STUDIES ON THE STRIPED BASS OF THE ATLANTIC COAST 



9 



the Cuttyhunk Club at Cuttyhunk, Mass. 2 A graph of this material is shown in 

 figure 3. (For the annual average poundage of the fish caught and the weight of the 

 largest bass in each year, see table 3.) The most striking fact about this curve is 

 its rapid decline from fairly large numbers to extremely low numbers in the 43-year 

 period that it covers. Unfortunately a rod-and-line fishery such as this one cannot 

 be considered a strictly reliable index of abundance — especially since the members 

 of the club confined themselves to fishing for large bass. Moreover, there is no 

 indication of the intensity of fishing, so that the low numbers in the twentieth century 

 might represent the catch of only a few individuals, while the high numbers before 

 1880 may be the catch of a much larger group. Therefore, the annual fluctuations 

 in this graph are perhaps not real indications of varving abundance, and the rate of 

 decline may be too steep. Nevertheless, it is difficult to imagine from this evidence 

 that a serious depletion did not take place. Even though such a record, lacking as 

 it does information on the effort expended, cannot represent changes in abundance 

 in detail, there can be little doubt that its downward trend indicates the general 

 decline in abundance over the period it covers. 



Fiqure 3.— Record of tho numbers of striped bass taken by tbe members of the Cuttyhunk Club from 1865 to 1907 (see Table 3). 



Another record of considerable interest and significance is that of the numbers 

 of striped bass taken in pound-net catches from 1884 to 1937 at Fort Pond Bay, 

 Long Island, N. Y. (see fig. 4 and table 4). From 1884 to 1928 these pound-nets 

 were owned by members of the Vail family, who kept accurate records of the numbers 

 of striped bass caught at each haul. 3 They also indicate the number of traps in opera- 

 tion each year. These varied from 6 to 10, and the catches shown in this graph up to 

 1928 have been weighted to make them equivalent to a fishing intensity of 10 pound- 

 nets throughout. In 1928 the ownership of these nets changed hands, but the author 

 has been able to complete the records up to the present. 4 Unfortunately no record 

 of the number of pound-nets in operation from 1928 to 1937 had been kept, and al- 

 though this number is known to have varied only from 8 to 12, a small error is thus 

 introduced. The magnitude of the catches is such, however, that this part of the 

 graph — indicated by the dotted line — may be properly considered a reasonably 

 accurate continuation of that before 1929. It is of further interest that these pound- 

 nets have occupied essentially the same position each year over the entire period 

 covered by this record. 



It is impossible to test the validity of this record as a method of sampling the 

 total population, and thus accurately record fluctuations in abundance that occurred. 

 However, it is probable that it gives a fair indication of the decrease in abundance 

 from 1884 to 1935, and that the 1936 and 1937 peaks give a correct picture of the 



1 This record was placed at the author's disposal through the courtesy of Mr. Bruce Crane, Dalton, Mass. 

 ' These records were made available by the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the Bingham Oceanographic Foundation. 

 * These records were made available through the oooperatlon of Capt. Daniel D. Parsons, Montauk, Long Island, N. Y., 

 the present owner. 





■- 







