`Do you know why it’s called a whiting?’ [said the Gryphon] `I never thought about it,’ said Alice. `Why?’ `It does the boots and shoes.’ the Gryphon replied very solemnly. Alice was thoroughly puzzled. `Does the boots and shoes!’ she repeated in a wondering tone. `Why, what are your shoes done with?’ said the Gryphon. `I mean, what makes them so shiny?’ Alice looked down at them, and considered a little before she gave her answer. `They’re done with blacking, I believe.’ `Boots and shoes under the sea,’ the Gryphon went on in a deep voice, `are done with a whiting. Now you know.’ — Lewis Carroll
From 1964 through 1970 the landings of silver hake (also known as “whiting”) by commercial fishermen were well over 10 million pounds annually. Since 1974 landings have been below 4 million pounds, petering out to only a few hundred pounds before the fishery was closed.
When silver hake was available, the price per pound has fluctuated widely since 1986.
Silver Hake Landings 1964-2011
Silver Hake Price per Pound 1964-2016
| YEAR | POUNDS | VALUE | PRICE/LB |
| 1964 | 25,349,929 | $373,502 | $0.01 |
| 1965 | 27,834,209 | $486,031 | $0.02 |
| 1966 | 29,497,234 | $1,134,774 | $0.04 |
| 1967 | 20,678,605 | $503,128 | $0.02 |
| 1968 | 28,809,976 | $813,398 | $0.03 |
| 1969 | 17,889,677 | $801,872 | $0.04 |
| 1970 | 14,837,350 | $1,184,193 | $0.08 |
| 1971 | 9,900,355 | $479,651 | $0.05 |
| 1972 | 4,094,666 | $330,938 | $0.08 |
| 1973 | 5,517,104 | $299,263 | $0.05 |
| 1974 | 2,868,904 | $174,647 | $0.06 |
| 1975 | 1,198,352 | $72,443 | $0.06 |
| 1976 | 407,554 | $28,620 | $0.07 |
| 1977 | 254,960 | $17,020 | $0.07 |
| 1978 | 1,161,794 | $109,255 | $0.09 |
| 1979 | 143,231 | $15,328 | $0.11 |
| 1980 | 545,302 | $61,499 | $0.11 |
| 1981 | 2,823,127 | $329,513 | $0.12 |
| 1982 | 1,919,736 | $258,326 | $0.13 |
| 1983 | 2,316,849 | $327,782 | $0.14 |
| 1984 | 3,623,839 | $322,564 | $0.09 |
| 1985 | 2,492,602 | $276,198 | $0.11 |
| 1986 | 1,930,305 | $351,825 | $0.18 |
| 1987 | 1,281,274 | $341,000 | $0.27 |
| 1988 | 2,142,467 | $416,783 | $0.19 |
| 1989 | 758,046 | $218,462 | $0.29 |
| 1990 | 263,857 | $55,510 | $0.21 |
| 1991 | 126,840 | $44,368 | $0.35 |
| 1992 | 101,614 | $52,948 | $0.52 |
| 1993 | 61,496 | $24,423 | $0.40 |
| 1994 | 1,935,150 | $526,584 | $0.27 |
| 1995 | 1,980,554 | $628,833 | $0.32 |
| 1996 | 3,206,663 | $1,174,927 | $0.37 |
| 1997 | 1,244,100 | $319,272 | $0.26 |
| 1998 | 176,658 | $47,740 | $0.27 |
| 1999 | 141,886 | $49,758 | $0.35 |
| 2000 | 21,519 | $13,345 | $0.62 |
| 2001 | 33,606 | $11,996 | $0.36 |
| 2002 | 42,233 | $10,374 | $0.25 |
| 2003 | 2,203 | $1,062 | $0.48 |
| 2004 | 2,419 | $1,055 | $0.44 |
| 2005 | 2,524 | $462 | $0.18 |
| 2006 | 2,627 | ||
| 2007 | 383 | $74 | $0.19 |
| 2008 | |||
| 2009 | 657 | $252 | $0.38 |
| 2010 | |||
| 2011 | |||
| 2012 | 52,490 | $22,718 | 0.43 |
| 2013 | 25,515 | $20,079 | $0.79 |
| 2014 | 79,072 | $43,342 | $0.55 |
| 2015 | 57,630 | $43,541 | $0.76 |
| 2016 | 45,964 | $43,522 | $0.95 |
Additional resources
Source: http://www.maine.gov/dmr/commercial-fishing/landings/documents/whiting.table.pdf (accessed February 5, 2018)
Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. The Millennium Fulcrum Edition 3.0. https://www.cs.cmu.edu/~rgs/alice-table.html (accessed December 26, 2017)