156

D utch Catches of Trawled Herring1.

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Charts 25— 29. March July August September October

B 5,000— 10,000 kg. U l 25,000— 50,000 kg. fi 75,000— 100,000 kg.

r a 10,000— 25,000 kg. H 50,000— 75,000 kg. ^ 100,000— 150,000 kg. Bà 150,000— 200,000 kg.

Trawl Fisheries. ground. From October until the beginning of

The catch of herring per 100 hours fishing Novem ber, the fishery took place still m ore
of the Dutch steam traw lers fishing w ith the southerly, especially in the Bruceys Garden
herring traw l is shown in the Charts 25—29. and on the western and south-w estern p art of
The distribution of the fleet shows some the Dogger Bank. From m id-N ovem ber until
differences with 1950. In M arch rath er large 12. December, the fishery was carried out in
catches (of spent herring) have been m ade in the southernm ost area of the N orth Sea, p a rti­
the area near Silver Pit. cularly around the lightships “B uytingen”,
The m ean catches in the m onths July, A u­ “Sandettié” an d “D yck”.
gust and Septem ber have been about the same The num bers of traw lers, voyages etc., catch
as in 1950. The m ean catches in October were and value for the years 1946—50 have been
considerably higher than the year before. This sum m arized in Ann. Biol., Vol. VII, Table 12,
depends partly on the differences in the areas p. 139.
w here the fleet has been fishing. Com paring the activity of the herring tra w ­
The Table 13 B gives the quantity of herring lers w ith the season 1950, we m ust adm it a
landed by the traw lers an d by the whole fleet slight decrease in 1951. The n um ber of traw ­
fishing w ith traw l-nets. The total quantity landed lers w hich have taken p a rt in the cam paign
was m uch higher in 1951 than in 1950. fell from 40 to 38; the n u m b er of voyages
L . K. B o e r k m a .
however increased from 213 to 215, whereas
the num ber of H .P. developed-fishing hour
decreased from 6,493,488 to 6,277,371, being
Full-Herring Concentrations exploited by the a decrease of 216,117 H .P. developed-fishing
hour, or 3.3% .
Belgian Herring Trawlers in 1951. The total landings were 5,794 tons against
I. Activity—Landings—Value. 7,555 in 1950, this m eans a decrease of 23%.
The first full-herring catch was lan d ed on The average catch per voyage also shows a
the 23. July 1951, it cam e from the Fladen m arked dim inution from 35 tons to 27 tons,
Ground. The herring fishery w ent on there until or 24% .
Septem ber, b u t from m id-Septem ber most The average catch per h o u r’s fishing for 100
traw lers were already active in the central H.P. developed is also lower, 92 Kg. against
area, viz., the Gut and west of this fishing 116 Kg. in 1950, being 21% less. This decrease
 157 - Herring
N orth Sea

Table 14. Number oí Belgian Herring Trawlers (T), oí Voyages (V), of Sea-Days (S.D.)
and of Eficetive Fishing Hours (F.H.)
Fishin° according to Classes o í Vessels and Fishing (»rounds.
Grounds Class III Class IV Class V Class VI Total Class III Class IV Class V Class VI Total
and Months T V T V T V T V T V S.D. F.H. S.Ei. F.H. S.D. F.H. S.D. F.H. S.D . F.H.
North Sea, North
Ju ly ..............— 3 3 3 3 2 2 8 8 36 553 27 329 21 242 84 1,124
August......... 6 7 4 5 4 8 14 20 — — 77 890 56 621 81 970 214 2,481
September . 1 1 2 2 3 3 6 6 12 135 21 316 28 313 61 764
T otal............ — — 6 11 7 10 4 13 17 34 — — 125 1,578 104 1,266 130 1,525 359 4,369

North Sea, Central

August......... — 7 9 4 5 1 1 12 15 105 1,105 52 569 11 112 168 1,786
September . — — 7 13 6 14 4 5 17 32 — — 114 1,107 131 1,257 49 474 294 2,838
O ctober.. . . — 4 12 8 16 2 4 14 32 99 990 128 1,259 31 296 258 2,545
N ovem ber.. — 3 3 6 6 1 1 10 10 31 297 61 677 10 80 102 1,054
T otal............ 9 37 8 41 6 11 23 89 _ 349 3,499 372 3,762 101 962 822 8,223

