This series represents a secondary level of scientifiic publishing. It employs thorough internal

scientific review and technical and copy editing, but not necessarily external scientific review.

U. S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Mickey Kantor, Secretary

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

D. James Baker, Administrator

National Marine Fisheries Service

Rolland A. Schmitten, Assistant Administrator for Fisheries

Northeast Region

Northeast Fisheries Science Center

Woods Hole, Massachusetts

October 1996

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE-111

Review and Evaluation

of the 1994 Experimental Fishery

in Closed Area II on Georges Bank

Patricia Gerrior1, Fredric M. Serchuk1, Kathleen C. Mays1,

 John F. Kenney2, and Peter D. Colosi2

1National Marine Fisheries Service, Woods Hole, MA 02543

 2National Marine Fisheries Service, Gloucester, MA 01930
NOTE ON SPECIES NAMES

The NMFS Northeast Region’s policy on the use of species names in all technical communications is to follow the

American Fisheries Society’s (AFS) lists of scientific and common names for fishes (Robins et al. 1991)a, mollusks

(Turgeon et al. 1988)b, and decapod crustaceans (Williams et al. 1989)c, and to follow the American Society of

Mammalogists’ list of scientific and common names for marine mammals (Wilson and Reeder 1993)d

. This policy

applies to all issues of the NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE series.

a

Robins, C.R. (chair); Bailey, R.M.; Bond, C.E.; Brooker, J.R.; Lachner, E.A.; Lea, R.N.; Scott, W.B. 1991. Common and scientific

names of fishes from the United States and Canada. 5th ed. Amer. Fish. Soc. Spec. Publ. 20; 183 p.

b

Turgeon, D.D. (chair); Bogan, A.E.; Coan, E.V.; Emerson, W.K.; Lyons, W.G.; Pratt, W.L.; Roper, C.F.E.; Scheltema, A.; Thompson,

F.G.; Williams, J.D. 1988. Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: mollusks. Amer.

Fish. Soc. Spec. Publ. 16; 277 p.

c

Williams, A.B. (chair); Abele, L.G.; Felder, D.L.; Hobbs, H.H., Jr.; Manning, R.B.; McLaughlin, P.A.; Pérez Farfante, I. 1989.

Common and scientific names of aquatic invertebrates from the United States and Canada: decapod crustaceans. Amer. Fish. Soc. Spec.

Publ. 17; 77 p.

d

Wilson, D.E.; Reeder, D.M. 1993. Mammal species of the world: a taxonomic and geographic reference. Washington, DC: Smithsonian

Institution Press; 1206 p.
Page iii

Contents

Summary ............................................................................................................................................................................v

Introduction .......................................................................................................................................................................1

Methods ............................................................................................................................................................................2

Results ...............................................................................................................................................................................3

Discussion .........................................................................................................................................................................7

Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................................................................7

References Cited ................................................................................................................................................................7

Tables

Table 1. Species caught in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery .................................................................9

Table 2. Vessels participating in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery and in two

July 1994 sea sampling trips to Georges Bank ......................................................................................... 10

Table 3. Summary statistics for the January-June 1994 experimental fishery ........................................................ 11

Table 4. Summary of retained catches and discards taken in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 12

Table 5. Catch per unit of effort of retained catches and discards taken in the JanuaryJune 1994 experimental fishery ................................................................................................................ 13

Table 6. Summary trip statistics for 14 trips made during the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 14

Table 7. Summary of trip catches taken inside Area II during the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 15

Table 8. Summary of trip catches taken outside Area II during the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 16

Table 9. Summary of monthly catches taken inside Area II during the January-June

1994 experimental fishery ......................................................................................................................... 17

Table 10. Summary of monthly catches taken outside Area II during the January-June

1994 experimental fishery ......................................................................................................................... 18

Table 11. Summary of monthly discarded catches taken inside Area II during the JanuaryJune 1994 experimental fishery ................................................................................................................ 19

Table 12. Monthly discard percentages of catches taken inside Area II during the

January-June 1994 experimental fishery .................................................................................................. 20

Table 13. Frequency distributions of observed tows in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery categorized by catch of haddock ............................................................................ 21

Table 14. Summary of monthly catches taken outside Area II during the January-June

1994 experimental fishery ......................................................................................................................... 22

Table 15. Summary of monthly retained catches taken outside Area II during the

January-June 1994 experimental fishery .................................................................................................. 23

Table 16. Summary of monthly discarded catches taken outside Area II during the

January-June 1994 experimental fishery .................................................................................................. 24

Table 17. Monthly discard percentages of catches taken outside Area II during the

January-June 1994 experimental fishery .................................................................................................. 25

Table 18. Summary statistics for the July 1994 sea sampliung trips on Georges Bank ........................................... 26

Table 19. Summary of retained catches and discards taken in two July 1994 sea sampling

trips on Georges Bank ............................................................................................................................. 27

Table 20. Size composition data of groundfish FMP species sampled in the January-June

1994 experimental fishery. Goosefish samples are also presented. ......................................................... 28
Page iv

Figures

Figure 1. A) ICNAF haddock closed area established in 1970. B) U.S. haddock

closed Area II. ......................................................................................................................................... 29

Figure 2. Location of all tows in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery ........................................................ 30

Figure 3. Location of all tows by month in the January-June 1994 experimental

fishery ..................................................................................................................................................... 31

Figure 4. Catch per unit of effort by month for haddock, Atlantic cod, and 11 other

groundfish FMP species taken inside Area II and outside Area II in the JanuaryJune 1994 experimental fishery ................................................................................................................ 32

Figure 5. Distribution of haddock catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental

fishery ..................................................................................................................................................... 33

Figure 6. Distribution of Atlantic cod catches by month in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 34

Figure 7. Distribution of yellowtail flounder catches by month in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 35

Figure 8. Distribution of winter flounder catches by month in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 36

Figure 9. Distribution of American plaice catches by month in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 37

Figure 10. Distribution of witch flounder catches by month in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 38

Figure 11. Distribution of white hake catches by month in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 39

Figure 12. Distribution of goosefish catches by month in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 40

Figure 13. Location of all tows in the two July 1994 Georges Bank trips ................................................................. 41

Figure 14. Distribution of yellowtail flounder catches in Area II in the two July 1994 Georges

Bank trips ................................................................................................................................................ 42

Figure 15. Size-frequency distributions of haddock samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 43

Figure 16. Size-frequency distributions of Atlantic cod samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 44

Figure 17. Size-frequency distributions of yellowtail flounder samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 45

Figure 18. Size-frequency distributions of pollock and winter flounder samples in the JanuaryJune 1994 experimental fishery ................................................................................................................ 46

Figure 19. Size-frequency distributions of witch flounder samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 47

Figure 20. Size-frequency distributions of windowpane samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 48

Figure 21. Size-frequency distributions of American plaice samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 49

Figure 22. Size-frequency distributions of white hake samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 50

Figure 23. Size-frequency distributions of goosefish samples in the January-June 1994

experimental fishery ................................................................................................................................. 51

Figure 24. Catch per unit of effort of retained catches and discards for 11 species taken in the

January-June 1994 experimental fishery .................................................................................................. 52
Page v

SUMMARY

During January-June 1994, an experimental fishery was conducted on Georges Bank in the expanded

portion of Area II, an area closed to fishing during that period. (“Area II” refers to just the expanded portion

of Area II unless noted otherwise.) Purpose of the experimental fishery was to monitor the catch and bycatch

of Atlantic cod and haddock in Area II during its closure. During the fishery, 12 vessels from five New England

ports made 14 trips, totaling 522 tows and 1881.9 hr fished (gear on bottom). All trips were conducted with

Northeast Fisheries Science Center scientific observers on board. Observers recorded data on catches,

discards, fishing effort, and gear characteristics, and collected size-frequency samples of haddock and other

species.

Vessels were not restricted to fishing solely in the experimental area; all trips but one fished both inside

and outside Area II. Fishing effort in Area II was twice as great as that outside the area. Within Area II, the

majority of tows were made in the northwest corner of the area and along the north-south boundary separating

the expanded area from the original area of Area II. Fishing effort was also high along the U.S.-Canadian

maritime boundary. Effort outside Area II was dispersed with no clear concentrations.

Within Area II, catches from observed tows totaled 474,491 lb. Catches of the 13 groundfish species

covered by the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan (hereafter referred to as “groundfish FMP

species”) constituted 70% (333,366 lb) of the Area II total. Haddock catches (60,934 lb) accounted for 13%

of total catches and 18% of the catch of groundfish FMP species. Atlantic cod was the dominant species

taken in Area II, accounting for 34% (161,997 lb) of total catches and 49% of groundfish FMP catches.

Outside Area II, observed catches totaled 135,250 lb, of which 66% were groundfish FMP species

(88,875 lb) and 6% were haddock (8098 lb).

Catch rates, expressed as catch per unit of effort (CPUE; lb/hr fished), in Area II were considerably

higher than those outside the area. Haddock CPUE was 205% greater inside Area II than outside. CPUEs

within Area II were also higher for yellowtail flounder (178%), American plaice (95%), winter flounder (68%),

Atlantic cod (39%), pollock (31%), ocean pout (30%), windowpane (25%), and red hake (25%). Of the 13

groundfish FMP species, only witch flounder, Acadian redfish, white hake, and silver hake CPUEs were

higher outside Area II than inside.

During January-March, haddock catches in Area II were low, accounting for less than 2% of total

catches in the area. During April-June, however, haddock accounted for 16% of total catches in Area II; in

May and June (when haddock catches and CPUE peaked), haddock accounted for 34% of total catches in

Area II and 46% of groundfish FMP catches. Had an open fishery for mixed groundfish been conducted in the

expanded portion of Area II during April-June, total haddock catches would have been extremely high. The

largest individual tows of haddock occurred in late June, indicating that haddock were still aggregated in early

summer.

Length-frequency compositions of species were similar inside and outside Area II, with discarding

consistent with prevailing minimum size regulations or market demand. For haddock, however, large mature

fish (>23 inches) constituted a greater proportion of catches inside Area II than outside.

Given that Atlantic cod and haddock together accounted for nearly half (47%) of the total experimental fishery catches in the expanded portion of Area II, and that both of these stocks on Georges Bank are

presently at record-low levels of abundance, maintaining the enlarged Area II seasonal closure in 1995 (and

thereafter) is prudent as one component of a suite of conservation measures aimed at eliminating the overfished

conditions of these stocks.
Page 1

Since 1970, a seasonal closure of the northeast corner of Georges

Bank has been implemented to protect spawning concentrations of

haddock. This spawning area closure (originally designated as

Area B, but subsequently referred to as Area II) was first enacted

by the International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) in March and April 1970 (Figure 1A). The closure

prohibited “fishing with gear capable of catching demersal species”

(International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries

1969), and was designed to reduce haddock catches and to supplement existing catch limitations by spreading catches throughout

the year (Halliday 1988). Fishermen’s support for such closures

has traditionally been very strong; in fact, enactment of the haddock spawning closure in 1970 by ICNAF has been attributed to

the insistence of U.S. fishermen (Halliday 1988).

Both the United States and Canada retained use of the ICNAF

haddock spawning area fishery closures after extension of fishery

jurisdictions in 1977, with minor adjustments in gear restrictions

and closure duration (Clark et al. 1982). After 1971, duration of

the Area II closure was lengthened by both countries to include

March-May. In October 1984, delimitation of the U.S.-Canadian

maritime boundary subdivided Area II between the United States

and Canada. Nonetheless, the Area II closure has since been independently maintained by both countries with little change. Since

1985, Canada has continued to close its sector of Area II to fishing

during March-May. Similar closures were enacted in U.S. Area II

waters in 1985 and 1986. In 1987, the United States--under provisions of the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan

(hereafter referred to as the “groundfish FMP”)--lengthened the

duration of the Area II closure to include February-May. This 4-

mo closure was maintained annually through 1993 in the U.S.

portion of Area II.

Effective 1 January 1994, a revised U.S. management program was implemented for groundfish (i.e., Amendment 5 to the

groundfish FMP). As one part of a suite of conservation measures

to “eliminate the overfished condition of the principal groundfish

stocks” (New England Fishery Management Council 1993), the

Area II seasonal closure was extended spatially and temporally.

Area II was expanded by 20' longitude to the west and 15' latitude

to the south (Figure 1B), and the closure implemented for 6 mo,

from 1 January through 30 June. Rationale for this time/area extension was to provide additional protection to concentrations of

haddock in the area, viz.

