate that, with the ex­ception of the Northern Edge and Peakregion of Georges Bank (in mostly Can­adian waters) and the New York region(off Long Island and New Jersey), seascallop abundance remains at historical­ly low levels.

The current assessment indicates thatfishing mortality continues at nearrecord high levels and that the fishablestock depends upon the recruitment ofnew year classes. Recruitment of the1981 year class in the 1984 survey waslow in all areas except on the NortheastPeak and in the New York Bight. Given

GEORGES BANK

14

12

18

16

Figure I.-Total u.s. and Canadiancommercial sea scallop landings(metric tons, meats) from GeorgesBank (NAFO Subdivision 5Ze) andthe Mid-Atlantic region (NAFO Sta­tistical Area 6), 1956-84.

oLM~1956 58 60 62 64 66 68 70 72 74 76 78 80 82 84

Year

47(3), 1985 69

not clear why the finder (or sender)waited over a year to mail the card tothe Honolulu Laboratory (the envelopewas postmarked 12 September 1984);the return address was: 4th Mun. Cir­cuit Trial Court of Cagwait-Bayabas,Cagwait, Surigao del Sur.

This particular drift bottle was one of840 released a few miles north, east,and south of Christmas Island on 4February 1973, and was part of an ex­periment devised by Richard A. Bark­ley, an oceanographer then on the staffof the Honolulu Laboratory, to study thepattern of surface currents aroundoceanic islands. Christmas Island wasselected for this study because it pro­vided a relatively simple situation: Asingle small island that had no other in­truding islands located "upstream" inthe strong regular flow of the westerlyNorth Equatorial Current. One bottlewas recovered at sea the next day afterit had traveled around the north coastof the island and then west. Twelve bot­tles were recovered from the windwardbeach on Christmas Island on 11 and 12February 1973. Other areas of ChristmasIsland, and other islands in the LineIslands group (Fanning, Washington,and Palmyra) were searched but noother bottles were found.

In its westward travel in the grasp ofthe North Equatorial Current the bottlemust have passed by numerous islandsin the Equatorial Pacific Ocean on itsway to Mindanao. For about 1,500 milesin the area immediately west of Christ­mas Island there are relatively few is­lands. However, further west in the paththe bottle presumably took are the manyGilbert Islands, the Marshalls, Feder­ated States of Micronesia, and the Re­public of Palau.

Although the time elapsed betweenthe time of release and recovery wasover 10 years, Shomura speculated thatthe bottle may have been lying undis­covered on the Mindanao beach for anumber of years, especially if WhiteBeach is in a remote, relatively uninhab­ited part of Mindanao. Other drift ex­periments have shown that bottles re­leased near the Equator in the centralPacific Ocean traveled at speeds of morethan 36 miles a day, so it is possible thatthis bottle could have made the journey

70

of over 4,600 miles in about 128 days.It is also possible, of course, that al­though the bottle was under the primaryinfluence of the North Equatorial Cur­rent, it could also have been affected bylocal currents near islands and thustaken much longer to reach the Philip­pines. So even though no informationwas obtainable on the speed of the driftfor this bottle, the direction of drift wasdetermined, and conforms to what isknown of the surface currents in theEquatorial Pacific. But perhaps more in­teresting is what is not known: All thepossible meanderings of the bottle in itslong journey from Christmas Island toMindanao.

Underutilized FisheryResources of California

In 1981, about 8,500 vessels (mostunder 5 net tons) and 19,000 personswere engaged in commercial fishingin California. However, many "super­seiners" are also based in the State andsome large trawlers have also enteredthe fleet.

Over 100 species of fish are caught byCalifornia commercial fishermen, butquite a number of others are not fullyutilized. Therefore, the staff of theUnderutilized Fishery Resources Task,Tiburon Laboratory, NMFS SouthwestFisheries Center, 3150 Paradise Drive,Tiburon, CA 94920 has prepared alooseleaf "Guide to Underutilized Spe­cies of California" as AdministrativeReport T-83-01.