North Sea, South

N ovem ber.. 11 42 -I 14 2 4 1 2 18 62 207 1,560 49 366 25 229 11 108 292 2,263
Decem ber. . 9 25 2 5 11 30 95 778 21 94 116 872
T otal............ 11 67 4 19 2 4 1 2 18 92 302 2,338 70 460 25 229 11 108 408 3,135
Seasonal Total 11 67 12 67 8 55 6 26 37 215 302 2,338 544 5,537 501 5,257 242 2,595 1,589 15,727
The average duration of a voyage was 7.38 sea-days or 73.15 fishing hours.

denotes th at an equal effort produced by the not apply to the northern area, since the average
traw lers gave a sm aller catch th an in 1950. catch for one h o u r’s fishing for 100 H.P.
From this we m ay infer th at the herring con­ developed reached a m uch higher level, 73 Kg.
centrations exploited by the Belgian fisherm en against 64 Kg. in 1950.
during 1951 were not so dense as during the The value of the herring catch reached 21.6
previous year. However, this conclusion does mill. fr. being 12% less than in 1950.

Table 15. Total Weight landed (in 1000 Kg.) and the Average Catch per Voyage (C/V)
in 1000 Kg. and per Hour per 100 H.P. (C/H) (in Kg.).
Class III Class IV Class V Class VI Total Class III Class IV Class V Class VI Total
Northern section C/V C/H C/V C/H C/V C/H C/V C/H C,/V C/H
Ju ly .................... 35 70 121 226 12 22 23 51 61 59 28 45
August................ 180 241 669 1090 26 70 48 97 84 79 54 81
September . . . . — 19 55 271 345 19 47 28 48 90 99 58 80
T otal................... — 234 366 1061 1661 — — 21 51 37 73 82 80 49 73

Central section
August................ — 222 212 99 533 — — 25 67 42 93 99 104 36 82
Septem ber. . . . — 420 604 420 1443 — — 32 131 43 119 84 120 45 122
October.............. 481 699 323 1502 — — 40 181 44 135 81 176 47 156
Novem ber......... 64 114 50 228 — — 21 72 19 40 50 129 23 56
T otal.................. — 1187 1629 891 3707 — — 32 118 40 106 81 134 42 116

Southern section
Novem ber......... 175 63 57 45 340 4.2 51 4.5 66 14 57 23 56 5.5 55
Decem ber......... 69 17 — — 86 3.8 49 3.3 72 — — — — 2.9 52
T otal.................. 244 80 57 45 426 4.6 50 4.2 67 14 57 23 56 4.6 54
Seasonal Total. 244 1501 2052 1997 5794 3.6 50 22 95 37 96 77 96 27 92
 158 -

Table 16. Catch of Full Herring in the Season.

Per eff. hour
Total Per vovage per 100 H. P.
1000 Kg. % in 1000 Kg. in Kg.
July.................. 226 3.9 28 45
A ugust............... 1623 28.0 46 81
Septem ber 1788 30.9 47 111
October 1502 25.9 47 155
N ovem b er. . . . 569 9.8 8 55
D ecem ber 86 1.5 3 52
T otal.................. 5794 100 27 92

The average length increased slightly in the

two areas. The average weight is also som e­
w hat higher, 162 gr. against 155 gr.
Com paring the num erical strength of the
year-classes observed, we ascertained th at the
youngest generations (three to six-year-old h e r­
rings) although they were already very well
represented in the 1950 concentrations were
still better represented this year: 68.2% against
61.3% .
The average num ber of vertebrae for the
northern area was 56.62 th at for the central
area 56.51 and for the two areas 56.55.

Table 17. Average Numbers of Sea-Days and

of Effective Fishing Hours per Voyage.
Sea-days Fishing hours
Northern. . . . 10.6 128.5
Central 9.2 92.4
S o u t h e r n .... 4.4 34.1
July— August
August— September
The average n um ber of vertebrae of the h er­
September— October— N o vember rings, w hich during August belonged to the
November— December m aturity stages I to III, a n d w hich we consider
to be spring spaw ners, was 56.81 an d for those
Figure 9. Fishing grounds exploited by Belgian herring with m aturity stages IV to V III—II + stages I
trawlers in 1951. to III from Septem ber, considered to be
autum n spaw ners, 56.51.
The spring spaw ners represented 34.5% of
II. Biology. the catch in the northern area ; they are totally
The m aterial com prises 15 sam ples of w hich missing in the catches from the central area.
7 were from the northern area, m ainly the This result corroborates once m ore the fact
F laden Ground a n d Long Forties, an d 8 from
the central area, Bruceys Garden as well as
west and south-west of the Dogger B ank. The Table 18. Total Seasonal Weight in 1951.
form er area was fished mostly during August W eight
a n d the latter during Septem ber an d October. (1000 Kg.) Percentage
The average length of the herring was Herring............... 5794 89.5
M ackerel............ 334 5.2
Northern area Central area Both areas Demersal fish .. 344 5.3
Shellfish.............. 2 0.04
in 1951......... 276 m m. 261 mm. 267 mm.
in 1950......... 263 - 257 - 261 - T o ta l................... 6474 100
 — 159 — Herring
North Sea

