THE l!'UNDY SURVEY

TFffii CUSK FISHEHY

by

Helen 1. Battle University of Wes t er n Ontario 1931 - 1 ­

Tl ;.~ CUSK FISHERY

Cont ents

Nomencl a t ur e p . 2

Illustrati ons p. 3

Di s t i n gu ish ing Charact eristies p. 4

~ e l at i v e I mportance of Fundy Oat oh p. 5 ni s t rihu t i on in Fun ' y r e a p . 8

.1et ;lOci s of Ca pture :p. 11

Fl u ct u a t i on s in t h e ]~ i s h e ry

t hly p , 1 2

.n.ymuel p , 13

Ut i l i z a t i on p . 14

Recor ! en d a t i on s p , 1 5 - 1 ­

THE CUSK FI S}~RY

Contents

Nomenclature p. 2

Illustrations p. 3

Distinguishing Charact eri stics p. 4

Rel a t i v e Importance of Fundy Catch p. 5

Di s t r ibu t i on in PUTIdy Area p. 8 met hods of Capture p. 11 Fluctuati ons in the Fishery Monthl y p. 12

)..nnuaJ. p. 13

Utilizati on p. 14

Becomme ndat i ons r­ 15 - 2 ...

THE CUSK FISHERY

Soientifio Name - Brosmius brosme (Mffller)

Common Name - Cusk t Tusk t Torsk. This species of fish is generally known as the "Cusk".

The terms ~lsk and Torsk while of European origin were apparent­

ly used in the Fundy region about a century ago t when a well­ known fishing ground in the Gulf of Maine was called the "Tusk

Rock". They are not in general use now in this region, al­ though most fishermen in Yarmouth County know the terms and con­ sider them as synonymous with Cusk. - 3 ­ Illustrattons

Bigelow t H. B. Fishes of the Gulf of j,::sine. Bul l et i n of the

United States Bur eau of Fisheries, Vol. XL , ~art I, p. 463, fig. 230. 1924 Goode, George Brown. American Fishes (3stes and Lauriat, Bos t on )

p , 358. 1887

Photograph b y Dr. V. D. Vladykov. 1931 - 4 ­ '. Distinguishing Characteristics The cusk is classified with hake in the Canadi an Fishery Statistics, but is readily separable from all its Fundy "Ar ea relatives by the fact that it has a single so-called dorsal or back fin, bordered wi t h black and edged with wh i t e . The cusk is more slender than the hake and, although all the fins are thick and fleshy at the base, they taper to a thin margin. The blunt snout, small smeller on the lower jaw, and the large mouth gaping past the eye, resemble those of a cod.

The cusk is often ascribed as rleel-likelf due to its

slender form and frequent oLav e--gr een a pp earance combined wi th a slimy surfaced skin. Its colour is so variable that no doubt it c onforms to the bottom on which it lives. Th e most common coloration of specimens examined on the New Brunswi ck shore, off Grand Ma na n was a mottled dark gr eeni s h brown to pale yellowish shade fading on the sides to a cream colored belly. Medium and small fish differ from older specimens by t he presence of usual­ ly six transverse yellowish bars on t he sides. Occa s i on a l spe­

cimens are taken off t he Swal l ow Tail Light and are said to in­ variably bear dark blotches from a blue-black to a jet black. Cusk landed off Yarmouth County are a1so of two dis­

tinctive colorations' de~endent on the locality from which they have been taken: 1) Yellow Gusk -These fish are yellowish in colour with inky black irregular areas from t he size of a pi n­ head to the diameter of a t wenty-five cent piece. 5 ­ l h ey are taken f rom s hoal wa t er about the so-called

"Home of Ou ak" to t h e south wes t of eal ISland and,

less often, on the shore of 3r own 1 s Bank t oward t he island.

2) Black Cusk or 3 roi711 Cusk -These fi sh are an even dark

brown coloration wi th six yeLLow l eh bands si:nilar to the medium fish off Gr ana nan . Th es e are found di­ rectly south of t he Cape in s hoal water.

Fi v e brown cu sk examined at Abbott 1s Har b our v aried in length from 21 to 28 inches, and rang ed from 2 1/2 to 6 pounds gu t t ed . tour yellow cusk, mea s ur ed at t he same time, ranged from

26 to 30 inches in len8th, an d 6 to 9 pounds in wei ght .

Th e :~ nd y catch has so f ar as is kno wn been composed of l ar ge adult :fi sh exc ep t for a f ew small eoe ct mens (8-10 inches) taken in 193 0 off Lurcher 'h oaL Il'he s pawning season of t he cusk seems t o be in the s pring or e a r Ly su : un er , Dur i ng t he l ate wi n t er , t he g on ds a r e full and by midau nn er are s pent.

