McHUGH: MARINE FISHERIES OF DELAWARE 



4,000 1 (9 million lb), falling by 1969 to a low of 65 1 

 (143,000 lb), then rising to 418 t (921,000 lb) by 

 1977. This was a decline from peak to valley of 

 about 98. 4^^. Species that contributed mainly 

 to this drop were Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser 

 oxyrhynchus; American shad, Alosa sapidissima\ 

 alewife, A . pseudoharengus and A. aestivalis; and 

 white perch, Morone americana , all anadromous 

 species. Later croaker, weakfish, spot, and striped 

 bass, Morone saxatilis, also dropped substantially, 

 all species with a close coastal or anadromous life 

 history. The drop was not all caused by a reduction 

 in abundance of these species, since effort in most 

 fisheries was dropping too. 



The shellfishes had quite a different history 

 (Figure 4), peaking in 1926 at about 1,800 t 

 (nearly 4 million lb), in 1957 at 4,500 t (nearly 

 10 million lb), and in 1972 at 5,400 t (nearly 12 

 million lb). This was interspersed with lows of 

 <54 t (120,000 lb) in 1943, 232 t (512,000 lb) in 

 1968, and 685 t (1,511,000 lb) in 1977, drops of 

 94.3, 94.8, and 87.2%, respectively These rep- 

 resent three periods in the history of the shell- 

 fisheries of Delaware, oyster peaking in 1926, blue 

 crab, Callinectes sapidus, in 1957, and surf clam 

 rising briefly in the early 1970's. 



The history of Delaware's commercial fisheries 

 has been one of boom and bust since the beginning. 

 The causes have been the wide fluctuations in 

 availability, referred to already, associated with 

 species at the limits of their geographic ranges, 

 plus overexploitation and degraded habitat. The 

 menhaden industry harvested its last fish with 

 purse seines in 1966, the food finfish industry has 

 declined fairly steadily, and the shellfish industry 

 has had at least three major ups and downs in the 

 last 50 yr. Several fisheries have ceased com- 

 pletely. What are the prospects for the future of 

 Delawcire's fisheries? 



INDUSTRIAL FISHERIES 



Industrial fisheries have consisted mostly of 

 menhaden, with lesser amounts of horseshoe crab 

 from time to time. The industrial fisheries were 

 relatively small until 1944, when they rose above 

 100 million lb for the first time. They remained 

 fairly large until 1963, and quickly collapsed after 

 that. The last purse seine catch landed in Dela- 

 ware was in 1966. Menhaden are still caught in 

 Delaware waters but are landed elsewhere. Prior 

 to the mid-1940's the fishery was not well devel- 

 oped, probably because the Pacific sardine. 



Sardinops sagax, industry on the west coast was 

 more efficient and was able to supply most of the 

 markets. After 1945, the decline of the Pacific 

 sardine industry and the growth of the broiler 

 industry in the east opened up new markets, 

 and the menhaden industry on the east coast pros- 

 pered, especially after 1952. By 1963, declining 

 recruitment, probably associated with heavy fish- 

 ing farther south, affected the supply of fish to 

 northern waters, and the last plant in Delaware 

 closed at the end of the 1966 season. 



A small reduction plant operated on horseshoe 

 crab for a few years from 1930 to 1944. A small 

 number was taken after 1966, probably for bait. 

 The greatest landings recorded were about 

 500,000 lb in 1935. The decrease was largely 

 caused by a reduction in demand, although horse- 

 shoe crab now may be less abundant than before 

 (Daiber"*). This conclusion, however, is largely 

 intuitive. 



FOOD FINFISHES 



Landings of food finfishes in Delaware have 

 been declining since the first record in 1887. There 

 have been temporary increases, such as in 1930-31 

 and 1955, but for the most part it has been steadily 

 downward (Figure 3). The anadromous species 

 were the first to be affected. Sturgeon was first, 

 dropping from a high of nearly 1,300 t (3 million 

 lb) in 1887 to only 15 t (34,000 lb) by 1908. This 

 was reflected also in the price, which was less than 

 a cent a pound, on the average, in 1887, but had 

 risen to over 200/lb by 1908. Shad was not far 

 behind, dropping from about 800 t (1.4 million lb) 

 in 1890 to 18 t (39,000 lb) in 1931, while the price 

 rose from <40 to about 18^ /lb. Alewife catches 

 reached their peak later, at about 1,450 t (3.2 

 million lb) in 1930. By 1938 they had dropped to 

 21 1 (47,000 lb), and never exceeded 60 t (150,000 

 lb) after that. White perch, another anadromous 

 species, produced the greatest landings in 1897 at 

 about 180 t (297,000 lb), and by 1940 was down to 

 7 t (16,000 lb). 



Coastal fishes were equally temporary. Weak- 

 fish was the most important species, with total 

 landings of about 1,500 t in 1889 (3,212,000 

 lb), later fluctuating several times, and finally 

 dropping to a low of only 2 t (5,000 lb) in 1968. 



"Franklin C. Daiber, Professor of Marine Biology and Bio- 

 logical Sciences, College of Marine Studies, University of Dela- 

 ware, Newark, DE 19711, pers. commun. December 1979. 



579 



