NICHOLSON: ATLANTIC MENHADEN PURSE-SEINE FISHERY 



Table 8. — Mean catch of Atlantic menhaden per vessel week, in metric tons, landed at ports in the South and 



Middle Atlantic areas. 



Fernandina 

 Beach, Flo., and 

 Yonges Is., S.C. 



Southport, 

 N.C. 



Beaufort, 

 N.C. 



Lewes, 

 Del. 



Wildwood. 

 N.J. 



Tuckerton, 

 N.J. 



Port 



Monmouth, 



N.J. 



Monthly totals at each port were obtained by 

 summing the estimates for each stratum, sea- 

 sonal totals by summing- the monthly estimates, 

 and ai'ea totals by summing the totals of each 

 port. The mean number of sets per day for 

 either month or season was calculated by di- 

 viding the total number of estimated sets by the 

 total number of fishing days. 



Because of the difficulty of maintaining good 

 logbook records in recent years, the analysis 

 was not continued beyond 1966. By that time 

 little fishing was done north of Chesapeake Bay. 



At ports where more than one size class of 

 vessels fished, the larger vessels generally aver- 

 aged slightly more sets per day than the smaller 

 ones (Table 9). The differences were greater 

 at ports where the vessel classes were not adja- 

 cent (Lewes and Wildwood) than they were at 

 ports where the vessel classes were adjacent 

 (Amagansett, Port Monmouth, and Tuckerton) . 

 Because data were insufficient to calculate the 



mean catch per set for each vessel class in Ches- 

 apeake Bay, the data were combined for classes 

 2 and 3, and 4 and 5. After 1964 the lack of 

 data made meaningful comjjarisons impossible. 



The slightly greater mean number of sets per 

 day for the larger vessels may reflect the ability 

 of these vessels to steam faster and range farther 

 from their home port, and to carry more fish 

 when fully loaded. More than likely, these fig- 

 ures reflect the ability and aggressiveness of the 

 vessel captains, since the better ones generally 

 are assigned to the larger vessels. 



The annual or monthly number of sets (Table 

 10) reflected the abundance of fish and the 

 amount of fishing effort. Excluding the North 

 Carolina fall fishery, the most sets per season 

 through 1963 were usually made in the Middle 

 Atlantic area and the fewest sets in the South 

 Atlantic. After 1963, following the drastic de- 

 cline of the fishery and the decrease in effort in 

 the Middle and North Atlantic areas, the number 



775 