Rel a t i v e Im~ortance of yun dy Catch

~Ph e annual fi sheri es statistical reports record "Cu sk" 1905 f or t he f i rst time in the :Oi b;'l County returns for" 1909-10 and

1910-11. Thi s was given in mlndr ed wei g ltB a n d wa s t ak en as dr i ed an d. mU l t i p l i ed by thr ee t o ob t ain t Le fresh r ound weight •

.!!' r OIl 1911-12 to 193 0 i nclusive "H ke a nd. Cusk" a re gi v en under t h e s ame hea ding i n hundred wei ght s a s caught and landed. It is - 6 ­ essential to estimate in some way the actual quanti ties of ousk taken in the l>undy Area. The fishery is concentrated near the mouth of the Bay and mainly on the Nova Scot i a n side. The "hake- and cu sk" returns for St. John, Albert, the Fundy Vl a t er s hed of We s t mor l and , Cumberland and Colchester, Hant s , Kings and Annapolis Counties are one hundred per cent. hake.

Supervisor J. Calder states that the Charlotte County returns are 99 3/4 per cent. hake. A representative catch at Gr a nd Man an in 1 931 consisted of approximately 2500 pounds of hake and two large cusk, although this ratio is sometimes considerably greater. Di gb y County is divided into two fishing districts, Digb y Clare from Yarmouth Coun t y line to t he Si s s i boo Ri v er , and Di gby No.1 from Weymou t h to Bear Ri v er . The district Digby Clare has a one hundred per cent. hake catch while Digb y No. 1 is estimated to include about 2 per cent. cusk in the returns. Sometimes the Digby County returns have been recorded only for the county as a whole so i t is essential to determine what per­ centage of the catch is represented by each district. The respective landings of hake and cusk for t he -past five years are given as follows in hundred wei ghts: Digby No. 1 Digby Clare 1926 63,071 432 1927 95,558 12 1928 100,999 54 1929 114,346 139 1930 108,752 263 - 7 ­

Over this period, then, only .186 per cent. of the total hake and cusk for the oounty were landed in Digby Clare. Then of the total hake and cusk for the county, two per cent. of a total of

99.814 per cent. (Digby No.1) are cusk or 1.996 per cent.

Similarly in Yarmouth County there are two fishing dis­ tricts, Yarmouth east, (No.1) and Yarmouth west (No.2). It is estimated that 85 per cent. of the hake and cusk in Yarmouth west

(no. 2) are cusk. For Yarmouth east (No.1) a typical fare from a vessel was weighed in AUVlst 1931. This fare of fresh fish

(cod, cusk, haddock etc.) was caught by seventeen fishermen opera­ ting with hand lines in one vessel during four and one half days of fishing between ten and twenty miles south by east from Seal

Island. It included among the other ground fish, 651 pounds of cusk and only two hake. If these hake averaged five pounds each, which would undoubtedly be a maxirrmm, the hake only represents 1.5 per cent. of the total hake and cusk landing.

The hake and cusk for both Yarmouth districts from 1928 to 1930 is given in hundred weights as follows:

Yarmouth No. 1 Yarmouth No. 2

1928 144 6,697

1929 68 11,123

1930 85 10,390

Yarmouth No. 1 represents only 1.1 ner cent. of the landings for the county, but of the district total 98.5 per cent. is cusk.

This gives then about 1.08 per cent. of the Yarmouth County ousk landed in district No.1. Similarly for district No. 2 Yarmouth - 8 ­ 98.9 per cen t . of t he hake and cusk f or the c ounty are landed here, and, of this. 85 per cent. of t he total catch is cusk. Then in t he county 84 .06 per c en t. of t he cusk is landed in

Yarmouth No. 2 and 1.08 per cent. in Yarmouth No.1. making a tota.l of 85.14 per cent. of t n e hake and cu sk r eturns represent­ ing cusk. Since we have n ot sufficient data regarding t he pro­ portion of hake t o cusk in t he statistical returns for the rest of t he Atlantic coast, it is i mu ossible to estimate t he percent­ age of the total landings which are made in t he Fundy Area. Ts.ble I c ontains t he cusk landings in hu ndr ed wei ghts for the Fundy Ar ea from 1908 to 1930. From 1908 to 1910 inclusive t he values are t hose especially des ign s. t ed as "cusk Tl in t he statis­ tical returns. but from 1911 to 1930 t he values are cal cu l a. t ed on t he percentage basis from t he combined Tl hake and cu sk" land­ ings for t he Area. Figure 2 s hows t he course of t he fi shery from 1908 to 1930. I n 1914 the largest l anding (15,489 hundred weight ) wa s made. but 1911, 1915, 1916, 1918, 1919, 1920, 1922, 1924,1929 and 1930 landings were allover 9000 hu ndred weight. On the ot her hand 1908, 1909, 1910, 1921, 1923, 1925, and 1926 landings were under 5000 hundred weight .