In the case of the expansion of Area II, significant landings of

haddock are reported from the area around the current [pre-1994]

boundary line and when the area is opened. There are reports of

illegal fishing just over the boundary during the closure. Haddock

that are aggregated to spawn in this area are extremely susceptible

to being targeted, particularly around the margins of the area and

upon the termination of the closure. Based onhistorical landings,

nearly one quarter of the total landings of haddock are caught

within the area included in the proposed expansion during the

closure, and about one third of haddock landings are caught within

the expanded area during January through June. Based on an

analysis of the fishing effort in the area and displacing that effort to

other areas in the region with the next-highest catch rates in the

1988-90 period, the haddock that would have been saved amounts

to 21% of the total landings of haddock while the landings of other

groundfish would have increased by 1 percent. Without calculating

for displaced effort, the haddock savings would have amounted to

33 percent and other groundfish species to about one percent of the

total landings (Ham et al., 1991). (New England Fishery Management Council 1993).

The 1994 regulations prohibited any fishing in Area II during

the closure period, except for vessels using pot gear to fish for

American lobsters and for vessels using dredges to catch sea scallops. Retention of any haddock caught incidentally by scallop

dredge vessels was not permitted.

Concurrent with enactment of the expanded Area II closure in

1994, an experimental fishery program was established. This fishery was authorized as a research exemption under the groundfish

FMP, and allowed a restricted number of trawl vessels to fish in

the newly-expanded, L-shaped portion of Area II during the closure period, provided that scientific observers were carried aboard

the vessels. Purpose of the experimental fishery was to monitor

the catch and bycatch of Atlantic cod and haddock in the expanded

area during the January-June closure. Additional objectives were

to: 1) assess whether a limited trawl fishery for Atlantic cod (and

other groundfish) could be prosecuted in the expanded area without incurring significant bycatches of haddock; and 2) determine

when concentrations of spawning and post-spawning haddock no

longer resided in the expanded area.

In this report, we summarize and evaluate the performance of

the 1994 experimental fishery using tow-by-tow data collected by

scientific observers placed aboard each vessel in the experiment.

Information is provided on total catches, total fishing effort, species composition, discarding practices, size-frequency composition of the landings and discards, and spatial and temporal trends in

catch, effort, and CPUE. Attention is focused on haddock and the

12 other species covered by the groundfish FMP (i.e., Atlantic

cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder,

windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red

hake, silver hake, and ocean pout), although data are provided on

all species caught in the experimental fishery. Comparisons by

species and month are made between catches taken inside and

outside Area II. We also report the results of two sea sampling

trips made on Georges Bank in July 1994 after Area II was reopened for fishing.

INTRODUCTION
Page 2

DESIGN AND CONDUCT OF THE EXPERIMENTAL FISHERY

The operational plan for the experimental fishery required

deployment of scientific observers aboard commercial vessels authorized to fish in the expanded portion of Area II. A limited

number of trawl vessels were solicited to participate voluntarily in

the experiment. Vessel and observer schedules were coordinated to

ensure that all scientific data collection needs would be met.

Industry participation was initiated with inquiries to vessel

owners and captains who had landed trips from the expanded area

during the preceding winter-spring season. Prospective participants were briefed on the purpose, design, and administrative requirements of the experiment. All vessels licensed to fish in the

groundfish fishery, however, received written notification in December 1993 that an experimental fishery would be conducted and

that participating vessels would be required to take approved observers and submit logbooks. The number of participants in the

experimental fishery were limited to those required to keep pace

with the scheduled 2-4 trips per month.

Once a vessel was selected to participate in the experimental

fishery, an “Experimental Fishing Certificate for the Expanded

Portion of Closed Area II” was issued and arrangements made to

provide observer coverage. The certificate was hand-delivered to

the vessel captain, at which time the objectives and procedures of

the experimental fishery program were discussed. Any questions

or concerns on the part of the captain or crew were addressed.

While fishing in the experimental area, each participating captain

agreed to the following conditions:

1. The vessel could fish anywhere within the expanded closed

area, but not within the inner triangle portion constituting the

original Area II. Within the L-shaped expanded area, the captain

was free to decide where and when to fish. No restrictions were

placed on the number of tows or how fishing operations should be

conducted. However, each captain was informed that broad coverage of the expanded area would be beneficial in providing a synoptic basis for analyzing the experimental fishery data.

2. Vessels could fish only with regulated mesh [i.e., 5.5 inches

(13.97 cm) during January-March, 6.0 inches (15.24 cm) from

April onward].

3. Catches of Atlantic cod, American plaice, pollock, Acadian

redfish, winter flounder, witch flounder, and yellowtail flounder of

legal size could be landed, but no haddock could be retained.

4. The vessel had to be accompanied by a National

MarineFisheries Service (NMFS)-approved observer.

5. Vessels were under no obligation to remain in the experimental area for the entire trip.

6. An experimental fishery certificate was issued and valid for a

single trip. If a vessel wished to make a subsequent trip in the

experimental fishery program, a new certificate had to be issued.

As word of the experimental fishery spread through the industry, vessel owners and captains contacted NMFS requesting

details on the experiment and expressing interest in participation.

In the few cases where the number of interested vessels exceeded

the available observer coverage, vessels were selected randomly.

All scientific observers were provided by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) Fisheries Observer Program. Observers were instructed to observe as many hauls as possible and,

for each haul, record data on fishing location, fishing effort, catches,

discards, gear characteristics, hydrographic information, and other

information as specified in the “NEFSC Observer Manual.” Additionally, observers were requested to obtain length-frequency

samples from haddock and other groundfish FMP species.

Cooperation at sea was generally excellent between vessel

operators and scientific observers. In addition to providing all

required data, many captains and crew members provided additional anecdotal information on vessel operations and the status

and management of the groundfish fishery.

DATA PROCESSING AND ANALYSIS

Copies of the tow-by-tow logbooks completed by the scientific observers on each trip in the experimental fishery were forwarded to the NEFSC Woods Hole Laboratory for review and

analysis. Data analyses included: 1) tow-by-tow summaries of

fishing effort and catches (i.e., both retained and discarded) by

species or species group; 2) trip summaries of the tow-by-tow

locations (i.e., inside or outside Area II) where fishing occurred; 3)

month/location summaries of catches, effort, and CPUE; and 4)

location summaries of the size frequencies of landings and discard

samples. Spatial and temporal patterns in fishing effort, catches,

and CPUE were evaluated by month. CPUE was expressed as

catch per time fished (lb/hr), discard rates as percentages, and size

frequencies as mean, maximum, and minimum lengths (cm). In

calculating CPUE, no adjustments were made for possible differences in fishing power among vessels.

Tows were assigned to Area II if all, or any part, of the tow

was made inside Area II. Tows made outside Area II were collectively analyzed as a single group, although these hauls were made

over a very wide geographical area. Comparisons of catches, species composition, and CPUE from tows made inside and outside

Area II were conducted to provide initial insight on the impacts of

the Area II closure in protecting haddock and other groundfish

FMP species. More refined geographical-information-system-type

analyses, however, are required to delineate finer-scale spatial patterns, both within Area II and between Area II and external (both

adjacent and more distant) areas.

METHODS
Page 3

EXPERIMENT-WIDE

Table 1 lists the common and scientific names of all species

caught during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. During

the fishery, 14 trips were made by 12 different vessels (Table 2).

Participating vessels were from the Massachusetts ports of Boston (1), Gloucester (6), and New Bedford (2), and from the Maine

ports of Portland (2) and Rockland (1). Vessels were absent from

port for a total of 137 days, fished (i.e., gear on bottom) 1882 hr

(78.4 days), and made 522 tows. Average trip duration was 9.8

days (with a range of 9-13 days), average fishing time per trip was

134 hr (with a range of 62-186 hr), average number of tows per trip

was 37 (with a range of 20-58), and average tow duration was 3.6

hr (with a range of 2.1-4.8 hr).

All trips but one (i.e., trip 10) fished both inside and outside

Area II (Table 2; Figure 2). Total catches, discards, fishing effort,

number of tows, and haddock CPUE for the entire experiment are

summarized by location in Tables 3-5; individual trip data are

presented in Tables 6-8. Of the 522 tows made during the experiment, 445 tows (85%) were observed by scientific observers (Table

3). Sixty-nine percent (305) of the observed tows occurred inside

Area II, and 31% (140) outside Area II. Observed tows accounted

for 90% of total hauls in Area II, and 76% of total hauls made

outside Area II. Retained catches were recorded by scientific observers for all hauls (i.e., observed and unobserved), but discards

could only be tallied in observed hauls. Fishing captains do not

normally maintain records of discards. Therefore, discard estimates are not available from unobserved tows. Accordingly, all

results subsequently presented are based solely on observed hauls.

Experiment-wide catches totaled 609,741 lb [276.6 metric

tons (mt)], of which 422,241 lb (191.5 mt) were groundfish FMP

species (69%) and 69,032 lb (31.3 mt) were haddock (Table 3).

Haddock accounted for 11.3% of total catches and 16.3% of groundfish FMP catches. Although total observed fishing effort inside

Area II, in terms of both number of tows and hours fished, was

twice as great as outside Area II, total Area II catches were 251%

higher (474,491 versus 135,250 lb), groundfish FMP catches 275%

higher (333,366 versus 88,875 lb), and haddock catches 652%

higher (60,934 versus 8098 lb) than outside Area II (Table 4).

While groundfish FMP species accounted for about the same percentage of total catches in both areas (i.e., 70% inside Area II, 66%

outside Area II), haddock accounted for 18.3% of groundfish FMP

catches inside Area II and 9.1% outside Area II (Table 3). For the

January-June period, haddock CPUE inside Area II was 205%

higher than outside Area II (53.1 versus 17.4 lb/hr; Table 5).

Nearly all (96%) caught haddock were discarded (Table 3).

Within Area II, this was due to the experimental fishery requirement that any caught haddock could not be retained (although

haddock were inadvertently retained on three tows inside Area II

due to a misunderstanding that haddock could be retained if a tow

was not completely within Area II). Outside Area II, retention of

haddock was legally restricted to 500 lb (227 kg) per trip.

Discards of all species combined amounted to 206,867 lb

(93.8 mt), of which groundfish FMP species constituted 37%

(75,845 lb; 34.4 mt) (Table 3). Haddock discards (66,052 lb; 30.0

mt) accounted for 32% of total discards and 87% of groundfish

FMP discards. Other species heavily discarded included skates

(100,736 lb; 45.7 mt) and spiny dogfish (19,422 lb; 8.8 mt) (Table

4). Together with haddock, these species accounted for 90% of the

total biomass of fish discarded.

Enroute to the fishing grounds, vessel captains were asked to

identify the species targeted for fishing. Atlantic cod was designated as the target in nine trips, “mixed groundfish” in four trips,

and pollock in one trip (Table 6). Trip catches were consistent

with these designations (Tables 6-8). Atlantic cod accounted for

34% of total catches during the experiment, and 50% of catches of

groundfish FMP species (Table 6). Captains generally fished according to the “style” of their port, i.e., Gloucester vessels fished

for a mix of groundfish, New Bedford vessels fished for Atlantic

cod and various flounders, and Maine vessels fished for Atlantic

cod, pollock, and American plaice.

Nearly 50 different species were caught during the experimental fishery (Table 1). Relative contributions (as percent by

weight) of individual species to the total experiment-wide catch of

609,741 lb were as follows: Atlantic cod (34%), skates (19%),

pollock (12%), haddock (11%), goosefish (5%), American plaice

(3%), yellowtail flounder (3%), spiny dogfish (3%), white hake

(2%), “other fishes” (1%; see Table 1 for the 23 species constituting this category), cusk (1%), witch flounder (1%), American lobster (1%), winter flounder (1%), ocean pout (1%), Atlantic wolffish (<1%), Acadian redfish (<1%), silver hake (<1%), red hake

(<1%), “other invertebrates” (<1%; see Table 1 for the eight species constituting this category), and windowpane (<1%) (Table 4).

Additionally, two Atlantic white-sided dolphin (Lagen-orhynchus

acutus) were incidentally captured during one of the trips and

returned to the sea. No other marine mammals, sea turtles, or sea

birds were caught during the experiment.

INSIDE AREA II

Within Area II, catches from the 304 observed tows (1148

fishing hr) totaled 474,491 lb (215.2 mt), of which 302,634 lb

(137.3 mt) were retained (64%) and 171,857 lb (78.0 mt) were

discarded (Tables 9-11). Fishing activity occurred in all 6 mo, but

was not evenly distributed in time or space. Experimental fishing

effort was lowest in January (15 observed tows; 72 hr fished),

intermediate during February and May (32 and 37 tows; 76 and

110 hr fished), and highest in March, April, and June (61-97 tows;

230-422 hr fished) (Table 9). The majority of tows were made in

the northwest corner of the expanded area (Figure 3). During

March-June, fishing was concentrated along the north-south boundary separating the expanded area from the original area of Area II,

and also along the U.S.-Canadian maritime boundary (i.e., Hague

Line). In the first few months of the experiment, vessels moved

RESULTS
Page 4

throughout the expanded area to locate target species; in the last

three months, some vessels towed in locations where it was felt

haddock could be avoided.

