12 



FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



in 1936 and 1937 is added evidence on the size of the 1934 year-class. It will be 

 noticed, however, that the decline in the catch in 1937 is not as sharp as that shown 

 in figure 4, probably due to the fact that this seine fishery at Point Judith took a 

 goodly number of 2-year-olds (members of the 1935 year-class) in the spring of 1937. 

 These fish did not make up as large a proportion of the catch at Fort Pond Bay, 

 Long Island, N. Y., during the 1937 season. The records are not sufficiently accurate 

 to permit an exact analysis of the relative numbers of 2- and 3-year-olds in the 1937 



1928 1929 1910 1931 19)2 



93S I9J« 19S5 I9J6 1917 



Figure 6.— Annual total catch of striped bass by seine at Point Judith, Rhode Island, 1928-37. Fishing intensity equalized through- 

 out (see Table 6 for original data). 



catch at Point Judith. The average annual poundage shows, however, that the 

 catch in 1936 was composed mainly of 2-year-olds, and there is a noticeable increase 

 in the average poundage in 1937, due to the dominance of this same 1934 age-group — 

 at that time 3-year-olds. The decline in the average weight of the striped bass 

 making up the annual catches by seine at Point Judith from 1930 to 1936 is quite 



1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 



Figure 7.— Average weight of the striped bass making up the annual catches by seine at Point Judith, R. I., 1928-37 (see Table 



for original data). 



striking, the drop in this period being from an 8-pound average to a 2-pound average 

 (see fig. 7). European investigators have shown a similar decline in the average 

 annual weight making up the catch following man's intervention on a virgin stock. 

 Thus after the World War, when the North Sea fisheries began to operate again, 

 the larger size-categories were removed first, and in each succeeding year the catch 

 was made up of fish of a smaller average size. In the case of the striped bass, how- 

 ever, the general decline in the average weight from 1930 to 1936 cannot be explained 



