INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION FOR THE NORTHWEST ATLANTIC FISHERIES RESEARCH BULLETIN NUMBER 4 Issued from the Headquarters of the Commission Dartmouth, N. S., Canada 1967 190° I 180° I 170° a° 15o0 I \ \3o° 70° 70° IA SUBAREAS AND DIVISIONS 1B OF THE GREENLAND ICNAF CONVENTION AREA IC BOUNDARY OF CONVENTION AREA 4,1 ID BOUNDARIES OF SUBAREAS BOUNDARIES OF DIVISIONS DEPTHS LESS THAN 100 FMS IE 60° 2G 1F 21i 2J LABRADOR QUEBEC 3K 50° 4S 14R NEWFOUNDLAND 4T Pn NEW BRUNSWICK 4Vn a —r NOVA SC • 3M 0 5Y 3N 4% 4W 5Z 40° h0° 150° Contents TEMPLEMAN, Wilfred. Atlantic Salmon from the Labrador Sea and off West Greenland Taken During A. T. Cameron Cruise, July—August 1965 VLADIMIRSKAYA, E. V. Seasonal Population Dynamics of Calton .finmarchieus (Gunner) in the Northwestern Atlantic, 1958-61 41 PITT, T. K. Diurnal Variation on the Catches of American Plaice, Hippogiossoides platessoides Fabr., from the Grand Bank 53 CUMMING, Kenneth B. Natural Hemagglutinins in Marine Fishes 59 MAY, A. W. Effect of Offshore Fishing on the Inshore Labrador Cod Fishery 67 SARNITS, A. A.. and V. 1. SAUSKAN. Hydrological Conditions and Distribution of Silver Hake, if erluccius bilinearis Mitchell, on Georges Bank and off Nova Scotia in 1962-64 ............. ..... .......... KOHLER, A. C. Changes in the Fishery for Atlantic Halibut, Hippoglossus hippo- alas:ills L., in ICNAF Subareas 3 and 4, 1954-64 87 POWLFS, P. M., and V. S. KENNEDY. Age Determination of Nova Scotian Grey- sole, Glyptocephalus eynoglossus L., from Otoliths 91 ZINKEVICH, V. N. Observations on the Distribution of Herring, Clupea harenaus L., on Georges Bank and in Adjacent Waters in 1962-65. 101 MAY, A. W. Otolith Age Validation in Labrador Cod.. 116 Notes POWLES, P. M. Length-Weight Relationships for American Plaice, Witch, and Yellowtail, in ICNAF Subarea 4 121 Instructions to Authors 125 Atlantic Salmon from the Labrador Sea and off West Greenland, Taken During A. T. Cameron Cruise, July - August 1965 BY WILFRED TEMPLEMAN Abstract Sex ratios were 14 M:24 F. All males were very immature but one 2+ sea-year female from the Labrador Sea on 19-20 July could possibly but not necessarily have In 18 surface drift-net sets made from 12 July to 24 been maturing to spawn in the same year. August 1965 by the A. T. Cameron., 39 Atlantic Salmon Salmon from the West Greenland banks had more were caught; 6 were taken over oceanic depths in the food in their stomachs and had greater girths and weights Labrador Sea from 18 to 20 July; 13 were taken on the at the same lengths than salmon from west of Cape Fare- West Greenland banks, almost all over the shallower well and Cape Desolation. water, from 5 to 16 August; 2 were taken over deep water Of the meristic characters, vertebral counts, at least, west of Cape Desolation on 21 August; the largest catch, are worth following further for possible use in locating 13 in one set, was made over oceanic depths west of Cape the home areas of the West Greenland fish. Farewell on 21 and 22 August; and 5 were taken over Food was principally larval Arctic squid, Gocatus oceanic depths in the Labrador Sea on 22 and 23 August. unreel!, in the Labrador Sea and launce with some capelin A few of the salmon appeared to he travelling in pairs on the West Greenland banks. Secondary foods over or in small schools of three. They were caught near the deep water were paralepids and Greenland halibut fry. surface, 97% in the upper S ft (2.4 m). There were indications that the percentage of salmon Sixty-one per cent of the salmon had 2 years of river possessing tapeworms, Eubothrium crassum, may increase life and the numbers with 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 years of river with length of river life and that the presence of this life were 23, 7, 4, 2, and 2. Thirty-six of 38 salmon had parasite may be worth following for area of origin of West 1+ sea years, two having 2+ sea years. West Green- Greenland salmon. land and Labrador Sea salmon in our small samples had Data from the literature on salmon. migrations in the river ages too low for purely Canadian random samples western Atlantic and on smolt ages in North American and and too high for samples entirely from Britain and Ireland. European rivers are reviewed. Introduction 6 Materials and Methods 6 Results 8 Fishing localities and catches 8 Other fishing trials 8 Location of salmon in net 8 Age and length 12 Length-weight 15 Sex ratio and stage of sexual maturity 17 Meristic characters 17 Body proportions 17 Food 20 Parasites 23 Discussion and Conclusions . ... 