Table 19. Full Herring. Length, Weight, Sex, Maturity, Fat Content, and Age (Percentages).
A . Cenlimetre Class, Mean Length (cm .), Average W eight (gr.), and Sex (Percentages).
Centimetre Classes Aver. Males
19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 Mean Weight °/
/o
N orthern.. 0.3 1.8 11.2 19.2 22.0 29.7 11.5 4.0 0.3 27.6 179 52
Central. . . 0.2 0.3 0.3 0.9 6.4 11.0 24.8 26.7 18.2 7.0 3.7 0.3 0.2 26.1 151 48
T otal......... 0.1 0.2 0.2 0.6 4.0 7.5 19.6 23.9 19.6 15.7 6. 7 1.7 0.2 26.7 162 50

B. Stages of Maturity and Quantity of Mesenteric Fat.

Stages of Maturity Q uantity of Fat
I II III IV V VI VIII-1I 0 1 + M
N orthern ... 4.0 2.8 27.7 38.7 26.8 3.5 24.5 38.5 33.5
Central. . . . 2.2 3.4 5.9 23.1 36.8 16.8 11.8 23.8 39.4 25.9 10.9
T otal........... 2.9 3.2 14.2 29.1 33.0 10.3 7.3 16.0 33.7 30.8 19.5

1. group . . , 11.6 8.0 80.4 0.7 0.7 17.4 81.2

2. grou p . . . 1.6 2.4 4.2 33.5 38.0 11.9 8.4 18.3 38.7 32.8 10,2

C. Distribution of Year-Classes and Age-Groups.

Number of Herrings with readable scales: 233.
W inter-R ings 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 +
Age (Y ea rs)................... 3 4 3 6 7 8 9 10 + Number of
Year-Classes 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 Before 1941 Sam ples Fish
N orthern........................ 2.4 10.6 20.0 20.0 15.3 9.4 7.0 8.2 7.1 7 400
C entral............................ 4.0 19.6 36.5 16.9 5.4 3.4 6.8 4.0 3.4 8 644
T otal................................ 3.4 16.3 30.5 18.0 9.0 5.6 6.9 5.6 4.7 15 1044

that the spring spaw ners penetrate the central

area of the N orth Sea only in sm all num bers.
1918 191/
“ 1993 In 1950, the spring spaw ners represented
41.4% of the catch from the northern area.
As is norm al, the average num ber of keeled
scales was som ew hat higher for the autum n
spaw ners th an for the spring spaw ners, or re ­
spectively 14.70 and 14.67.
1948
Stomach Contents.
Among the 1,044 stom achs exam ined only
u^m
m = m
i um ± Æ ü 81, or 7.8% , were found to have some con­
1949 tents: 17, or 1.6% , full; 32, or 3.1% , half-full
and 32, or 3.1% , a q uarter full.
The contents observed consisted for the
greater p art of copepods and sm aller quantities
of schizopods.
1950
III. Forecasts lor the Fall-H erring Campaign 1952.
If we analyse the composition of the last
I99G
fished full-herring concentrations (1951), we
1951
ascertain th at the three-year-old herrings (year-
class 1948), w hich joined the full-herring con­
[U T [h A = ii a centrations for the first tim e, were only very
lit 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 + 10
Y 4A RS poorly represented (3.4% ). On the other h and,
the five-year-old herrings (year-class 1946)
Figure 10. Biological Scale o f the Full-Herring Concentrations
exploited by the Belgian Herring Trawlers during the years were exceptionally well represented (30.5% ).
1946— 1951. The four-year-olds (year-class 1947) and the
 — 160