Groundfish FMP catches (333,366 lb; 151.2 mt) constituted

70.3% of total catches in Area II, and 88.3% (267,120 lb; 121.2 mt)

of retained catches in Area II (Tables 9 and 10). Atlantic cod was

the most-caught species (161,997 lb; 73.5 mt), accounting for 34%

of the Area II total catch and 49% of the Area II groundfish FMP

catch. Haddock catches in Area II totaled 60,934 lb (26.7 mt),

12.8% of Area II total catches and 18.3% of Area II groundfish

FMP catches. All but 2% (1071 lb) of the caught haddock were

subsequently discarded (Table 12).

Prior to April, haddock catches in Area II were minor (i.e.,

January-March total of 1968 lb), accounting for less than 3% of

Area II total catches per month and less than 4% of groundfish

FMP catches per month (Table 9). Average catch per tow of

haddock during January-March was only 18.2 lb (i.e., January--

12.0 lb; February--0.3 lb; and March--29.2 lb); in these months,

haddock CPUE averaged just 5.2 lb/hr (i.e., January--2.5 lb/hr;

February--0.1 lb/hr; and March--7.7 lb/hr) (Figure 4). The largest

catch of haddock taken in any one tow during these 3 mo was 407

lb (Table 6). Apart from this tow and another tow in which 102 lb

of haddock were caught, none of remaining 106 observed tows

during January-March in Area II caught more than 78 lb of haddock (Figure 5).

Beginning in April and continuing through May, haddock

CPUE markedly increased in every trip made in Area II, rising

from 50 lb/tow (10.5 lb/hr) in trip 8 to 669 lb/tow (186 lb/hr) in trip

12 (Table 7). Average haddock catch per tow was 130 lb/tow (30

lb/hr) in April and 577 lb/tow (194 lb/hr) in May (Table 9; Figure

4). During these 2 mo, catches of haddock exceeded 100 lb in 51 of

the 134 observed tows (38%), and exceeded 500 lb in 17 tows.

Tows with the highest haddock catches occurred in the northwest

corner of the expanded area (near the 50-fathom contour) and along/

near the north-south boundary of the original and expanded closed

areas (Figure 5). The largest catch of haddock taken in a single tow

during April and May was 4600 lb--

more than twice the total haddock caught in Area II during the first

3 mo of the experimental fishery.

In June, haddock CPUE declined to 105 lb/hr (396.7 lb/tow)-

-lower than in May but substantially higher than any other month

(Figure 4). The last trip in the experimental fishery made in June

(i.e., trip 14) also fished on 1 July, the first day that all of Area II

was re-opened. On this date, three observed tows were made in

the inner triangle of original Area II. Two large hauls of haddock

were taken (9000 and 3500 lb), indicating that high concentrations

of haddock still existed in the re-opened area.

Over the entire January-June period, 87 of the 305 observed

tows (28%) in Area II caught no haddock, and in 114 other tows

(37%) haddock catches were 50 lb or less (Table 13). Overall, 93%

of Area II hauls (284 tows) caught less than 500 lb (227 kg) of

haddock.

Spatial distributions of haddock catches per tow by month

are presented in Figure 5. Similar distributions of catch per tow are

presented for Atlantic cod, flounders (yellowtail, winter, American plaice, and witch), white hake, and goosefish in Figures 6-12.

Spatially, these relative density distributions are consistent with

those observed in recent NEFSC spring research vessel bottom

trawl surveys.

After Atlantic cod (which accounted for 34% of Area II catch),

the most-caught species were skates (20%), haddock (13%), pollock (12%), yellowtail flounder (4%), goosefish (4%), American

plaice (4%), and spiny dogfish (3%) (Table 9). However, the

relative contributions of these species to the overall retained catch

were quite different, as 90% of the skates (84,159 lb; 38.2 mt) and

all spiny dogfish (13,672 lb; 6.2 mt) were discarded (Tables 11 and

12). As a result, Atlantic cod accounted for 53% of retained catches,

pollock for 18%, yellowtail flounder and goosefish for 6% each,

and American plaice for 5% (Table 10). The groundfish FMP

species accounted for 88% of retained catches in Area II.

Fish were discarded for three main reasons. Haddock caught

in Area II could not retained under provisions governing the experimental fishery. Spiny dogfish, ocean pout, skates, other fishes,

and other invertebrates were heavily discarded (i.e., 90% discard

rates; Table 12) due to the limited market value of these species to

the vessels in the experiment. For the remaining species, discards

generally reflected culling of undersized fish due to market considerations or existing legal minimum-size restrictions.

OUTSIDE AREA II

Catches, landings, and discards taken outside Area II during

the experimental fishery are summarized by species or species

groups in Tables 14-16, respectively. Catches by trip are presented in Table 8. A total of 140 tows were observed, comprising

466.2 hr of fishing effort. Expectedly, the temporal distribution of

fishing activity outside Area II differed from that inside Area II as

the vessels in the experimental fishery differentially allocated their

fishing activities between the two areas. Fishing effort outside

Area II was lowest in April (5 tows; 19 hr fished) (Table 14) when

fishing effort inside Area II was highest (Table 9). Highest fishing

effort outside Area II occurred in March (53 tows; 167 hr) and

May (36 tows; 126 hr); during these 2 mo, effort inside Area II was

similar, indicating that vessels divided their fishing activities nearly

equally between the two areas.

Catches in observed tows made outside Area II totaled 135,250

lb (61.3 mt), of which 66% (88,875 lb; 40.3 mt) were groundfish

FMP species and 6% (8098 lb; 3.7 mt) were haddock (Tables 9 and

14). More than 75% (6189 lb; 2.8 mt) of caught haddock were

discarded (Table 16). As in Area II, Atlantic cod was the predominant species caught (47,272 lb; 21.4 mt), accounting for 35% of

total catch and 53% of groundfish FMP catch.

Haddock catches outside Area II did not exceed 500 lb per

trip in the first 11 trips of the experiment (i.e., trips between

January and mid-May; Table 8). In these first 11 trips, haddock

catches accounted for about 2% (with a range of 0-9.6%) of total

catches taken in trips outside Area II, and about 2.4% (with a range

of 0-10.2%) of groundfish FMP catches taken in trips outside

Area II (Table 8).

On a monthly basis, haddock catches accounted for less than

4% of total catches outside Area II during January-May (Table

14). Apart from April when haddock CPUE seemingly increased

(i.e., to 16.5 lb/hr, although this is based on only five observed
Page 5

tows), haddock CPUE prior to June was extremely low (i.e., <6.9

lb/hr; <24 lb/tow) (Table 14). In June, haddock catches and haddock CPUE outside Area II sharply increased (Table 14; Figure 4);

more haddock were caught in June (5759 lb) that in the first 5 mo

combined (2339 lb). This increase was due to two large hauls

(3500 and 1000 lb) of haddock in June made just outside the Area

II boundary.

Of the 140 observed tows made outside Area II during the

experiment, 44% (61 tows) contained no haddock, and 40% (56

tows) contained haddock catches of 50 lb or less (Table 13). In

only two tows did haddock catches outside Area II exceed 500 lb

(i.e., the June tows mentioned above).

Species composition of catches made outside Area II was

similar to that inside Area II. Atlantic cod accounted for 35% of

total catches, followed by skates (15%), pollock (13%), goosefish

(9%), haddock (6%), spiny dogfish (4%), white hake (4%), and

American plaice (3%) (Table 14). Of retained catches, Atlantic cod

accounted for 47%, pollock for 17%, goosefish for 12%, and white

hake for 5% (Table 15). Since discarding practices outside Area II

were nearly identical to those inside Area II, species discard percentages were also similar (Tables 12 and 17).

POST-EXPERIMENT SEA SAMPLING

TRIPS TO GEORGES BANK

On 1 July, the entirety of Area II (i.e., both the expanded area

and the inner triangle) was re-opened for fishing. To assess postopening catch rates of haddock and other groundfish FMP species,

observers were placed on two vessels that intended to fish in the

Area II region. Both trips sailed in mid-July and were absent from

port for 10-11 days (Table 2). One of the trips (i.e, trip 15) fished

completely outside Area II, targetingAtlantic cod and flounders;

the other trip (i.e., trip 16) fished completely inside Area II, targeting yellowtail flounder (Figure 13).

Within Area II, 37 of the 48 post-experiment tows (77%)

were observed (Table 18); haddock catches in these hauls amounted

to only 22 lb, and constituted less than 1% of the total catch

(24,792 lb; 11.2 mt). Haddock catches were negligible primarily

because the vessel used a trawl designed for catching flatfish. As

intended, yellowtail flounder was the principal species caught during the trip, accounting for 45% (11,331 lb; 5.1 mt) of total catch

and 77% (10,192 lb; 4.6 mt) of retained catch (Table 19). Most

yellowtail flounder catches were taken in the inner triangular section of Area II (Figure 14). Large quantities (10,178 lb; 4.6 mt) of

skates were also caught, but 90% were discarded.

In the July trip that fished outside Area II, 36 of 40 tows

(90%) were observed (Table 18). Groundfish FMP species accounted for 66% (12,410 lb; 5.6 mt) of total catch (18,877 lb; 8.6

mt), with Atlantic cod and American plaice each accounting for

20% of the total (Table 19). Haddock catches totaled 798 lb, or 4%

of total catch and 6% of groundfish FMP catch. Approximately

25% of the total trip catch was discarded, consisting mostly of

spiny dogfish and skates.

SIZE COMPOSITION OF EXPERIMENTAL

FISHERY CATCHES

During the January-June experimental fishery, 9430 lengthfrequency measurements were made on 13 species. Samples were

taken inside and outside Area II from both retained catches and

discards. Most sampling (9408 fish) focused on nine groundfish

FMP species and goosefish (Table 20); sampling of three additional species was insignificant (i.e., 15 Atlantic halibut, 5 American lobster, and 2 American shad).

Sampling of haddock was the top priority. A total of 4801

haddock were measured, constituting 51% of all sampled fish.

Within Area II, length frequencies were taken from 3968 haddock

(3884 discards; 84 retained); outside Area II, length frequencies

were taken from 833 haddock (564 discards; 269 retained) (Figure

15). Size range of haddock discarded in both areas was similar

(Table 20), but large haddock (>60 cm) constituted a greater proportion of discards inside Area II than outside Area II. Since, in

both areas, nearly all caught haddock had to be discarded [i.e.,

culling was not much affected by the minimum legal size of 19

inches (48 cm)], the larger size composition of Area II discards

indicates that older, mature haddock were proportionally more

dominant inside Area II than outside.

For Atlantic cod, the principal species caught in both areas,

size-frequency distributions of catches inside and outside Area II

were virtually identical (Table 20; Figure 16). Discarded fish ranged

from 37 to 49 cm (14.6-19.3 inches), and averaged about 42 cm

(16.5 inches); retained fish ranged from 47 to 117 cm (18.5-46.1

inches), and averaged about 70 cm (27.6 inches). The lack of

overlap in sizes between discarded and retained fish reflects culling

in accord with the legal minimum size of 48 cm (19 inches) for

Atlantic cod.

Size-frequency plots for the other eight species sampled (i.e.,

yellowtail flounder, pollock, winter flounder, witch flounder,

American plaice, windowpane, white hake, and goosefish) are presented in Figures 17-23. In general, size compositions were similar

inside and outside Area II, with culling consistent with prevailing

minimum-size regulations--in the cases where these exist--or marketing demands. Of course, presence of scientific observers aboard

the experimental fishery vessels may have affected culling practices, particularly for species regulated by minimum-size restrictions.

IMPACT OF AREA II CLOSURE ON HADDOCK AND OTHER GROUNDFISH FMP

SPECIES

Enlargement of Area II in 1994 was enacted to ensure the

protection of haddock from fishing during the spawning season

when they become concentrated. The closure period was also

lengthened in time to include January to ensure that haddock beginning to aggregate in the area would be provided the fullest protection.
Page 6

One approach to evaluate the protection afforded to haddock

and other groundfish FMP species by the expanded Area II closure

is to examine the experimental fishery catch rates inside the expanded portion of Area II with those outside Area II. Higher catch

rates generally reflect higher densities of fish. Hence, to the extent

that catch rates inside the expanded portion of Area II are higher

than those outside, the absence of a fishery inside the expanded

portion will generate considerable “savings” of fish.

The CPUE--retained and discard catches combined--inside

Area II was higher than outside Area II for: 1) all species combined

(413 versus 290 lb/hr); 2) total groundfish FMP species (290 versus 191 lb/hr); and 3) for nine of the 13 groundfish FMP species.

The CPUE inside Area II was higher for haddock (205%), yellowtail flounder (178%), American plaice (95%), winter flounder (68%),

Atlantic cod (39%), pollock (31%), ocean pout (30%), windowpane (25%), and red hake (25%). For the remaining four groundfish FMP species, the CPUE inside Area II was lower: witch

flounder (15%), white hake (27%), silver hake (43%), and Acadian

redfish (96%) (Table 5 and Figure 24).