23 Salmon location and migration 23 Outward and return migrations, Canada 25 Northward movement of salmon similar to that of other fishes 28 Ocean currents and eddies, and salmon 29 Enemies while in northern eddy systems and at West Greenland 30 Age and length 30 Length-weight 36 Sex ratio and stage of sexual maturity 36 Meristic characters 36 Food 37 Parasites 37 Acknowledgements 37 References 38 Fisheries Research Board of Canada, Biological Station, St. Johns, Newfoundland. 6 ICNAF RESEARCH BULLETIN NUMBER 4, 1967 Introduction with the author as Scientist-in-Charge, some re- searches were conducted on Atlantic salmon Beaug6 (1931) reported that in the French distribution and biology. Since salmon research otter-trawl fishery on Store Hellefiske Hank in was not the main object of the cruise only relative- 1930, from 10 August it was advantageous ly small amounts of gear were used and sets were to fish for cod in the shallowest water possible made only when other work permitted. on the bottom at 25-30 m. He says that the salmon abounded and that the trawl took a great Materials and Methods number with the cod. (The month was not stated but in his notes he also mentioned Septem- The salmon forming the basis of this paper ber and fishing in the channel between the banks were taken in gill nets set at the surface over and the coast.) oceanic depths at the mouth of the Labrador Sea, on the banks of West Greenland, and west of Jensen (1939. 1948), Nielsen (1961), Saunders Cape Farewell and Cape Desolation. The nets et al. (1965), Hansen (1965), Saunders (MS, were of Ulstron (polypropylene), multifilament 1965) and others have written on the fishery for 3-ply, No. 12 for the 5-inch (127-mm) mesh and Atlantic salmon. Imo salar Linnaeus, (in this No. 15 for the 5,1-and 5+-inch (133-and 140-mm) paper usually referred to as salmon) in West mesh and made by W. J. Knox Ltd., Kilbirnie, Greenland. In recent years this fishery has risen Scotland. A herring net of 24-inch (70-mm) rapidly reaching an exported quantity of 1,386 mesh and a mackerel net of 3+-inch (83-mm) metric tons of gutted head-on fish in 1954. West mesh were also used. These were of synthetic Greenland salmon landings fell to a little over half materials of unknown identity. this quantity in 1965, apparently due to decreas- ing effort resulting from lower prices and a greater The nets in each set were set free of the ship abundance of cod inshore. Also in 1965 a Faroese as one string of drift nets with a large marker and a Norwegian vessel engaged with some success buoy at one end set in the direction of the cur- in drift-netting for sahnon outside the territorial rent movement and a smaller one at the other. waters of West Greenland (Anon., 1966). The greatest number of nets was 13. A 4.8 min diameter polypropylene rope was attached to the Inshore salmon landings in West Greenland headrope at the ends of each net. The nets were are from August to December but almost all from set during the dark period of the night or part of September to November. Commercial fishing this -period and hauled at dawn. has been carried on from Cape Farewell to Disko Bay. The greatest West Greenland landings in Some Japanese salmon longlinc gear. obtained 1964 were in ICNAF Statistical Divisions 1B-1E. from the Fisheries Research Hoard of Canada, Nanaiino Biological Station, British Columbia, The fishery depends almost entirely on salmon was also used close to the surface in two sets. of European and Canadian origin as judged by- The hooks were baited half with salted anchovies returns of 64 tagged salmon between 1956-64 and half with Newfoundland squid, Illex Weer- Of these, 23 were tagged, either as smolts or as brosus. This gear was set at dawn and hauled spawning or spent salmon, in Canadian rivers, 2 several hours later. in United States rivers and 39 in rivers in Europe. An additional 30 tagged salmon, 13 from Canada, The salmon were weighed, measured, and 2 from Ireland and 15 from England and Scotland examined in detail for copepod and other para- were reported from West Greenland in 1965 sites, for food in the stomachs, etc. in the fresh (Hansen, MS, 1966). Only very small numbers condition on board ship. The salmon were of salmon, insignificant in relation to the com- evidently exhausted and had usually lost large mercial fishery, and of longer river life than most quantities of scales and often had bad net mark salmon of the commercial fishery, are native to injuries. A number of the liveliest were placed the small river Kapisigdlit in Godthaab Fjord, the in tanks immediately after being taken on board only Greenland river in which salmon are known but did not survive.