Table 20. Full Herring. Average Length and Average Value of Lx of each Year-Class.
Length o f Year-Classes, cm. Lx o f Year-Classes, in mm.
Born i n : ....................... 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 j 1948 1947 1946 1945 1944 1943 1942 1941 Mean
A ge:................................. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 I
Northern....................... 23.9 26.3 26.8 27.2 28.0 28.6 28.1 28.5 j 100 110 114 108 114 133 112 115 114
Central.......................... 24.3 25.8 26.5 27.2 27.6 27.6 27.6 28.5 | 119 116 108 112 101 108 107 110 111
T o ta l.. . “ 777.T.7." 24.2 25.9 26.6 27.2 27.9 28.2 27.8 28.5 ¡ 114 115 109 110 109 123 109 113 112

six-year-olds (year-class 1945) were well re ­ first catches were lan d ed on 12. Decem ber 1951
presented (16.3% an d 18.0% respectively). and the last on 29. F eb ru ary 1952. During this
Relying upon the above-m entioned percen­ period there were 61 days of sale, viz., 18 in
tages, we m ay expect th at the 1948 year-class December, 21 in Ja n u a ry and 22 in F ebruary.
will not be well represented in the next no r in The previous cam paign started 6 days earlier,
the later concentrations, w hereas the 1947, b ut finished also a m onth sooner (from 6. Dec.
1.946 and 1945 year-classes will always assure till 27. Ja n .) a n d counted only 42 days of sale.
a large share until they reach an old age. As in 1950—51, it was only at the beginning
However, to infer from this th at the coming of the season th a t dense spent-herring con­
season will yield large catches, w ould be to centrations were to be found in the Belgian
judge prem aturely. territorial w aters. As from Jan u ary , the spent-
As is being constantly pointed out, good herring left once and for all the Belgian w aters
catches do not depend solely on the density of and from then onw ards the Belgian traw lers
the concentrations, but rath er upon the w eather were active in the areas between the light-
and hydrological conditions, w hich occur vessels “Ruytingen” a n d “D yck” as well as in
during the cam paign. Also, it w ould not be the areas further north.
first tim e th at the exploitation of the concentra­ Concerning the fishing m ethods, it m ust be
tions was adversely affected by them and in m entioned, th at in contrast w ith the previous
this w ay belie the favourable forecasts of a season, the fishery w ith the “bull-net” again
cam paign. m et w ith great success and this tim e both
In consequence, it is only if the w eather and among the largest and the sm allest traw lers.
the hydrological conditions affect the exploita­
tion favourably th at we m ay expect, in 1952,
a satisfactory full-herring season. II. Activity of the H erring Fleet and Catch.
Ch . Gil is . A total of 52 traw lers took p a rt in the spent-
herring cam paign 1951—52, or 15 less th an
during the previous season :—
Spent-Herring Concentrations on the Belgian
and French Coasts, 1951—52. Number
A . Fishery. Class 1950-51 1951-52 Type H.P.
I. Period, Fishing G rounds an d Methods. I 13 6 shrimp boats.. — 79
II 21 8 coastal trawlers. 80— 119
The spent-herring season 1951—52 was of III 27 29 m edium -sized trawlers . 120— 239
longer duration th an the previous one. The IV 6 9 sm all deep-sea trawlers 240— 300

Table 21. Full Herring. Racial Characters. Percentage Distribution and Means.
Number of Vertebrae1) Number o f K2
Origin 55 56 57 58 59 Average 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 Average
N orth ern ... 2.3 41.9 47.7 7.9 0.2 56.62 — 0.2 5.8 35.5 44.5 11.5 2.3 0.2 14.69
Central 5.8 41.2 49.0 4.0 — 56.51 : 0.2 0.2 6.3 34.1 44.1 13.5 1.1 0.5 14.69
t o ta l. 777“ 4~4 4L 5 48.5 5.5 0.1 56.55 j 0.1 0.2 6.1 1 4 .7 ’ 44.3 12.7 1.5 Ö.4 14.69

1. g r o u p ... 2.2 30.2 52.9 14.0 0.7 56.81 ' — 0.7 8.7 31.2 44.2 13.0 1.5 0.7 14.67
2. g r o u p ... 4.8 43.2 47.8 4.2 — 56.51 I 0.1 0.1 5.7 35.2 44.3 12.7 1.6 0.3 14.69
1) The census for the vertebrae covered 1,044 spines, o f which there were 27, or 2.59% , with one or more fused vertebrae.
These spines have been elim inated from our material.