58 FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE 



abundance of striped bass, tbe problem is to see how overfishing affects the stock. 

 Theoretically this factor may act in two ways — first, by the removal of too high a 

 proportion of undersized and immature fish so that there are too few spawning indi- 

 viduals, and second, by failing to take the members of the available population at 

 the most efficient size. 



In regard to the removal of too great a number of striped bass before they have 

 been given a single chance to spawn, evidence has already been presented to show 

 that the fishery for the smaller size-categories of bass, 2- and 3-year-olds, is higldy 

 intensive, and that a large percentage of each successive year-class is caught before 

 its members attain maturity. Yet there is no reason to believe that an additional 

 supply of spawning individuals woidd result in an increased production, with the one 

 possible exception noted below. Thus it has been emphasized in the section on 

 fluctuations in abundance of the striped bass that the dominant 1934 year-class was 

 apparently produced by as small a parental stock as there has ever been. This means 

 that in southern waters the production of dominant year-classes is not completely 

 dependent — at least down to a certain limit — on the quantity of spawning individuals. 

 In other words, there appears to be no need for concern over the size of the spawning 

 population in the south as long as it is at least as large as it was in 1934. If such a 

 hypothesis be granted, there can be little good in raising the legal-length limit solely 

 for the purpose of increasing the number of spawning fish — especially since we know 

 that under the conditions of the present fishery the number of striped bass along the 

 Atlantic coast is sufficient to produce a year-class of enormous proportions, such as 

 the one that originated in 1934. 



There is, however, one way in which an increased number of spawning adults 

 may possibly bolster the supply in northern waters, for this supply has apparently 

 declined in some cases to such an extent that the population has been practically 

 wiped out. It has been shown before that in certain years striped bass from the south 

 migrate north of Cape Cod. Since it has been well established that some of these 

 migratory fish remain in northern waters through the winter, it is a reasonable ex- 

 pectation, if they were mature fish, that they would repopulate some of those areas 

 which formerly supported small populations in northern waters and are still suitable 

 for spawning purposes. Thus the striped bass has been virtually an unknown quantity 

 north of Cape Cod for the past 30 years or more; that is, until the members of the 

 dominant 1934 year-class came north of Cape Cod in huge quantities in 1936 and 1937 

 and provided a renewed sporting and commercial fishery of considerable size in those 

 waters. It is certainly not unreasonable to predict that if a sufficient number of 

 mature fish repopulate the spawning areas that still remain north of Cape Cod, the 

 stock in northern waters can be replenished and the supply increased and maintained 

 if the fish are given the proper protection. 



It may therefore be said that measures designed to increase the supply of striped 

 bass along the Atlantic coast by providing a greater number of spawning fish might 

 quite possibly prove ineffective in the more southern waters of the Middle Atlantic 

 Bight, for it is known that there are now a sufficient number of mature individuals 

 to produce huge quantities of fish if the environmental factors are right; witness the 

 dominant 1934 year-class. On the other hand, such measures would probably renew, 

 at least partially, the supply north of Cape Cod where the stocks have been practically 

 exhausted in many instances. 



The other aspect of overfishing to be considered is whether or not the present 

 fishery along the Atlantic coast takes the available members of the population at the 

 most efficient size, or, whether or not the fishery makes the best possible use of the 

 supply each year. Thompson and Bell (1934), Graham (1935), Thompson (1937), 

 and others, have all discussed the theory of the effect of fishing on various stocks of 

 fish, and have studied the problem of the most efficient utilization of the stock in 

 different species. These papers have laid the foundation for future studies along this 

 line, and it is possible to apply many of the principles set forth in them to the striped 

 bass fishery of the Atlantic coast. Those who are critically interested in this whole 

 subject should refer to the work of these authors. 



The first problem in connection with the striped bass is to get some measure of 

 the yield from the stock under the existing conditions of the fishery at the present time. 

 Having attained this, it is possible to compare it with the yield from the stock under 