During January-March, haddock CPUE both inside and outside Area II was very low (<8 lb/hr) (Tables 9 and 14; Figure 4). In

April and May, haddock CPUE within Area II was substantially

higher than outside (April--30 versus 17 lb/tow; May--194 versus

7 lb/tow). In June, haddock CPUE in both areas exceeded 100 lb/

hr. As previously mentioned, the high haddock CPUE in June

outside Area II was due to two large catches just outside the Area

II boundary.

Within Area II, CPUEs of Atlantic cod and of all groundfish

FMP species excluding haddock and Atlantic cod peaked in April,

and were higher than those for haddock in each month but May and

June (Figure 4). Outside Area II, Atlantic cod CPUE peaked in

March and was higher than haddock CPUE in all months but June.

For species and species groups other than groundfish FMP

species taken in the experimental fishery, CPUEs inside Area II

were generally the same or higher than those outside Area II, except for goosefish (15.2 versus 25.8 lb/hr), spiny dogfish (11.9

versus 12.3 lb/hr), cusk (4.1 versus 4.9 lb/hr), American lobster

(3.3 versus 3.4 lb/hr), Atlantic wolffish (0.4 versus 3.3 lb/hr), and

other invertebrates (0.2 versus 1.2 lb/hr) (Table 5).

In total, the generally higher CPUEs inside the expanded portion of Area II compared to those outside Area II suggest that fish

densities were higher inside the expanded area. Prohibiting a commercial fishery in the expanded area in 1994 therefore prevented

high concentrations of fish from being exploited.

were among the highest observed in the experiment, indicating that

haddock were still aggregated in early summer.

After 1 July when Area II was re-opened for fishing, large

catches of haddock inside Area II were reported by commercial

fishermen. Observations made from two sea sampling trips conducted in mid-July, however, did not substantiate the existence of

large concentrations of haddock--although haddock may have already dispersed by this time. Also, the fishing gear used in the

July sea sampling trip to Area II was not optimal for catching

haddock.

 Since haddock caught inside Area II could not be retained, several vessels in the experimental fishery moved to different fishing

locations after haddock were caught. These movements were likely

intended to avoid subsequent haddock catches and to reduce culling time. Large haddock catches taken during the last few trips in

the experimental fishery prompted some vessel captains to suggest that the closure period should be extended further into the

summer.

Haddock and Atlantic cod accounted for 13 and 34%, respectively, of total catches inside Area II. As a group, the 13 groundfish FMP species accounted for 70% of total catches inside Area

II. Area II catches were thus dominated by species regulated under

the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan. Haddock,

Atlantic cod, and yellowtail flounder on Georges Bank are at recordlow abundance levels; the haddock and yellowtail flounder stocks

have “collapsed,” and an imminent danger exists that the Georges

Bank Atlantic cod stock will soon collapse (Northeast Fisheries

Science Center 1994). Given that these three species constituted

DISCUSSION

Some commercial fishermen have taken the position that it is

possible to prosecute a fishery for mixed groundfish in the expanded portion of Area II without catching significant quantities

of haddock. This position was, in part, the basis for conducting

the experimental fishery, the purpose of which was to monitor the

catch and bycatch of Atlantic cod and haddock in the expanded

portion of Area II during January-June 1994.

During January through March, haddock catches in the expanded area were low (1968 lb in total), accounting for less than

2% of total Area II catches. During this same period, 60,478 lb of

other groundfish FMP species were taken in the expanded area.

Clearly, fishing in these months had little negative impact on haddock.

However, during April-June, haddock constituted 16% of

total catches, and 22% of groundfish FMP catches, in Area II. In

May and June when haddock catches and CPUE were at their

highest in Area II, haddock constituted 34% of total catches and

46% of groundfish FMP catches. Obviously, had an open fishery

for mixed groundfish been conducted in the expanded area during

April-June, total haddock catches would have been extremely high.

Traditionally, the period of peak haddock spawning on the

northeastern part of Georges Bank is during March and April

(Overholtz 1987). However, the timing and duration of spawning

can vary from year to year due to influence of temperature. In

1994, high concentrations of haddock (i.e., >400 lb/tow) were not

detected in the experimental fishery until mid-March, suggesting

that haddock spawning occurred later in 1994 than the traditional

pattern. Catches of haddock in tows made in Area II in late June
Page 7

a major fraction of monthly catches inside Area II during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery, maintaining the enlarged Area

II seasonal closure in 1995 (and thereafter) is

We extend our gratitude and appreciation to all scientific observers who collected the experimental fishery data. We also

Clark, S.H.; Overholtz, W.J.; Hennemuth, R.C. 1982. Review and

assessment of the Georges Bank and Gulf of Maine haddock

fishery. J. Northwest Atl. Fish. Sci. 3:1-27.

Halliday, R.G. 1988. Use of seasonal spawning area closures in

the management of haddock fisheries in the Northwest Atlantic. Northwest Atl. Fish. Organ. Sci. Counc. Stud. 12:27-36.

Ham, D.; Mannesto, G.; Wang, S. 1991. Haddock spawning

closed area analysis--a summary. A report for the Multispecies

Plan Development Team of the New England [Fishery Management] Council. Gloucester, MA: NMFS Northeast Regional Operations Office.

International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries.

1969. Report of the 19th annual meeting, 2-7 June 1969. Int.

Comm. Northwest Atl. Fish. Annu. Proc. 19:14-39.

prudent as one component of the suite of conservation measures

aimed at eliminating the overfished conditions of these stocks.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

thank the captains, vessel owners, and crews who participated in

the 1994 experiment.

REFERENCES CITED

New England Fishery Management Council. 1993. Amendment

#5 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan.

Saugus, MA: New England Fishery Management Council.

Northeast Fisheries Science Center. 1994. Report of the 18th

Northeast Regional Stock Assessment Workshop (18th SAW):

the plenary. Northeast Fish. Sci. Cent. Ref. Doc. 94-23: 71 p.

Available from: National Marine Fisheries Service, 166 Water

St., Woods Hole, MA 02543.

Overholtz, W.J. 1987. Factors relating to the reproductive biology of Georges Bank haddock (Melanogrammus aeglefinus)

in 1977-83. J. Northwest Atl. Fish. Sci. 7:145-154.
Page 8
Page 9

Table 1. Species caught in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Common Name Scientific Name

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Principal Fishes

Acadian redfish .................................................................................................................................. Sebastes fasciatus

American plaice ................................................................................................................................. Hippoglossoides platessoides

Atlantic cod ........................................................................................................................................ Gadus morhua

Atlantic wolffish ................................................................................................................................ Anarhichas lupus

Cusk ..................................................................................................................................................... Brosme brosme

Goosefish ............................................................................................................................................ Lophius americanus

Haddock .............................................................................................................................................. Melanogrammus aeglefinus

Ocean pout ......................................................................................................................................... Macrozoarces americanus

Pollock ............................................................................................................................................... Pollachius virens

Red hake ............................................................................................................................................. Urophycis chuss

Silver hake .......................................................................................................................................... Merluccius bilinearis

Skates .................................................................................................................................................. Raja spp.

Spiny dogfish ...................................................................................................................................... Squalus acanthias

White hake ......................................................................................................................................... Urophycis tenuis

Windowpane ...................................................................................................................................... Scophthalmus aquosus

Winter flounder ................................................................................................................................. Pleuronectes americanus

Witch flounder ................................................................................................................................... Glyptocephalus cynoglossus

Yellowtail flounder ............................................................................................................................ Pleuronectes ferrugineus

Other Fishes

Alewife ................................................................................................................................................ Alosa pseudoharengus

American shad ................................................................................................................................... Alosa sapidissima

Atlantic halibut .................................................................................................................................. Hippoglossus hippoglossus

Atlantic herring ................................................................................................................................. Clupea harengus

Atlantic mackerel .............................................................................................................................. Scomber scombrus

Atlantic menhaden ............................................................................................................................ Brevoortia tyrannus

Atlantic torpedo ................................................................................................................................ Torpedo nobiliana

Bluefish ............................................................................................................................................... Pomatomus saltatrix

Buckler dory ....................................................................................................................................... Zenopsis conchifera

Butterfish ............................................................................................................................................ Peprilus triacanthus

Conger eel ........................................................................................................................................... Conger oceanicus

Cunner................................................................................................................................................. Tautogolabrus adspersus

Fourspot flounder .............................................................................................................................. Paralichthys oblongus

Lumpfish ............................................................................................................................................ Cyclopterus lumpus

Marlin-spike ....................................................................................................................................... Nezumia bairdi

Sculpins ............................................................................................................................................... Myoxocephalus spp.

Scup ..................................................................................................................................................... Stenotomus chrysops

Sea lamprey ........................................................................................................................................ Petromyzon marinus

Sea raven ............................................................................................................................................ Hemitripterus americanus

Sharks .................................................................................................................................................. Carcharhinus spp.

Summer flounder ................................................................................................................................ Paralichthys dentatus

Tilefish ............................................................................................................................................... Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps

Wrymouth .......................................................................................................................................... Cryptacanthodes maculatus

Principal Invertebrates

American lobster ............................................................................................................................... Homarus americanus

Other Invertebrates

Atlantic rock crab ............................................................................................................................. Cancer irroratus

Atlantic surfclam ............................................................................................................................... Spisula solidissima

Jonah crab ........................................................................................................................................... Cancer borealis

Longfin squid ...................................................................................................................................... Loligo pealei1

Northern shortfin squid .................................................................................................................... Illex illecebrosus

Red deepsea crab ................................................................................................................................ Geryon quinquedens

Sea scallop .......................................................................................................................................... Placopecten magellanicus

Spoonarm octopus ............................................................................................................................. Bathypolypus arcticus

________

1

Changed from L. pealeii to L. pealei per communication of M. Vecchione, NMFS National Systematics Lab., Washington, DC; July 1996.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 10

Table 2. Vessels participating in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery and in two July 1994 sea sampling trips to Georges

Bank

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Total Number of Tows

 Trip Vessel Days Hours Inside Outside

 No. Ident. Port Trip Dates Absent Fished Area II Area II Total

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

1 A Gloucester 21-29 Jan 9 134.7 15 15 30

2 B Gloucester 5-10 Feb 6 70.5 4 16 20

3 C New Bedford 16-23 Feb 8 129.4 35 23 58

4 D Boston 28 Feb - 8 Mar 9 66.9 4 23 27

5 E New Bedford 5-10 Mar 6 62.5 11 15 26

6 A Gloucester 14-23 Mar 1 0 143.1 8 28 36

7 F Portland 15-27 Mar 1 3 179.4 40 3 43

8 G Gloucester 31 Mar - 11 Apr 1 2 185.6 37 2 39

9 H Gloucester 4-15 Apr 12 184.3 37 5 42

10 I Rockland 11-19 Apr 9 105.4 29 0 29

11 D Boston 12-20 May 9 112.7 29 12 41

1 2 J Gloucester 23 May - 2 Jun 1 1 166.9 13 31 44

13 K Gloucester 2-13 Jun 1 2 176.9 39 6 45

14 L Portland 22 Jun - 2 Jul 1 1 163.9 37 5 42

Subtotal: 137 1881.9 338 184 522

15 M Gloucester 12-21 Jul 1 0 162.4 0 40 40

16 N New Bedford 15-25 Jul 11 159.7 48 0 48

Total: 158 2204.0 386 224 610

_________________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 11

Table 3. Summary statistics for the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are

presented for tows made inside and outside Area II. All catch data are based on observed

tows only. Fourteen trips were conducted using 12 different vessels.)

________________________________________________________________________

 Inside Outside

 Statistic Area II Area II Total

________________________________________________________________________

Number of tows observed 305 140 445

Number of tows unobserved 3 3 4 4 7 7

Total tows 338 184 522

Percent observed 9 0 7 6 8 5

Avg. tow time (hr)1 3.8 3.3 3.6

Total effort (hr)1 1,147.7 466.2 1,613.9

Observed Tows

Total catch (lb) 474,491 135,250 609,741

 Haddock 60,934 8,098 69,032

 FMP species2 333,366 88,875 422,241

 Others 141,125 46,375 187,500

Total discards (lb) 171,857 35,010 206,867

 Haddock 59,863 6,189 66,052

 FMP species2 66,246 9,599 75,845

 Others 105,611 25,411 131,022

Haddock catch/total catch (%) 12.8 6.0 11.3

Haddock catch/FMP species catch (%)2 18.3 9.1 16.3

Haddock discards/total discards (%) 34.8 17.7 31.9

_______

1

From observed tows.