The report contains a brief descrip­tion of California's fisheries and thefishing gear and methods. Most of thespecies included are considered to beunderutilized and therefore underhar­vested; many are also very similar tospecies utilized in other countries andthe guide provides much pertinent in­formation useful to foreign buyers or forthose wanting to market new species inforeign countries. Data for each speciesinclude brief description of life history,distribution, abundance, and the pres­ent fishery, if any, and the authors alsopoint out some new processing or mar­keting ideas which may be of commer­cial significance.

Species listed include shortbelly rock­fish, Sebastes jordani; Pacific sanddab,Citharichthys sordidus; jack mackerel,Trachurus symmetricus; ocean sunfish,Mola mola; ocean whitefish, Caulola­tilus princeps; night smelt, Spirinchusstarksi; basking shark, Cetorhinus max­imus; ratfish, Hydrolagus colliei;groundfish roe; market squid, Loligoopalescens; king crab, Paralithodescaliforniensis; Tanner crab, Chionoe­cetes tanneri; rock crabs, Cancer pro­ductus, C. antennarius, and C. antonyi;krill, Euphausia pacifica; Kellet'swhelk, Kelletia kelletii; giant Pacific oc­topus, Octopus dofleini; spiny dogfish,Squalus acanthias; sea cucumber, Para­stichopus californicus and P. parvimen­sis; sheep crab, Loxorhyncus grandis;and ridgeback prawn, Sicyona ingentis.In addition, six color plates illustrate 19of the species. Further information onthe report and the species is availablefrom the Task Force in Tiburon.

Offshore Tagging ShowsMaine Lobster Movements

Results from the first 18 months of a3-year joint State of Maine-NationalMarine Fisheries Service (NMFS) lob­ster tagging and undersea (submersible)research program have been compiled,according to the NMFS Northeast Fish­eries Center. The purpose of this pro­gram is to provide information on abun­dance, migration, growth, and stockinteraction between inshore and offshorelobsters in the Gulf of Maine, and to bet­ter understand the effects of the expand­ing offshore fishery on the inshorestocks of lobsters.

Of primary interest is the role of thecentral Gulf of Maine lobster in pro­viding recruitment to the coastal areas.Does the offshore Gulf of Maine lob­ster population represent an importantpart of the broodstock for the inshorepopulation? Do the offshore Gulf ofMaine deep water basins provide impor­tant habitats for a potential broodstock?

In July 1984, 917 lobsters were tag­ged and released in Area "N' (JordanBasin - 643), Area "C" (Cashes Ledge- 203), Area "D" (Jeffreys Ledge - 41)and Area "E" (Bank Comfort - 30) in

Marine Fisheries Review

Figure I.-Lobster tag.

the Gulf of Maine. Lobsters ranged insize from 2 V2 to 7 114 inches carapacelength (CL); 60 percent females, 40 per­cent males. The average lobster taggedwas 4% inches CL. Between July 1984and July 1985, 226 tagged lobsters wererecaptured; 19 were removed from thepopulation (returned to NMFS) and 2mwere recaptured between I and 4 timesand released back into the population.

Movements from Cashes Ledge, Jef­freys Bank, and Bank Comfort weremainly toward the Maine coast orparallel to the shore. The maximumdistance traveled was by a female lob­ster which covered 81.5 n.mi. in about109 days. The average distance traversedby these 19 recaptures was 35 n.mi.,averaging 0.5 n.mi. per day. One recap­ture averaged 1.13 n.mi. per day.

The remaining 2m recaptures, all but10 released by a single offshore fisher­man from Maine at Jordan Basin, weremade in relatively close proximity to theoriginal area of capture and tagging (less10 n.mi.). However, since 18 Sept.1984, no recaptures were made in theJordan Basin areas because the offshoreMaine fisherman had to move his gearto the west when the new u.S.-Canadianboundary line was finalized.

Of the 548 female lobsters tagged andreleased in July 1984, 133 (24.3 percent)were berried. The average CL of thesefemales was 4~ inches, 1/4-inch abovethe average size of all females. Recap­tured females had both released eggsand extruded eggs between the time oftagging and recapture.

