FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 70, NO. 3 



Table 1. — Average annual landings in metric tons of 

 major species of fish and shellfish in the State of New 

 York for four major periods in the history of the com- 

 mercial fishery of the State. Ranks by weight in 

 parentheses. 



Species 



1887-1926 1929.1935 1938-1951 1952-1970 



Oyster 



Bluefish 



Weakfish 



Flounders 



Cod 



Shod 



Hard clam 



Alewife 



Butterfish 



American eel 



Haddock 



Sea scallop 



Tilefish 



Soup 



Squid 



Atlantic mackerel 



Silver hake 



Soft clam 



Northern lobster 



Sea bass 



Surf clam 



Pollock 



Blue crab 



Atlantic bonito 



Sea mussels 



Red hake 



Striped bass 



Atlantic herring 



Northern puffer 



6,085( 1) 



2;360( 2) 



1,315( 3) 



1,I80( 4) 



1,090( 5) 



8<55( 6) 



770( 7) 



410( 8) 



365( 9) 



365(10) 



3,180( 1) 

 410(11) 

 454(10) 



2,950( 2) 



1,180( 4) 

 135(21) 

 545 ( 9) 

 225(15) 

 680{ 7) 

 180(18) 



2X)45{ 3) 

 910( 5) 

 865( 6) 

 590( 8) 

 365(12) 

 270(13) 

 270(14) 

 225(16) 

 225(17) 

 180(19) 

 135(20) 

 135(22) 

 90(23) 

 90(24) 



* (28) 



• (29) 

 ' (33) 



* (37) 



• (58) 



3,270( 2) 



• (25) 

 590(13) 



4,405( 1) 



1,405( 6) 



680(12) 



2,495 ( 4) 



• (30) 

 1,225( 7) 



90(24) 

 2,770( 3) 

 1/045(10) 



180(18) 

 2,360( 5) 



365(16) 



680(11) 

 l,180( 8) 



135(22) 

 90(23) 



450(14) 

 1,135( 9) 



• (28) 



• (34) 



• (29) 

 180(20) 

 180(17) 

 180(19) 



90(24) 

 410(15) 



500( 8) 

 270(13) 



* (26) 

 2,860( 2) 



454( 9) 

 180(17) 

 2,250( 3) 

 135(19) 

 770 ( 7) 

 90(21) 



* (27) 

 1,045( 5) 



* (24) 

 4,04O( 1) 



410(10) 



90(20) 



1,I35( 4) 



* (22) 

 270(12) 

 270(14) 

 910( 6) 



* (32) 



* (30) 



* (29) 



* (25) 

 180(16) 

 365(11) 

 225(15) 

 180(18) 



* Denotes average annual landings of less than 50 metric tons. 



Domestic commercial fishery statistics are list- 

 ed by States, but those of ICNAF and recreation- 

 al fisheries are not. ICNAF added a new sta- 

 tistical area in 1966, which includes approxi- 

 mately the coastal and continental shelf waters 

 from Rhode Island to Cape Hatteras, commonly 

 referred to as the Middle Atlantic Bight. Prior 

 to that time ICNAF statistics included only 

 catches from Georges Bank north. Deuel and 

 Clark (1968) reported sport fish landings by 

 broad areas of coastal waters. Sport catches 

 from waters off New York were included in the 

 New England region. 



For these reasons it was not possible to make 

 direct comparisons of domestic commercial, for- 

 eign, and recreational catches for any single 

 year. This is why the text follows the rather 

 artificial device of comparing domestic commer- 

 cial catches for 1970 with foreign catches for 



1968 and recreational catches for 1965. This also 

 is why, in comparing commercial and recreation- 

 al landings, it was necessary to use the catch 

 for the entire Atlantic coast north of Cape Hat- 

 teras. 



OYSTER 



Infrequent records of oyster production prior 

 to 1929 show that landings probably were at a 

 maximum in New York late in the 19th century 

 and in the first decade of the 20th (Figure 4). 

 Annual landings from 1887 to 1908 inclusive 

 ranged from about 13 to 20 million pounds of 

 meats (6,000 to 9,000 metric tons) and aver- 

 aged over 15 million (7,000 metric tons) , There- 

 after, oyster production declined rather steadily 



10 

 CO 



LlJ 



is 



3 O 



O t-4 



tr 



^2 



2 



_L 



_L 



1880 



1890 1900 1910 1920 



1930 



1940 1950 I960 



1970 



Figure 4. — Annual landings of oyster in the State of 

 New York, 1880-1970. 



except between 1926 and 1952 inclusive, when 

 the trend was not obvious. Annual production 

 in this period fluctuated between about 5 and 10 

 million pounds of meats (2,300 and 4,500 metric 

 tons) , and the average was somewhat more than 

 7 million pounds (3,200 metric tons). Although 

 average landings in this intermediate period 

 were only about half those reported at the turn 

 of the century, this was in many ways the heyday 

 of oystering in New York, despite closing of some 

 once important grounds by pollution. Especially 

 in Long Island Sound, this was the most highly 

 mechanized and advanced form of oyster farm- 

 ing on the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico coasts. 

 After 1952 oyster landings in New York dropped 

 sharply, and since 1959 annual production has 

 been less than a million pounds of meats (less 



590 