2

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod,

pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice,

Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

________________________________________________________________________
Page 12

Table 4. Summary of retained catches (lb) and discards (lb) taken in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are presented for tows

made inside and outside Area II. All data are based on observed tows only.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Inside Area II Outside Area II

 Retained Retained Combined

 Species Catches Discards Total Catches Discards Total Total

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Haddock1 1,071 59,863 60,934 1,909 6,189 8,098 69,032

Atlantic cod1 160,879 1,118 161,997 46,681 591 47,272 209,269

Pollock1 54,573 38 54,611 16,864 62 16,926 71,537

Yellowtail flounder1 17,096 464 17,560 2,487 70 2,557 20,117

Winter flounder1 3,614 3 3,617 836 24 860 4,477

Witch flounder1 3,765 169 3,934 1,666 170 1,836 5,770

Windowpane1 308 213 521 54 156 210 731

American plaice1 16,442 367 16,809 3,314 201 3,515 20,324

Acadian redfish1 154 3 157 889 337 1,226 1,383

White hake1 8,442 172 8,614 4,530 267 4,797 13,411

Red hake1 562 66 628 46 129 175 803

Silver hake1 109 384 493 0 319 319 812

Ocean pout1 105 3,386 3,491 0 1,084 1,084 4,575

Cusk 4,731 0 4,731 2,270 0 2,270 7,001

Atlantic wolffish 476 1 477 1,543 4 1,547 2,024

Goosefish 17,027 497 17,524 11,555 471 12,026 29,550

Skates 9,615 84,159 93,774 4,069 16,577 20,646 114,420

Spiny dogfish 0 13,672 13,672 0 5,750 5,750 19,422

Other fishes2 650 6,314 6,964 207 1,736 1,943 8,907

American lobster 3,003 774 3,777 1,300 303 1,603 5,380

Other invertebrates3 12 194 206 20 570 590 796

Total 302,634 171,857 474,491 100,240 35,010 135,250 609,741

Total FMP species1 267,120 66,246 333,366 79,276 9,599 88,875 422,241

_______

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder,

witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 13

Table 5. Catch per unit of effort (lb/hr fished) of retained catches and discards (lb) taken in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery.

(Data are presented for tows made inside and outside Area II. All data are based on observed tows only.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Inside Area II Outside Area II

 Retained Retained Combined

 Species Catches Discards Total Catches Discards Total Total4

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Haddock1 0.9 52.2 53.1 4.1 13.3 17.4 42.7

Atlantic cod1 140.2 1.0 141.2 100.1 1.3 101.4 129.7

Pollock1 47.5 0.1 47.6 36.2 0.1 36.3 44.3

Yellowtail flounder1 14.9 0.4 15.3 5.3 0.2 5.5 12.5

Winter flounder1 3.1 0.1 3.2 1.8 0.1 1.9 2.8

Witch flounder1 3.3 0.1 3.4 3.6 0.4 4.0 3.6

Windowpane1 0.3 0.2 0.5 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.5

American plaice1 14.3 0.3 14.6 7.1 0.4 7.5 12.6

Acadian redfish1 0.1 <0.1 0.1 1.9 0.7 2.6 0.9

White hake1 7.4 0.1 7.5 9.7 0.6 10.3 8.3

Red hake1 0.5 <0.1 0.5 0.1 0.3 0.4 0.5

Silver hake1 0.1 0.3 0.4 - 0.7 0.7 0.5

Ocean pout1 <0.1 3.0 3.0 - 2.3 2.3 2.8

Cusk 4.1 - 4.1 4.9 - 4.9 4.3

Atlantic wolffish 0.4 <0.1 0.4 3.3 <0.1 3.3 1.3

Goosefish 14.8 0.4 15.2 24.8 1.0 25.8 18.3

Skates 8.4 73.3 81.7 8.7 35.6 44.3 70.9

Spiny dogfish - 11.9 11.9 - 12.3 12.3 12.0

Other fishes2 0.6 5.5 6.1 0.4 3.7 4.1 5.5

American lobster 2.6 0.7 3.3 2.8 0.6 3.4 3.3

Other invertebrates3 <0.1 0.2 0.2 <0.1 1.2 1.2 0.5

Total 263.7 149.7 413.4 215.0 75.1 290.1 377.8

Total FMP species1 232.7 57.7 290.4 170.0 20.6 190.6 261.6

_________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder,

witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

4

Total catches (retained and discards)/total fishing effort.

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 6. Summary trip statistics for 14 trips made during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are presented for tows made inside and outside 

are based on observed tows only.)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Trip No.

 Statistic 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 _________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________Month Jan Feb Feb Mar Mar Mar Mar Apr Apr Apr May May Jun Target species Cod Cod Cod Mixed Mixed Cod Pollock Cod Cod Cod Mixed Mixed Cod 

Mesh size (inches) 5.5 6.0 5.5/6.0 6.0 5.5 5.5 5.5 5.5 6.0 5.5 6.0 6.0 6.0 Number of tows Total 3 0 2 0 5 8 2 7 2 6 3 6 4 3 3 9 4 2 2 9 4 1 4 4 4 5  Observed 2 4 1 7 4 1 2 4 2 0 2 7 4 3 3 9 3 4 2 9 3 4 3 9 3 8  Unobserved 6 3 1 7 3 6 9 0 0 8 0 7 5 7  % Observed 8 0 8 5 7 1 8 9 7 7 7 5 100 100 8 1 100 8 3 8 9 8 4 

Observed Tows

Effort (hr) 111.3 61.5 86.3 57.9 45.8 113.6 179.4 185.6 149.8 105.4 91.9 144.3 147.4 Avg. tow duration (hr) 4.6 3.6 2.1 2.4 2.3 4.2 4.2 4.8 4.4 3.6 2.7 3.7 3.9 Catches (lb) Total all species 24,847 13,051 14,430 33,716 8,863 26,731 69,054 50,651 89,704 94,165 47,622 42,231 49,960  Haddock 362 228 9 554 2 8 119 1,817 2,159 3,784 7,004 12,821 9,393 11,943  Atlantic cod 7,171 1,348 8,527 6,682 2,433 23,435 16,883 16,240 31,063 56,218 5,682 7,934 21,221  FMP species1 11,735 4,441 9,224 20,892 3,446 25,199 44,837 34,594 55,311 86,123 28,820 20,936 37,598 

Haddock Catch/tow (lb) 15.1 13.4 0.0 23.1 1.4 4.4 42.3 55.4 111.3 241.5 377.1 240.8 314.3  CPUE (lb/hr) 3.3 3.7 0.1 9.6 0.6 1.0 10.1 11.6 25.3 66.5 139.5 65.1 81.0 

 Largest tow (lb) 6 7 8 2 9 121 1 3 2 9 407 400 486 1,462 4,600 4,000 7,000 _______

1Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, 

plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

2Six tows on this trip were made on 1 July._________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 7. Summary of trip catches (lb; retained catches and discards combined) taken inside Area II during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (All data ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Trip No.

 Statistic/Species 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________No. of observed tows 1 5 4 2 8 4 1 0 7 4 0 3 7 3 1 2 9 2 4 1 3 3 2 Fishing Effort (hr) 71.5 14.2 61.7 12.0 21.9 27.4 168.7 177.3 138.8 105.4 63.4 46.7 121.3 1Haddock1 180 6 0 80 28 0 1,674 1,859 3,765 7,004 12,643 8,700 10,705 14

Atlantic cod1 4,499 397 8,355 126 932 1,535 15,563 14,440 30,677 56,218 4,676 3,536 17,521 3

Pollock1 975 21 0 106 327 0 19,576 8,757 3,418 17,222 775 71 318 3

Yellowtail flounder1 93 8 134 4 113 2 595 4,774 10,340 0 236 126 1,120 

Winter flounder1 128 2 403 0 40 55 260 90 9 0 124 367 1,919 

Witch flounder1 219 0 0 18 25 2 973 129 345 723 463 2 0 1Windowpane1 21 3 44 0 103 0 36 10 197 0 32 5 70 

American plaice1 421 95 18 101 63 135 794 1,435 982 3,043 4,094 2 0 5

Acadian redfish1 1 0 0 0 0 0 144 0 2 9 1 0 0 

White hake1 341 30 0 0 0 0 2,019 50 162 1,786 679 0 7 3

Red hake1 64 0 0 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 

Silver hake1 63 0 0 4 8 0 81 18 104 90 74 0 0 Ocean pout1 135 0 0 31 0 28 205 82 2,299 28 165 103 410 

Cusk 9 7 0 0 8 5 5 0 1,309 370 977 480 678 0 0 Atlantic wolffish 2 4 0 2 4 0 0 0 5 6 3 5 0 7 9 103 1 3 9 0 Goosefish 3,423 102 0 255 70 0 6,151 1,118 1,592 651 2,186 56 30 1

Skates 4,175 3,650 3,724 1,700 3,530 870 12,162 12,655 22,880 1,261 9,860 7,022 8,420 1Spiny dogfish 275 0 0 500 9 5 0 2,358 1,285 2,357 4,807 79 1,258 573 Other fishes2 528 49 278 91 98 55 274 258 3,396 297 590 259 772 

American lobster 480 22 107 21 87 0 1,317 171 454 465 340 22 4 Other invertebrates3 26 1 3 6 3 0 0 0 36 2 27 7 95 

Total 16,168 4,386 13,068 3,168 5,527 2,682 65,551 47,536 83,992 94,165 37,825 21,549 42,054 36Total FMP species1 7,140 562 8,954 470 1,639 1,757 41,924 31,644 52,300 86,123 23,962 12,912 32,070 31

Haddock as a % of: All species 1.1 0.1 0.0 2.5 0.5 0.0 2.6 3.9 4.5 7.4 33.4 40.4 25.5 

 FMP species1 2.5 1.1 0.0 17.0 1.7 0.0 4.0 5.9 7.2 8.1 52.8 67.4 33.4 4

Haddock Catch/tow (lb) 12.0 1.5 0.0 20.0 2.8 0.0 41.9 50.2 121.5 241.5 526.8 669.2 334.5 4 CPUE (lb/hr) 2.5 0.4 0.0 6.7 1.3 0.0 9.9 10.5 27.1 66.5 199.4 186.3 88.3 1

_______1Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windo

redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

2Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)3Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 8. Summary of trip catches (lb; retained catches and discards combined) taken outside Area II during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (All data ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Trip No.

 Statistic/Species 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________No. of observed tows 9 1 3 1 3 2 0 1 0 2 0 3 2 3 0 1 0 2 6 6 Fishing effort (hr) 39.8 47.3 24.6 45.9 23.9 86.2 10.7 8.3 11.0 0 28.5 97.6 26.1 Haddock1 182 222 9 474 0 119 143 300 19 0 178 693 1,238 4

Atlantic cod1 2,672 951 172 6,556 1,501 21,900 1,320 1,800 386 0 1,006 4,398 3,700 

Pollock1 456 916 0 10,989 0 290 1,225 800 10 0 1,555 255 50 

Yellowtail flounder1 2 0 9 25 35 10 0 0 2,266 0 0 30 180 

Winter flounder1 2 0 58 3 150 0 0 0 11 0 0 61 295 Witch flounder1 297 198 0 614 0 335 91 15 0 0 109 152 0 

Windowpane1 0 0 17 47 110 0 0 0 0 0 0 36 0 

American plaice1 382 256 5 442 11 668 37 35 8 0 864 692 0 

Acadian redfish1 4 313 0 20 0 110 0 0 0 0 79 410 0 

White hake1 326 982 0 805 0 0 87 0 0 0 1,052 890 0 

Red hake1 175 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Silver hake1 90 41 0 119 0 0 10 0 11 0 15 33 0 

Ocean pout1 7 0 0 328 0 10 0 0 300 0 0 374 65 

Cusk 347 268 0 626 0 5 6 0 4 0 0 0 696 163 0 

Atlantic wolffish 8 1 7 0 874 0 2 0 0 0 0 0 200 403 2 0 Goosefish 2,930 2,320 26 2,118 0 0 408 45 45 0 2,603 1,231 50 Skates 163 1,030 925 5,545 1,443 265 40 20 2,180 0 720 6,370 1,765 Spiny dogfish 4 4 544 0 409 3 0 1 6 1 0 5 0 0 450 3,784 240 Other fishes2 76 46 118 291 41 230 18 25 421 0 77 447 153 

American lobster 463 185 23 206 6 87 48 25 4 0 173 213 150 

Other invertebrates3 53 376 0 57 36 0 0 0 1 0 20 47 0 

Total 8,679 8,665 1,362 30,548 3,336 24,049 3,503 3,115 5,712 0 9,797 20,682 7,906 7Total FMP species1 4,595 3,879 270 20,422 1,807 23,442 2,913 2,950 3,011 0 4,858 8,024 5,528 7

Haddock as a % of: All species 2.1 2.6 0.7 1.6 0.0 0.5 4.1 9.6 0.3 0.0 1.8 3.4 15.7 5

 FMP species1 4.0 5.7 3.3 2.3 0.0 0.5 4.9 10.2 0.6 0.0 3.7 8.6 22.4 6

Haddock Catch/tow (lb) 20.2 17.1 0.7 23.7 0.0 6.0 47.7 150.0 6.3 0.0 17.8 26.7 206.3 90 CPUE (lb/hr) 4.6 4.7 0.4 10.3 0.0 1.4 13.4 36.1 1.7 0.0 6.2 7.1 47.4 2

