FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 85, NO. 3 



1940 44 48 52 56 60 64 68 72 76 80 



YEAR OF FISHING 



Figure 1. — Catch of Atlantic menhaden in thousands of metric tons from 1940 to 1981 (solid 

 line) and fishing effort in vessel weeks from 1941 to 1981 (dashed line). Effort data from 1941 

 to 1968 are from Nicholson (1971a), catch and effort data from 1968 to 1981 are from Smith 

 et al. (in press). 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERY 



Geographic Fishing Areas 



For purposes of summarization and analysis, 

 June and Reintjes (1959) divided the U.S. At- 

 lantic coast into four geographic fishing areas and 

 one temporal fishing area (Fig. 2). With only a 

 change in the boundary line between the south 

 Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay areas (Nicholson 

 1975), these divisions have continued to be useful 

 to date. 



North Atlantic Area: Waters along the south- 

 ern coast of Long Island, east of a line due south 

 of Moriches Inlet, and waters northward. 



Middle Atlantic Area: Waters west of a line run- 

 ning due south of Moriches Inlet (lat. 40°46'N, 

 long. 72°44'W) on the southern coast of Long 

 Island, southward to Great Machipongo Inlet, 

 VA. 



Chesapeake Bay Area: Chesapeake Bay proper 

 and coastal waters south of Great Machipongo 

 Inlet, VA (lat. 37°22'N, long. 75°43'W) to 

 36°20'N on the North Carolina coast. 



South Atlantic Area: Coastal waters of North 

 Carolina south of lat. 36°20'N to Cape Canav- 

 eral, FL. 



North Carolina Fall Fishery: A temporal fish- 



ing area consisting of waters from Cape Hat- 

 teras south to the southern border of North 

 Carolina, beginning some time between the 

 last week of October and the second week of 

 November, depending on the arrival of migra- 

 tory menhaden from more northerly waters, to 

 the end of February of the next calendar year 

 (fishing usually stops by mid-January). For 

 standardized data summary, the week of each 

 season that ends between 8 and 14 November is 

 taken to be the first week of the fall fishery. 



Geographic Fishing Seasons 



With the exception of state jurisdictional 

 waters in the Chesapeake Bay area, the begin- 

 ning and ending of seasonal fishing activities 

 were determined by weather and the abundance 

 of fish. Hence, the seasons were somewhat vari- 

 able. Fishing normally began earlier and ended 

 later in the year in the south Atlantic area, with 

 progressively later beginnings and earlier end- 

 ings proceeding northward. The south Atlantic 

 (summer) fishery usually began in late March or 

 April and normally ceased in late October or 

 early November. Fishing in waters adjacent to 

 Chesapeake Bay usually began about mid-May 

 and ceased in November, but it occasionally per- 

 sisted to early December. In the middle Atlantic 



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