These preliminary results indicate ahigh removal rate in the vicinity of thetag and released areas with either an ap­parent tendency of tagged lobsters to re­main in areas where there are a largenumber of lobster traps or a slow rateof migration through the tagging areas.

YELLOWMONOFILAMENT

LEADER

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STAINLESSSTEEL

ANCHOR

INTERNATIONALORANGE

IN COLOR...,..BLACK

LETTERS

Of the 379 lobsters recaptured from the1983 releases and 226 lobsters recap­tured from the 1984 releases, only 83and 16, respectively, were captured out­side of a 10 n.mi. radius from therelease locations. It is evident from thedecline in the recapture rate in thevicinity of the release areas and thedistribution of recapture locations thatthe original stock of tagged lobsters haddispersed over a very broad area.

On Saturday, 29 June 1985, theNMFS ended 6 days of tagging lobstersin the Gulf of Maine, with about 1,000lobsters marked with international or­ange tags (Fig. 1) and released in thewestern part of Jordan Basin in about100 fathoms. Fishermen who catch anyof the tagged lobsters can claim a $5.00reward plus the current landed value ofthe lobster by keeping the lobster aliveor frozen; recording the tag number, thedate and location of capture, the cara­pace length, and any general commentsabout the lobster; and notifying thenearest NMFS port agent; or, by mail­ing the tag and above information toTom Meyer, National Marine FisheriesService, Woods Hole, MA 02543. Thisis the final year of the 3-year lobster tag­ging program between Maine's Depart­ment of Marine Resources and NMFS'sNortheast Fisheries Center.

Kraft Markets FederallyInspected Fish Products

The Kraft, Inc. Foodservice Grouplwill begin marketing Federally in­spected fishery products as part of itsparticipation in the U.S. CommerceDepartment's voluntary national seafoodinspection program. The Group is thenation's fifth largest distributor of foodservice products. Thus, in contractingto have its seafood products inspectedand graded by the Commerce Depart­ment's National Marine Fisheries Ser­vice, it has become the largest foodservice distributor to take part in theFederal seafood inspection program.The voluntary program is carried out by

'Mention of trade names or commercial firms doesnot imply endorsement by the National MarineFisheries Service, NOAA.

the NMFS to offer processors and re­tailers impartial and certified inspectionoffresh, frozen, canned, and cured fishand shellfish. The "Packed Under Fed­eral Inspection" mark and the "U.S.Grade jJ\' quality mark on fishery prod­ucts assure buyers of safe, wholesome,and properly labeled products certifiedby Federal inspectors.

Horseshoe Crab StudiedFisheries for horseshoe crabs for bait

and biomedical purposes are growing,reports the NMFS Northeast FisheriesCenter (NEFC). In fact, horseshoecrabs may be overfished in some areas.To establish the biological basis formanaging horseshoe crabs-should thatbe needed-scientists from the NEFCand Fordham University initiated a jointstudy of the species' distribution, abun­dance, feeding, and growth.

Historical data from the Center'sbottom-trawl surveys is providing infor­mation on trends in distribution andabundance. Recent data from the sur­veys will provide information on feed­ing by this predator on clams, scallops,etc. One of the more unusual efforts willbe trying to determine the age of lim­pets growing on the shells of horseshoecrabs as a way of indirectly determininghow long the crabs themselves can live.

Fish Prices by PhoneThe National Marine Fisheries Ser­

vice has installed an automatic tele­phone message center at Rockland,Maine. This provides callers with theBoston New England Fish Exchangedaily landings, fish auction prices, andthe New Bedford sea scallop landingsand ex-vessel prices. The new 24-hourtelephone service may be reached bycalling Rockland (2m) 596-0190.

Automatic telephone message centersare also available in: Portland, Maine(2m) 780-3340; Gloucester, Mass. (617)283-1101; Boston, Mass. (617) 542-7878;New Bedford, Mass. (617) 997-6565;New York, N.Y. (fresh fish prices) (212)620-3577; New York, N.Y. (frozen fishprices) (212) 620-3244; and Hampton,Va. (804) 723-0303.

47(3), 1985 7J