________1Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windo

redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

2Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)3Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 17

Table 9. Summary of monthly catches (lb; retained catches and discards combined) taken inside Area II during the JanuaryJune 1994 experimental fishery. (All data are based on observed tows only.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Statistic/Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No. of observed tows 1 5 3 2 6 1 9 7 3 7 6 3 305

Fishing effort (hr) 71.5 75.9 230.0 421.5 110.1 238.7 1147.7

Haddock1 180 6 1,782 12,628 21,343 24,995 60,934

Atlantic cod1 4,499 8,752 18,156 101,335 8,212 21,043 161,997

Pollock1 975 21 20,009 29,397 846 3,363 54,611

Yellowtail flounder1 93 142 714 15,114 362 1,135 17,560

Winter flounder1 128 405 355 99 491 2,139 3,617

Witch flounder1 219 0 1,018 1,197 465 1,035 3,934

Windowpane1 21 47 139 207 37 70 521

American plaice1 421 113 1,093 5,460 4,096 5,626 16,809

Acadian redfish1 1 0 144 11 1 0 157

White hake1 341 30 2,019 1,998 679 3,547 8,614

Red hake1 64 0 4 0 0 560 628

Silver hake1 63 0 93 212 74 51 493

Ocean pout1 135 0 264 2,409 268 415 3,491

Cusk 9 7 0 1,399 1,827 678 730 4,731

Atlantic wolffish 2 4 2 9 6 114 116 125 477

Goosefish 3,423 102 6,476 3,361 2,242 1,920 17,524

Skates 4,175 7,374 18,262 36,796 16,882 10,285 93,774

Spiny dogfish 275 0 2,953 8,449 1,337 658 13,672

Other fishes2 528 327 518 3,951 849 791 6,964

American lobster 480 129 1,425 1,090 362 291 3,777

Other invertebrates3 26 4 9 38 34 95 206

Total 16,168 17,454 76,928 225,693 59,374 78,874 474,491

Total FMP species1 7,140 9,516 45,790 170,067 36,874 63,979 333,366

Haddock catches as a % of:

 All species 1.1 0.0 2.3 5.6 35.9 31.7 12.8

 FMP species1 2.5 0.1 3.9 7.4 57.9 39.1 18.3

Haddock

 Catch/tow (lb) 12.0 0.2 29.2 130.2 576.8 396.7 199.8

 CPUE (lb/hr) 2.5 0.1 7.7 30.0 193.9 104.7 53.1

_______

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder,

winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean

pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 18

Table 10. Summary of monthly retained catches (lb) taken inside Area II during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (All data are

based on observed tows only.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Statistic/Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No. of observed tows 1 5 3 2 6 1 9 7 3 7 6 3 305

Fishing effort (hr) 71.5 75.9 230.0 421.5 110.1 238.7 1147.7

Haddock1 0 0 0 500 71 500 1,071

Atlantic cod1 4,460 8,749 18,097 100,697 8,081 20,795 160,879

Pollock1 968 21 20,009 29,372 843 3,360 54,573

Yellowtail flounder1 92 141 657 14,747 326 1,133 17,096

Winter flounder1 128 403 354 99 491 2,139 3,614

Witch flounder1 199 0 1,001 1,120 411 1,034 3,765

Windowpane1 0 38 81 110 9 70 308

American plaice1 390 113 1,082 5,337 3,945 5,575 16,442

Acadian redfish1 0 0 144 9 1 0 154

White hake1 341 30 2,019 1,905 602 3,545 8,442

Red hake1 0 0 2 0 0 560 562

Silver hake1 0 0 78 3 0 28 109

Ocean pout1 0 0 0 105 0 0 105

Cusk 9 7 0 1,399 1,827 678 730 4,731

Atlantic wolffish 2 4 2 9 5 114 116 125 476

Goosefish 3,350 102 6,415 3,144 2,096 1,920 17,027

Skates 530 768 967 1,080 2,080 4,190 9,615

Spiny dogfish 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other fishes2 70 0 112 361 95 12 650

American lobster 380 125 1,324 756 194 224 3,003

Other invertebrates3 0 0 0 10 2 0 12

Total 11,029 10,492 53,836 161,296 20,041 45,940 302,634

Total FMP species1 6,578 9,495 43,524 154,004 14,780 38,739 267,120

Haddock landings as a % of:

 All species 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.4 1.1 0.4

 FMP species1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.3 0.5 1.3 0.4

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder,

witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 19

Table 11. Summary of monthly discarded catches (lb) taken inside Area II during the January-June 1994 experimental

fishery. (All data are based on observed tows only.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Statistic/Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

__________________________________________________________________________________________

No. of observed tows 1 5 3 2 6 1 9 7 3 7 6 3 305

Fishing effort (hr) 71.5 75.9 230.0 421.5 110.1 238.7 1147.7

Haddock1 180 6 1,782 12,128 21,272 24,495 59,863

Atlantic cod1 39 3 59 638 131 248 1,118

Pollock1 7 0 0 25 3 3 38

Yellowtail flounder1 1 1 57 367 36 2 464

Winter flounder1 021000 3

Witch flounder1 20 0 17 77 54 1 169

Windowpane1 21 9 58 97 28 0 213

American plaice1 31 0 11 123 151 51 367

Acadian redfish1 100200 3

White hake1 0 0 0 93 77 2 172

Red hake1 64 0 2 0 0 0 66

Silver hake1 63 0 15 209 74 23 384

Ocean pout1 135 0 264 2,304 268 415 3,386

Cusk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Atlantic wolffish 0 0 1 0 0 0 1

Goosefish 73 0 61 217 146 0 497

Skates 3,645 6,606 17,295 35,716 14,802 6,095 84,159

Spiny dogfish 275 0 2,953 8,449 1,337 658 13,672

Other fishes2 458 327 406 3,590 754 779 6,314

American lobster 100 4 101 334 168 67 774

Other invertebrates3 26 4 9 28 32 95 194

Total 5,139 6,962 23,092 64,397 39,333 45,940 171,857

Total FMP species1 562 21 2,266 16,063 22,094 25,240 66,246

Haddock discards as a % of:

 All species 3.5 0.1 7.7 18.8 54.1 74.4 34.8

 FMP species1 32.0 28.6 78.6 75.5 96.3 97.0 90.4

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail

flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver

hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 20

Table 12. Summary of monthly discard percentages (discard weight/total catch weight) of catches taken inside Area II

during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (All data are based on observed tows only.)

___________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

___________________________________________________________________________________________

Haddock1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 99.7 98.0 98.2

Atlantic cod1 0.9 <0.1 0.3 0.6 1.6 1.2 0.7

Pollock1 0.7 0.0 0.0 0.1 0.4 0.1 0.1

Yellowtail flounder1 1.1 0.7 8.0 2.4 9.9 0.2 2.6

Winter flounder1 0.0 0.5 0.3 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.1

Witch flounder1 9.1 - 1.7 6.4 11.6 0.1 4.3

Windowpane1 100.0 19.1 41.7 46.9 75.7 0.0 40.9

American plaice1 7.4 0.0 1.0 2.3 3.7 0.9 2.2

Acadian redfish1 100.0 - 0.0 18.2 0.0 - 1.9

White hake1 0.0 0.0 0.0 4.7 11.3 0.1 2.0

Red hake1 100.0 - 50.0 - - 0.0 10.5

Silver hake1 100.0 - 16.1 98.6 100.0 45.1 77.9

Ocean pout1 100.0 - 100.0 95.6 100.0 100.0 97.0

Cusk 0.0 - 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Atlantic wolffish 0.0 0.0 1.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.2

Goosefish 2.1 0.0 0.9 6.5 6.5 0.0 2.8

Skates 87.3 89.6 94.7 97.1 87.7 59.3 89.7

Spiny dogfish 100.0 - 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Other fishes2 86.7 100.0 78.4 90.9 88.8 98.5 90.7

American lobster 20.8 3.1 7.1 30.6 46.4 23.0 20.5

Other invertebrates3 100.0 100.0 100.0 73.7 94.1 100.0 94.2

Total 31.8 39.9 30.0 28.5 66.2 58.2 36.2

Total FMP species1 7.9 0.2 4.9 9.4 59.9 39.5 19.9

Total FMP species1 5.5 0.2 1.1 2.5 5.3 1.9 2.3

(excluding haddock)

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail

flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver

hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

4

Total = total discards during January-June/total catches during January-June.

___________________________________________________________________________________________
Table 13. Frequency distributions of observed tows in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery categorized by the catch (lb) of haddock. (Data are summar

Area II, outside Area II, and both areas combined.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Pounds of Haddock Pounds of 

1- 51- 101- 151- 201- 251- 501- 1001- 

Month 0 50 100 150 200 250 500 1000 5000 >5000 0 >0 >__________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside Area II

Jan 6 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 9 Feb 3 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 3 1 1 Mar 20 31 8 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 20 41 Apr 19 34 12 9 7 2 8 4 2 0 19 78 May 6 7 6 2 0 1 4 6 5 0 6 31 Jun 5 32 12 2 1 1 6 1 1 2 5 58 Total 87 114 38 14 8 4 19 11 8 2 87 218 

Outside Area II

Jan 4 4 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 5 Feb 1 7 7 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 9 Mar 30 18 2 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 23 Apr 0 3 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 May 8 22 5 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 8 28 Jun 2 2 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 0 2 9 Total 61 56 11 5 2 1 2 1 1 0 61 79 

Inside & Outside Area II Combined

Jan 10 13 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 10 14 Feb 4 8 8 2 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 8 1 0 Mar 50 49 10 4 0 0 1 0 0 0 50 64 Apr 19 37 13 9 8 2 8 4 2 0 19 83 May 14 29 11 3 0 1 4 6 5 0 14 59 Jun 7 34 12 3 2 2 8 2 2 2 7 67 Total 148 170 49 19 10 5 21 12 9 2 148 297 __________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 22

Table 14. Summary of monthly catches (lb; retained catches and discards combined) taken outside Area II during the

January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (All data are based on observed tows only.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Statistic/Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

__________________________________________________________________________________________

No. of observed tows 9 2 6 5 3 5 3 6 1 1 140

Fishing effort (hr) 39.8 71.9 166.7 19.3 126.1 42.4 466.2

Haddock1 182 231 736 319 871 5,759 8,098

Atlantic cod1 2,672 1,123 31,277 2,186 5,404 4,610 47,272

Pollock1 456 916 12,504 810 1,810 430 16,926

Yellowtail flounder1 2 9 70 2,266 30 180 2,557

Winter flounder1 2 58 153 11 61 575 860

Witch flounder1 297 198 1,040 15 261 25 1,836

Windowpane1 0 17 157 0 36 0 210

American plaice1 382 261 1,158 43 1,556 115 3,515

Acadian redfish1 4 313 130 0 489 290 1,226

White hake1 326 982 892 0 1,942 655 4,797

Red hake1 175 0 0 0 0 0 175

Silver hake1 90 41 129 11 48 0 319

Ocean pout1 7 0 338 300 374 65 1,084

Cusk 347 268 691 4 0 859 6 5 2,270

Atlantic wolffish 8 1 7 894 0 603 2 5 1,547

Goosefish 2,930 2,346 2,526 90 3,834 300 12,026

Skates 163 1,955 7,293 2,200 7,090 1,945 20,646

Spiny dogfish 4 4 544 428 6 0 4,234 440 5,750

Other fishes2 76 164 580 446 524 153 1,943

American lobster 463 208 347 29 386 170 1,603

Other invertebrates3 53 376 93 1 67 0 590

Total 8,679 10,027 61,436 8,827 30,479 15,802 135,250

Total FMP species1 4,595 4,149 48,584 5,961 12,882 12,707 88,875

Haddock catches as a % of:

 All species 2.1 2.3 1.2 3.6 2.9 36.4 6.0

 FMP species1 4.0 5.6 1.5 5.4 6.8 45.3 9.1

Haddock

 Catch/tow (lb) 20.2 8.9 13.9 63.8 24.2 523.5 57.8

 CPUE (lb/hr) 4.6 3.2 4.4 16.5 6.9 135.8 17.4

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail

flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver

hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 23

Table 15. Summary of monthly retained catches (lb) taken outside Area II during the January-June 1994 experimental

fishery. (All data are based on observed tows only.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Statistic/Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