Distribution in Fundy Area

The cusk is essentially a northern deep-water s~ecies, which inhabits rocky ledges on both sides of the North Atlantic. On ou r own c oast it ranges in progressively increasing numbers - 9 ­ from IvIassachusetts 8ay to the banks of Newfoundland and Greenland. In 1852 Perley stated that the numbers were limited even as far north as the Bay of Fund.y. This still bralds t r-o.e for the Fundy

Area, and of the cusk taken here from 19ID~ to 1930. about 75 per cent. were landed in Yarmouth County. Figure 3 shows the ap­ proximate location of the cusk catch in 1929. Each dot repre­ sents a catch of 100 hundred weight and a cross less than 100 hundred weight. It will be seen that the distribution corres­ ponds in general to the rocky ledges and gravel areas in the Fundy Area, since cusk are found only on such bottoms. The Charlotte Oounty oatch consists almost exclusively of occssional yellowish specimens taken on rocky ledges on the south west shore of Grand Manan. The'$ appear in Soundings out­ side the Bulk Head Rips about the North Rock and North Shoal to Machias Seal Island in 68 to 70 f atnoms , The fi sh are all of a good si z e and excellent quali ty , Rarely individuals are found near the Mu r r Ledges in September. As mentioned previously small black snotted cusk are infrequently taken at a depth of 25 fa­ thoms rather further inshore than is usual for this solitary liv­ ing fish. Good specimens also appear in winter at Money Oove Head and up the north west channel expecially off Dark Harbour to Long Eddy Point. Individuals occasionally appear with cod and b.ak(~ betwee.n Campobello and the Wolves off Whi te Horse Island and near Black Rock by Spruce ISland. Vessels used to visit German and Grand Manan Bank and take cusk in some quantities. - 10 ­ The Digby returns consist of small quantities of cusk captured in rocky patches (N. ~ . Ledge, Beatson's Rock, the S. W. Ledge, the Gullies) on the west coast of Brier Island sometimes not more than a mile and a half offshore. Occasional larger catches are made on rocky ground in 4 5 to 50 fathoms off Young Lurcher Ba r . which extends from Young Lurcher Shoal to the S. W. Ledge about fifteen miles offshore from Cape st. Mary ~ In the spring a few cusk may be taken along with haddock in St. Mary1s Bay. The fish are, however, comparatively rare here, po s s i bly owing to the fine pebbl.y nature of t he bot t om in con­ trast to the rocky typs which t he cusk usually choose as a habi­ tat. Th e more purely offshore natlITe of the cusk is mani ­ fested in its distribution off Yarmou t n County. It is taken principally from the Spring Halibut Ground off Lurcher Shoal in 30 to 55 fat homs, and from Seal Island Ground, although small catches are made in rocky ledges nearer t he coast line. These offshore gr ounds consist mostly of patches of gravel, pebbles and small stones alternating with sand and clay. Spring Halibut

Ground is about 8 miles W. N.\l . off Lurcher Light and has a gra­ vel bottom known as t he scallop ridges. On Seal Island Ground cusk occur in 50 to 80 fathoms, but north of the Island they are found at depths of approximately 25 fathoms. It is interesting to no te that the Shelburne catoh of cusk is also largely offshore, and is concentrated on the rocky shoals ab out the Scandinavian Bank and South East Ground. - 11 ­

Method of Capture Comparatively little is known of the feeding habits of the cusk. Fishermen declare them to be voracious and have found various mollusks, and occasionally starfish, small fish of other species, as well as some crustacea (crabs) in their stomachs. It is noteworthy, however, that they stand in con­ trast to hake in that t he stomachs never contain any shrimp. No definite attempt is made to take cusk possibly because they apparently do not congregate together, and appear to be more or less solitary in habit. Nowhere in the Fundy Area are they as abundant as cod, haddock, or hake. This re­ lationship to the cod catch is probably best shown by the fol­ lowing figures of a representative fare from a Yarmouth v es s el on July 18, 1931: Medi um cod 11,634 Large cod 3 , 200 Haddock 1,522 Pollock 1,800 Cusk 651

