McHUGH: MARINE FISHERIES OF NEW YORK 



ric tons). This almost doubled the percentage 

 contribution of Great South Bay to the total hard 

 clam production of the State. 



In discussing this growth of the hard clam 

 industry in New York, Wallace (1971) pointed 

 out that hard clams are much more adjustable 

 to changing environmental conditions than oys- 

 ters are, even in the larval stages. In Raritan 

 Bay, once the center of oyster production in the 

 area of New York Bight, hard clams still spawn 

 successfully, although much of the bay is badly 

 polluted and oysters are long since gone. He at- 

 tributed the great rise in hard clam production 

 in New York to a series of excellent sets in sev- 

 eral bays on the south shore of Long Island. 



50 



,40 



UJ 



«fe30 

 o 



io20 



IT 



10 



_L 



_L 



_L 



1880 1890 1900 1910 



1920 



1930 1940 1950 I960 



1970 



Figure 24. — Annual commercial landings of hard clam 

 in the State of New York, 1880-1970. 



120 r- 



100 



i 80 



o 

 a. 



0: 

 ill 60 



z 

 i±j 40 



20 



J_ 



_L 



_L 



_L 



It would appear that part of the incentive to 

 harvest clams more intensively has been provid- 

 ed by economic changes. As Figure 25 illus- 

 trates, the landed price per pound of hard clam 

 meats has undergone some interesting changes 

 over the years. Prices were high in the affluent 

 days before the depression of the 1930s. In 

 the 1930s they dropped to what probably would 

 be a record low if the figures had been expressed 

 in standard dollars. Prices rose sharply during 

 the war and dropped as sharply immediately 

 afterwards, as did the prices of most seafoods. 

 Then in the 1950s the price of hard clams began 

 to rise and the rise continued even more rapidly 

 in the 1960s. This steady increase over a period 

 of two decades can be explained only partially by 

 the declining value of the dollar. The economic 

 forces operating here must be largely if not com- 

 pletely the collapse of the oyster and soft clam 

 industries and the growing affluence of most seg- 

 ments of the population, which seems always to 

 stimulate demand for the more popular kinds 

 of seafood, especially invertebrates. 



STRIPED BASS 



Commercial landings of striped bass (Morone 

 saxatilis) in New York have been following an 

 upward trend for the past 30 years or more (Fig- 

 ure 26). The same phenomenon has been ob- 

 served along the Atlantic coast from Chesapeake 

 Bay (McHugh, 1969a) north. The total Atlantic 

 coast commercial catch in 1970 was about 10.5 

 million pounds (4,770 metric tons). The total 



o 



IT 



8 



I 



6 - 



5 - 



4 - 



3 - 

 2 



I - 



1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 



I960 



1970 



L_ 



21 



V. 



1880 1890 1900 



1910 



1920 1930 



1940 



1950 I960 1970 



Figure 25. — Average annual landed value of hard clam 

 meats in the State of New York, 1880-1970. 



Figure 26. — Annual commercial landings of striped bass 

 in the State of New York, 1887-1970. 



603 