__________________________________________________________________________________________

No. of observed tows 9 2 6 5 3 5 3 6 1 1 140

Fishing effort (hr) 39.8 71.9 166.7 19.3 126.1 42.4 466.2

Haddock1 177 171 495 0 567 500 1,909

Atlantic cod1 2,660 1,121 30,848 2,177 5,265 4,610 46,681

Pollock1 453 914 12,457 810 1,800 430 16,864

Yellowtail flounder1 2 9 52 2,218 26 180 2,487

Winter flounder1 2 56 131 11 61 575 836

Witch flounder1 263 196 929 15 238 25 1,666

Windowpane1 0 14 39 0 1 0 54

American plaice1 366 257 1,048 43 1,485 115 3,314

Acadian redfish1 4 260 17 0 318 290 889

White hake1 324 956 815 0 1,780 655 4,530

Red hake1 46 0 0 0 0 0 46

Silver hake1 00000 0 0

Ocean pout1 00000 0 0

Cusk 347 268 691 4 0 859 6 5 2,270

Atlantic wolffish 8 1 7 890 0 603 2 5 1,543

Goosefish 2,850 2,346 2,347 78 3,634 300 11,555

Skates 85 151 1,650 230 1,238 715 4,069

Spiny dogfish 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Other fishes2 8 0 158 5 18 18 207

American lobster 355 202 273 23 277 170 1,300

Other invertebrates3 0 0 0 1 19 0 20

Total 7,950 6,937 52,840 5,651 18,189 8,673 100,240

Total FMP species1 4,297 3,953 46,831 5,274 11,541 7,380 79,276

Haddock landings as a % of:

 All species 2.2 2.5 0.9 0.0 3.1 5.8 1.9

 FMP species1 4.1 4.3 1.1 0.0 4.9 6.8 2.4

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail

flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver

hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 24

Table 16. Summary of monthly discarded catches (lb) taken outside Area II during the January-June 1994 experimental

fishery. (All data are based on observed tows only.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Statistic/Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

____________________________________________________________________________________________

No. of observed tows 9 2 6 5 3 5 3 6 1 1 140

Fishing effort (hr) 39.8 71.9 166.7 19.3 126.1 42.4 466.2

Haddock1 5 61 241 319 304 5,259 6,189

Atlantic cod1 12 2 429 9 139 0 591

Pollock1 3 2 47 0 10 0 62

Yellowtail flounder1 0 0 18 48 4 0 70

Winter flounder1 0 2 22 0 0 0 24

Witch flounder1 34 2 111 0 23 0 170

Windowpane1 0 3 118 0 35 0 156

American plaice1 16 4 110 0 71 0 201

Acadian redfish1 0 53 113 0 171 0 337

White hake1 2 26 77 0 162 0 267

Red hake1 129 0 0 0 0 0 129

Silver hake1 90 41 129 11 48 0 319

Ocean pout1 7 0 338 300 374 65 1,084

Cusk 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Atlantic wolffish 0 0 4 0 0 0 4

Goosefish 80 0 179 12 200 0 471

Skates 78 1,804 5,643 1,970 5,852 1,230 16,577

Spiny dogfish 4 4 544 428 6 0 4,234 440 5,750

Other fishes2 68 164 422 441 506 135 1,736

American lobster 108 6 74 6 109 0 303

Other invertebrates3 53 376 93 0 48 0 570

Total 729 3,090 8,596 3,176 12,290 7,129 35,010

Total FMP species1 298 196 1,753 687 1,341 5,324 9,599

Haddock discards as a % of:

 All species 0.7 2.0 2.8 10.0 2.5 73.8 17.7

 FMP species1 1.7 31.1 13.7 46.4 22.7 98.8 64.5

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail

flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver

hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

____________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 25

Table 17. Summary of monthly discard percentages (discard weight/total catch weight) of catches taken outside Area

II during the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (All data are based on observed tows only.)

__________________________________________________________________________________________

 Month

 Species Jan Feb Mar Apr May J u n Total

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Haddock1 2.7 26.4 32.7 100.0 34.9 91.3 76.4

Atlantic cod1 0.4 0.2 1.4 0.4 2.6 0.0 1.3

Pollock1 0.7 0.2 0.4 0.0 0.6 0.0 0.4

Yellowtail flounder1 0.0 0.0 25.7 2.1 13.3 0.0 2.7

Winter flounder1 0.0 3.4 14.4 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.8

Witch flounder1 11.4 1.0 10.7 0.0 8.8 0.0 9.3

Windowpane1 - 17.6 75.2 - 97.2 - 74.3

American plaice1 4.2 1.5 9.5 0.0 4.6 0.0 5.7

Acadian redfish1 0.0 16.9 86.9 - 35.0 0.0 21.8

White hake1 0.6 2.6 8.6 - 8.3 0.0 5.6

Red hake1 73.7 - - - - - 73.7

Silver hake1 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.0 100.0

Ocean pout1 100.0 - 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Cusk 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0

Atlantic wolffish 0.0 0.0 0.4 - 0.0 0.0 0.3

Goosefish 2.7 0.0 7.1 13.3 5.2 0.0 3.9

Skates 47.9 92.3 77.4 89.5 82.5 63.2 80.3

Spiny dogfish 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0 100.0

Other fishes2 89.5 100.0 72.8 98.9 96.6 88.2 89.3

American lobster 23.3 2.9 21.3 20.7 28.2 0.0 18.9

Other invertebrates3 100.0 100.0 100.0 0.0 71.6 - 96.6

Total 8.4 30.8 14.0 36.0 40.3 45.1 25.9

Total FMP species1 6.5 4.7 3.6 11.5 10.4 41.9 10.8

Total FMP species1 6.6 3.4 3.2 6.5 8.6 0.9 4.2

(excluding haddock)

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail

flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver

hake, and ocean pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)

4

Total = total discards during January-June/total catches during January-June.

__________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 26

Table 18. Summary statistics for the July 1994 sea sampling trips on Georges Bank. (Data are

presented for tows made inside and outside Area II. All catch data are based on

observed tows only. Two trips were conducted using two different vessels.)

_________________________________________________________________________

 Inside Outside

 Statistic Area II Area II Total

_________________________________________________________________________

Number of tows observed 3 7 3 6 7 3

Number of tows unobserved 1 1 4 1 5

Total tows 48 40 88

Percent observed 7 7 9 0 8 3

Avg. tow time (hr)1 3.2 4.0 3.6

Total effort (hr)1 118.8 145.4 264.2

Observed Tows

Total catch (lb) 24,792 18,877 43,699

 Haddock 2 2 798 820

 FMP species2 12,037 12,410 24,447

 Others 12,755 6,467 19,222

Total discards (lb) 12,225 4,782 17,007

 Haddock 0 287 287

 FMP species2 1,448 653 3,549

 Others 10,077 3,842 13,919

Haddock catch/total catch (%) 0.1 4.2 1.9

Haddock catch/FMP species catch (%)2 0.2 6.4 3.4

Haddock discards/total discards (%) 0.0 6.0 1.8

_______

1

From observed tows.

2

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod,

pollock, yellowtail flounder, winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice,

Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean pout.

_________________________________________________________________________
Page 27

Table 19. Summary of retained catches (lb) and discards (lb) taken in two July 1994 sea sampling trips on Georges Bank.

(Data are presented for tows made inside and outside Area II. All data are based on observed tows only.)

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 Inside Area II Outside Area II

 Retained Retained Combined

 Species Catches Discards Total Catches Discards Total Total

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Haddock1 22 0 22 511 287 798 820

Atlantic cod1 139 11 150 3,825 2 3,827 3,977

Pollock1 0 0 565 0 565 565

Yellowtail flounder1 10,192 1,139 11,331 0 0 0 11,331

Winter flounder1 28 0 28 0 0 0 28

Witch flounder1 85 1 86 473 108 581 667

Windowpane1 26 14 40 0 0 0 40

American plaice1 36 2 38 3,431 457 3,888 3,926

Acadian redfish1 0 0 0 525 77 602 602

White hake1 54 65 119 1,660 0 1,660 1,779

Red hake1 0 0 0 480 0 480 480

Silver hake1 7 59 66 0 9 9 75

Ocean pout1 0 157 157 0 0 0 157

Cusk 0 0 0 205 0 205 205

Atlantic wolffish 0 0 0 743 0 743 743

Goosefish 1,438 54 1,492 1,257 10 1,267 2,759

Skates 920 9,258 10,178 410 1,565 1,975 12,153

Spiny dogfish 0 0 0 0 1,920 1,920 1,920

Other fishes2 13 673 686 10 192 202 888

American lobster 74 18 92 0 0 0 92

Other invertebrates3 233 74 307 0 155 155 462

Total 13,267 11,525 24,792 14,095 4,782 18,877 43,669

Total FMP species1 10,589 1,448 12,037 11,470 940 12,410 24,447

________

1

Thirteen species in Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan: haddock, Atlantic cod, pollock, yellowtail flounder,

winter flounder, witch flounder, windowpane, American plaice, Acadian redfish, white hake, red hake, silver hake, and ocean

pout.

2

Other fishes comprised 23 species. (See Table 1.)

3

Other invertebrates comprised eight species. (See Table 1.)
Table 20. Size composition data (total length; cm) of groundfish FMP species sampled (retained and discarded) in the January-June 1994 experime

samples are also presented. (Data are presented for tows made inside and outside Area II. All data are based on observed tows only.)

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Retained Catches Minimum Discards  Total Length (cm) Legal Total Length (cm)  Species N Min Max Mean Size (cm) N Min Max M___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Inside Area II

Haddock 84 55 83 71.1 48 3884 32 88 6

Atlantic cod 787 47 117 70.5 48 156 27 49 4Pollock 29 61 105 81.4 48 3 44 52 4Yellowtail flounder 354 3 2 4 8 36.4 33 152 24 48 3Winter flounder 97 30 55 41.9 30 1 29 29 2Witch flounder 187 3 5 5 8 43.0 36 17 31 37 3Windowpane 65 28 38 31.7 - 70 24 30 2American plaice 128 3 1 5 9 47.3 36 92 25 36 3White hake 260 4 2 8 3 62.9 - 2 36 36 3Goosefish 341 30 92 57.0 - 15 18 31 2Total 2332 4392 

Outside Area II

Haddock 269 46 84 58.8 48 564 23 80 4Atlantic cod 823 48 111 68.9 48 254 29 49 4

Pollock 128 52 106 78.5 48 3 39 47 4Yellowtail flounder 5 5 3 3 4 4 35.2 33 2 30 31 3Winter flounder 38 32 60 43.4 30 5 30 33 3Witch flounder 8 2 3 5 5 8 43.7 36 1 34 34 3Windowpane flounder 2 4 3 1 3 6 32.4 - 92 23 30 2American plaice 140 3 3 5 9 43.3 36 26 20 34 2White hake 5 7 4 3 7 6 59.7 - 21 29 51 3Goosefish 66 31 88 54.0 - 34 15 30 2Total 1682 1002 ___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Page 29

Figure 1. A) ICNAF haddock closed area established in 1970. B) U.S. haddock closed Area II. (The inner, small, triangle-shaped area is that

portion of the ICNAF haddock closed area which remained in U.S. waters after the World Court divided Georges Bank between the

United States and Canada in 1984. The outer, large, "L"-shaped area is the expansion which went into effect in January 1994 due

to Amendment 5 to the Northeast Multispecies Fishery Management Plan.)
Page 30

Figure 2. Location of all tows (observed and unobserved) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Three-digit numbers refer to the

NEFSC statistical catch reporting areas. Tows located within the inner triangle of Area II were made on 1 July.)
Page 31

Figure 3. Location of all tows by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed and unobserved tows in Area

II. Tows located within th einner triangle of Area II were made on 1 July.)
Page 32

Figure 2. Catch per unit of effort (lb/hr fished) by month for haddock, Atlantic cod, and 11 other groundfish FMP species taken inside Area

II (upper panel) and outside Area II (lower panel) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery.
Page 33

Figure 5. Distribution of haddock catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows in Area II.)
Page 34

Figure 6. Distribution of Atlantic cod catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows in Area

II.)
Page 35

Figure 7. Distribution of yellowtail flounder catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows

in Area II.)
Page 36

Figure 8. Distribution of winter flounder catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows in

Area II.)
Page 37

Figure 9. Distribution of American plaice catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows in

Area II.)
Page 38

Figure 10. Distribution of witch flounder catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows in Area

II.)
Page 39

Figure 11. Distribution of white hake catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows in Area

II.)
Page 40

Figure 12. Distribution of goosefish catches by month in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows in Area II.)
Page 41

Figure 13. Location of all tows in the two July 1994 Georges Bank trips.
Page 42

Figure 14. Distribution of yellowtail flounder catches in Area II in the two July 1994 Georges Bank trips. (Data are for observed tows.)
Page 43

Figure 15. Size-frequency distributions of haddock samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for

observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and outside Area II. The dotted line represents the minimum

legal size for haddock of 48 cm.)
Page 44

Figure 16. Size-frequency distributions of Atlantic cod samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are

for observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and outside Area II. The dotted line represents the minimum

legal size for Atlantic cod of 48 cm.)
Page 45

Figure 17. Size-frequency distributions of yellowtail flounder samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data

are for observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and outside Area II. The dotted line represents the

minimum legal size for yellowtail flounder of 33 cm.)
Page 46

Figure 18. Size-frequency distributions of pollack (two leftside graphs) and winter flounder (two rightside graphs) samples (kept) in the

January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and are

provided separately for samples taken inside and outside Area II. The dotted line represents the minimum legal size for pollack of

48 cm and for winter flounder of 30 cm.)
Page 47

Figure 19. Size-frequency distributions of witch flounder samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are

for observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and are provided separately for samples taken inside and

outside Area II. The dotted line represents the minimum legal size for witch flounder of 36 cm.)
Page 48

Figure 20. Size-frequency distributions of windowpane samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are

for observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and are provided separately for samples taken inside and

outside Area II.)
Page 49

Figure 21. Size-frequency distributions of American plaice samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data

are for observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and are provided separately for samples taken inside and

outside Area II. The dotted line represents the minimum legal size for American plaice of 36 cm.)
Page 50

Figure 22. Size-frequency distributions of white hake samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for

observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and are provided separately for samples taken inside and outside

Area II.)
Page 51

Figure 23. Size-frequency distributions of goosefish samples (discards and kept) in the January-June 1994 experimental fishery. (Data are for

observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside and are provided separately for samples taken inside and outside

Area II.)
Page 52

Figure 24. Catch per unit of effort (lb/hr fished) of retained catches and discards for 11 species taken in the January-June 1994 experimental

fishery. (Data are for observed tows and are provided separately for samples taken inside an doutside Area II. Monkfish=

goosefish.)
Recent issues in this series:

94. Summary of the Symposium on the Northeast U.S. Shelf Ecosystem: Stress, Mitigation, and Sustainabilty -- 12-15

August 1991, University of Rhode Island, Narragansett, Rhode Island. By Kenneth Sherman, N. Jaworski, and T.