H~e 2 Off Digby and Charlotte Counties t he catches are only 2 per cent. and .25 per cent. respectively of the total hake and cusk catches. Vvhen fishing for ground fish such as cod, haddock or halibut, the boat fishermen and the fishermen in small ves­ sels use either hand lines or "long" lines. The hand line is the same as is used for cod, consisting of a single line with - 12 ­ one or more baited hooks and is wei ghted by a lead sinker. 11 trawl line or "long" line has attached to it at intervals of about six feet a succession of single short lines each bearing one hook. (See hake :fiishery - Ll ethods of Capture). The hooks are baited with clam, sardine (gut removed) mackerel or squid, if procurable. The "Lo ng " line is placed in the wa­ ter and buoyed and anchored at both ends for some time. o t t er trawls occasionally pick up cusk in the winter, and lobster traps placed in de ep. water are frequently instru­ mental in capturing small numbers. In the winter of 1931 a single large specimen said to weigh about 20 pounds was taken in one of these traps off Swallow Tail Light, Gr a nd Man an.

Fluctuations in the Fishery Monthly. We have comparatively little complete data regarding the monthly catch of cusk except that for Yarmouth County from 1926 to 1928. Table II contains a resume of the cusk catch for Yarmouth County over this period and the average values have been graphically represented in figure 4. Thi s figure shows the gradual increase in the catches from !j"leb ruar y to 1,"Iay , a progressive decline in June and July, and the annual peak in August, a second decline occurs in September and is followed by a slight increase in October and a subsequent fall through­ out the remaining months of the year. The decline in June and July is generally attributed to the fact that t he offshore fishing is displaced in these months by inshore fishing, on g r ounds where cusk a.re not found. - 13 ­

I n Au u s t t he o f ~ s' are fi s h i n ~ is once mo r e t aken up to a g r e a t er extent. Th e winter d ec l i n e is considered t o be due to a l a ck of fi s h i n g on t h e r oun d s fo r mos t fisher me say that cusk remain f a i r l y constantly in one 10ca11t y a ncl can be ob ­ t a i n e d there at any time of t he year. Cod supersede ousk in the spring months then become scarcer wi t h aD evenl y mixed c atch. In AUp,1lst i t Lnf'r equen t Ly h aoo ene t h a t a catch will con s i s t predominately of cusk.

Off Digby and Chnr l ot t e Counties t.h s catch is taken mai nl y in t he su mm er mon t hs from Ma; to Sept embe r .

Annu a l . Fl u c t u a t i on s in t he annual cusk catch for the whol e j}U 1J.ct j" Area were shown in I'a bl e I a n d ."i gure 2 a have alrea d.y been discussed. 'I'h e fishery reports unfortunately g i v e us lit­ tle d ,:;ta re @~arding the annual fluctuations. l'he cusk catch es in hundred we ight s f or Ya r mouth Cou n t y for the y nars 1 911 to

1930 are ~ i v en i n Ta bl e I II. In figure 5 t he changes in t he f i s h er y ar e shown ta: ""Qh J ca lly for t he same y e rs. Ana.lysis of t h is curve shows t he Bame g en er a l features as that for t h e Whole

ndy Ar e a , namel .,r peak years in 1911, 1914-6, 1918-20, 1922,

1924 a n d 1929-30.

Table IV gives t h e cusk catches in hundred we i ht s f or Digby County from 1 908 to 1930, an d t hese ha e been g r a ­ p hi ca l l y r e pre a en t e d in f i gure 6. ~"h e catches were all small com­ pa r e d to Ya rm ou t h . Peak years occuri :'.e in 1908, 1912-13, 1915­

16, were followed by a provressive decline in catch to 1921. - 14 ­

Another peak occurs in 1922, and from 1923 the general trend of the catch is an increase to 1929, with the possible excep­ tions of 1925 and 1926.

The cusk catches in hundred weights for Charlotte

County for the years 1911 to 1930 are given in Table V. In figure 7 the fluctuations in the fishery are shown graphically for the same period. The quantities are all small and practi­ cally negligible from the cOMnercial standpoint. The curve indicates approximately the same peak years as for the general

Fundy Area, namely 1912, 1915, 1919, 1922, 1924-25 and 1929.

Utilization

Cusk present no problem whatsoever for marketing, since even in Yarmouth County, the centre of the fishery, the catch is small. It is an excellent food fish and is said to be always fat at any season. Small quantities are sold fresh for boiling or baking or prepared as iced fillets (St. Andrews).

Most of the fish are dried and packed in kenches, others boned for boneless fish or salted in thirty ~ound boxes. It requires slow careful drying to prevent the flesh from becoming tough.

Probably the greatest revenue source is from shredded cusk, which consists of very long shreds and finds a ready sale in

New York for use in fish balls.

Cusk is not only a most palatable fiSh, but is high in nutritive value as shewn by the fi F~res for dressed cusk as compiled in Table VI by Atwater. The calorific value (186) is not high, but compares favorably With other well known sea fish. - 15 ­ (ex. Sea Ba s s , dressed, 200; Cod , dr es s ed , 209; Fl ounder (com­ mon) dressed, 127; Haddock, dr es s ed , 159.) Reco mm en da t i ons Cusk a r e taken in comrnercial quantities in Yarmouth County and appear also off Digby and Charlotte Counties. The "hake a nd cusk" statistical returns are ambiguous, referring as they do t o hake in all counties of t he ?undy Area with the ex­ ception of Yarmouth. It is su ggested t hat the course of both fisheries in the future would be made more clear by t he separa­ tion of these two species which are s o rarely even taken on t he same g r ounds . - 16 - Legends for Figures

Figure 1. Cusk. (Brosmius brosme 1I~11er)

Fi gure 2. Graph showi ng the annual landi ngs of cusk in hun­

dred weights in the Fundy Area from 1908 to 1930.

Figure 3. Figure shoiting the approximate location of the catch

of cusk in 1929 as given in the statistical re­

ports. Dots represent 100 hundred weight land­

ings, crosses smaller amounts.

Figure 4. Graph showing the average monthly catch of cusk in

hundred weights in Yarmouth County from 1926 to 1928

i ncLu st vee

Figure 5. Graph showing the annual landings of cusk in hun­

dred weights in Yarmouth Oounty from 1911 to 1930.

Figure 6. Graph showing the annual landings of cusk in hundred

weights in Digby Oounty from 1908 to 1930.

Figure 7. Graph showing the annual landings of ffilSk in hundred

weights in Oharlotte Oounty from 1911 to 1930. TABLE I

Hundred Wei ght s of Cusk landed eaah year in t he Fundy Area from 1908 to 1930.

Year '0 'I '2 '3 '4 '5 ' 6 '7 18 '9

190' 3231 2,145

191' 2,161 9306 8,165 5581 15,489 14,764 14,418 7192 9748 13,599 192' 13,048 4853 10,119 3384 6,025 2,749 4,487 6237 7990 12,065

193' 11,259 TABlE II

Hundred We i gh t s of Cusk landed each month in Yarmouth County from 1926 to 1928.

- -'.,,- Year Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. Sept. Oct. Nov. :Dec.

1926 39 170 257 151 121 631 110 801 745 98 12

1927 173 207 280 649 745 301 780 99 609 354 51 1928 --­ 190 718 1201 554 113 1831 3 24 258 354 275

Average 71 189 418 667 473 34 8 907 408 537 269 113 Hundred e i gh t s of Cusk landed each year in Yarmouth Cou.nty from 1911 to 1930.

Year '0 ' 1 ' 2 '3 '4 '5 ' 6 17 ' 8 I 9

191 r 7356 5465 2808 13,524 11,846 11,292 4757 8061 12,259

192' 11,790 4247 7859 2613 4,410 1,382 3,132 4247 5815 9,513

193' 8,904

6 TABLE IV

Hundred Wei gh t s of Cusk landed each y ear in Di gby County from 1908 to 1930 • . Year '0 11 12 '3 14 '5 '6 17 18 19

190' 3231 2145

191' 2161 1770 2472 2617 1824 2630 2926 2290 1560 1126

192 1 1109 512 2046 728 1494 1230 1270 1911 2021 2290

193 1 2180 Hundred We i g ht s of Cusk landed each year in Charlotte County from 1911 to 1930.

Year '0 11 '2 13 14 ' 5 r 6 ' 7 '8 '9

191' 180 228 156 141 288 200 145 127 214 I I 192' 149 94 214 43 121 137 85 79 154 262

193' 175 TABLE VI

Approximate Composition of Dressed Cusk. (Atwater)

Refuse (bone, skin, etc.) 40.3 per cent. Wat er 49.0 per cent. Protein (by Faotor Nx6.25) 10.1 per cent.

Fat .1 per cent.

Ash or Mineral Matter • 5 per cent• Total Nutrients 10.7 per cent.

Fuel value per pound ' 186 calories