Smayda, eds. October 1992. v + 30 p., 3 app. NTIS Access. No. PB94-103439.

95. Status of Fishery Resources off the Northeastern United States for 1992. By Conservation and Utilization Division,

Northeast Fisheries Science Center. October 1992. iv + 133 p., 60 figs., 67 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB93-144103.

96. An Indexed Bibliography of Northeast Fisheries Science Center Publications and Reports for 1989. By Jon A. Gibson.

November 1992. iii + 20 p. NTIS Access. No. PB93-213601.

97. Water-column Thermal Structure in the Middle Atlantic Bight and Gulf of Maine during 1978-92. By Robert L.

Benway, Kevin P. Thomas, and Jack W. Jossi. March 1993. viii + 154 p., 147 figs., 2 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB93-223147.

98. Marine Invertebrate Cell Culture: Breaking the Barriers -- Proceedings of an International Workshop, 16 June 1991,

Anaheim, California. By Aaron Rosenfield, ed. March 1993. vi + 25 p., 2 tables, 3 app. NTIS Access. No. PB93-213593.

99. Sole Ownership of Living Marine Resources. By Steven F. Edwards, Allen J. Bejda, and R. Anne Richards. May 1993.

vii + 21 p., 6 figs., 1 table. NTIS Access. No. PB94-146651.

100. Emerging Theoretical Basis for Monitoring the Changing States (Health) of Large Marine Ecosystems -- Summary

Report of Two Workshops: 23 April 1992, National Marine Fisheries Service, Narragansett, Rhode Island, and 11-

12 July 1992, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. By Kenneth Sherman, ed. September 1993. iii + 27 p., 1 fig., 9 tables,

5 app. NTIS Access. No. PB94-157476.

101. Status of Fishery Resources off the Northeastern United States for 1993. By Conservation and Utilization Division,

Northeast Fisheries Science Center. October 1993. iv + 140 p., 62 figs., 70 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB94-142361.

102. Indexed Bibliography of Northeast Fisheries Science Center Publications and Reports for 1990-91. By Jon A. Gibson.

May 1994. iii + 40 p. NTIS Access. No. PB95-200838.

103. Marine Mammal Studies Supported by the Northeast Fisheries Science Center during 1980-89. By Gordon T. Waring,

Janeen M. Quintal, and Tim D. Smith. May 1994. iv + 27 p., 5 tables, 4 app. NTIS Access. No. PB95-108213.

104. Quantitative Effects of Pollution on Marine and Anadromous Fish Populations. By Carl J. Sindermann. June 1994. iii

+ 22 p., 12 figs. NTIS Access. No. PB95-138467.

105. Review of American Lobster (Homarus americanus) Habitat Requirements and Responses to Contaminant Exposures. By Renee Mercaldo-Allen and Catherine A. Kuropat. July 1994. v + 52 p., 29 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB96-115555.

106. Selected Living Resources, Habitat Conditions, and Human Perturbations of the Gulf of Maine: Environmental and

Ecological Considerations for Fishery Management. By Richard W. Langton, John B. Pearce, and Jon A. Gibson, eds.

August 1994. iv + 70 p., 2 figs., 6 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB95-270906.

107. Invertebrate Neoplasia: Initiation and Promotion Mechanisms -- Proceedings of an International Workshop, 23 June

1992, Washington, D.C. By A. Rosenfield, F.G. Kern, and B.J. Keller, comps. & eds. September 1994. v + 31 p., 8 figs.,

3 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB96-164801.

108. Status of Fishery Resources off the Northeastern United States for 1994. By Conservation and Utilization Division,

Northeast Fisheries Science Center. January 1995. iv + 140 p., 71 figs., 75 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB95-263414.

109. Proceedings of the Symposium on the Potential for Development of Aquaculture in Massachusetts: 15-17 February

1995, Chatham/Edgartown/Dartmouth, Massachusetts. By Carlos A. Castro and Scott J. Soares, comps. & eds. January

1996. v + 26 p., 1 fig., 2 tables. NTIS Access. No. PB97-103782.

110. Length-Length and Length-Weight Relationships for 13 Shark Species from the Western North Atlantic. By Nancy

E. Kohler, John G. Casey, Patricia A. Turner. May 1996. iv + 22 p., 15 tables, 4 figs. NTIS Access. No. PB97-135032.
Publishing in NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE

scientific manuscripts. NEFSC publication and report series

rely more on the CBE Style Manual, fifth edition.

For in-text citations, use the name-date system. A special

effort should be made to ensure that the list of cited works

contains all necessary bibliographic information. For abbreviating serial titles in such lists, use the most recent edition of the

Serial Sources for the BIOSIS Previews Database (Philadelphia, PA: Biosciences Information Service). Personal communications must include date of contact and full name and mailing

address of source.

For spelling of scientific and common names of fishes,

mollusks, and decapod crustaceans from the United States and

Canada, use Special Publications No. 20 (fishes), 16 (mollusks), and 17 (decapod crustaceans) of the American Fisheries

Society (Bethesda, MD). For spelling in general, use the most

recent edition of Webster’s Third New International Dictionary

of the English Language Unabridged (Springfield, MA: G. & C.

Merriam).

Typing text, tables, and figure captions: Text, including tables and figure captions, must be converted to WordPerfect

4.2, 5.0, or 5.1. In general, keep text simple (e.g., don’t switch

fonts, don’t use hard returns within paragraphs, don’t indent

except to begin paragraphs). Especially, don’t use WordPerfect

graphics for embedding tables and figures in text. If the

automatic footnoting function is used, also save a list of

footnotes as a separate WordPerfect file. When the final draft

is ready for review, save the text, tables, figure captions, table

titles, footnotes, and front matter as separate document files.

Tables should be prepared using all tabs or all spaces

between columnar data, but not a combination of the two.

Figures must be original (even if oversized) and on paper; they

cannot be photocopies (e.g., Xerox) unless that is all that is

available, nor be on disk. Except under extraordinary circumstances, color will not be used in illustrations.

Manuscript Submission

Authors must submit one paper copy of the double-spaced

manuscript, one magnetic copy on a diskette, and original

figures (if applicable). NEFSC authors must include a completely signed-off “NEFSC Manuscript Submission Form.”

Non-NEFSC authors who are not federal employees will be

required to sign a “Release of Copyright” form.

Send all materials and address all correspondence to:

Jon A. Gibson, Technical Editor

Northeast Fisheries Science Center

166 Water Street

Woods Hole, MA 02543-1026 USA

(508) 495-2228

Manuscript Qualification

This series represents a secondary level of scientific

publishing in the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS).

It employs thorough internal scientific review and technical and

copy editing, but not necessarily external scientific review.

Manuscripts that may warrant a primary level of scientific

publishing should be initially submitted to one of NMFS’s

primary series (i.e., Fishery Bulletin, NOAA Technical Report

NMFS, or Marine Fisheries Review). See the outside back cover

of this document for a fuller description of Northeast Fisheries

Science Center (NEFSC) publication series.

Identical, or fundamentally identical, manuscripts should

not be concurrently submitted to this and any other publication

series. Manuscripts which have been rejected by any primary

series strictly because of geographic or temporal limitations

may be submitted to this series.

Manuscripts by NEFSC authors will be published in this

series upon approval by the NEFSC Science & Research

Director. Manuscripts by non-NEFSC authors may be published in this series if: (1) the manuscript serves the NEFSC’s

mission; (2) the manuscript meets the Science & Research

Director’s approval; and (3) the author arranges for the printing

and binding funds to be transferred to the NEFSC’s Research

Communications Unit account from another federal account.

For all manuscripts submitted by non-NEFSC authors and

published in this series, the NEFSC will disavow all responsibility for the manuscripts’ contents; authors must accept such

responsibility.

The ethics of scientific research and scientific publishing

are a serious matter. All manuscripts submitted to this series

are expected to adhere -- at a minimum -- to the ethical

guidelines contained in Chapter 1 (“Ethical Conduct in Authorship and Publication”) of the CBE Style Manual, fifth edition

(Chicago, IL: Council of Biology Editors). Copies of the manual

are available at virtually all scientific libraries.

Manuscript Preparation

Organization: Manuscripts must have an abstract, table

of contents, and -- if applicable -- lists of tables, figures, and

acronyms. As much as possible, use traditional scientific

manuscript organization for sections: “Introduction,” “Study

Area,” “Methods & Materials,” “Results,” “Discussion” and/or

“Conclusions,” “Acknowledgments,” and “References Cited.”

Style: All NEFSC publication and report series are

obligated to conform to the style contained in the most recent

edition of the United States Government Printing Office Style

Manual. That style manual is silent on many aspects of

NORTHEAST FISHERIES SCIENCE CENTER

Michael P. Sissenwine, Science & Research Director

Mary G. Laird, Program Support Staff Chief

Teri L. Frady, Research Communications Unit Chief

Jon A. Gibson, Technical Editor
Research Communications Unit

Northeast Fisheries Science Center

National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA

166 Water St.

Woods Hole, MA 02543-1026

To obtain a copy of a technical memorandum or a reference document, or to subscribe to an information

report, write: Research Communications Unit, Northeast Fisheries Science Center, 166 Water St., Woods

Hole, MA 02543-1026. An annual list of NEFSC publications and reports is available upon request at the

above address. Any use of trade names in any NEFSC publication or report does not imply endorsement.

NOAA Technical Memorandum NMFS-NE--This irregular series includes: data reports of long-term or large area

studies; synthesis reports for major resources or habitats; annual reports of assessment or monitoring programs;

documentary reports of oceanographic conditions or phenomena; manuals describing field and lab techniques; literature

surveys of major resource or habitat topics; findings of task forces or working groups; and summary reports of scientific

or technical workshops. Issues receive thorough internal scientific review and technical and copy editing. Limited free

copies are available from authors or the NEFSC. Issues are also available from the National Technical Information Service,

5285 Port Royal Rd., Springfield, VA 22161.

THIRD CLASS MAIL

Information Reports--These reports are issued in several series, including: Research Highlights, News Release,

Fishermen's Report, and The Shark Tagger. Content is timely, special-purpose data and/or information. Level of scientific

review and technical and copy editing varies by series. All series available through free subscription except for The Shark

Tagger which is available only to participants in the NMFS Cooperative Shark Tagging Program.

Northeast Fisheries Science Center Reference Document--This irregular series includes: data reports on field and

lab observations or experiments; progress reports on continuing experiments, monitoring, and assessments; and

background papers for scientific or technical workshops. Issues receive minimal internal scientific review and no technical

or copy editing. No subscriptions. Free distribution of single copies.

Publications and Reports

of the

Northeast Fisheries Science Center

NOAA's National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) seeks to "achieve a continued optimum utilization of living marine

resources for the benefit of the Nation." As the research arm of the NMFS's Northeast Region, the Northeast Fisheries

Science Center (NEFSC) supports the NMFS mission by "planning, developing, and managing multidisciplinary

programs of basic and applied research to: (1) better understand the living marine resources (including marine

mammals) of the Northwest Atlantic, and the environmental quality essential for their existence and continued

productivity; and (2) describe and provide to management, industry, and the public, options for the utilization and

conservation of living marine resources and maintenance of environmental quality which are consistent with national

and regional goals and needs, and with international commitments." To assist itself in providing data, information,

and advice to its constituents, the NEFSC issues publications and reports in three categories: