MARINE FISHERIES OF DELAWARE'- 



J. L. McHuGH^* 



ABSTRACT 



Delaware is almost in the geographical center of the Middle Atlantic Bight. The fisheries harvest 

 endemic species, more or less restricted to the area, boreal species that migrate south in winter, and 

 warmwater species that come north in summer. About 85 species have been recorded in commercial 

 and recreational fisheries. Some have produced substantial catches, and the total commercial catch 

 reached a peak in 1953 at nearly 167,000 metric tons. Production of commercial fi.sheries has since 

 dropped to a low of only 305 metric tons in 1968, a drop of 99.8'/f , and has remained not much higher 

 than that level ever since. Most of this decline was caused by the decline of the dominant menhaden 

 fishery to zero in 1967. but drops in food finfishes and food shellfishes have been sub.stantial also. The 

 history has been one of boom or bust since the beginning, but superimposed upon this has been a 

 gradual decline in almost all species. Several fisheries, notably purse seine, otter trawl, clam dredge, 

 haul seine, and pound net, have ceased altogether. 



The recreational fisheries have been growing in numbers of fishermen and in catches. Comparing 

 food finfishes only, because industrial fisheries have no counterpart in the recreational fishery, and 

 shellfishes have never been compared adequately, the recreational fisheries may now be taking three 

 times as much as the commercial. 



The boom and bust characteristic of the commercial fisheries has been caused by the widely 

 fluctuating and uncertain nature of the major species, menhaden, blue crab, weakfish. croaker, and 

 spot. Others, like surf clam, oyster, alewives, horseshoe crab, sturgeon, shad, and hard clam, have 

 declined from overfishing, adverse changes in the inshore environment, or both. Some, like blue crab 

 and weakfish. are fairly abundant at pre.sent. and weakfish is taken mostly by recreational fishermen. 

 Others, like menhaden, have succumbed to heavy fishing of younger fish farther south. Menhaden 

 vessels are now refrigerated, and can stay out longer and travel farther, which reduces the number of 

 plants needed. Menhaden are still taken in Delaware Bay, but landed elsewhere. 



The ocean ographic regime is highly variable and not conducive to regular movements of northern or 

 southern species into the area. These fisheries probably would be highly variable even if other changes 

 had not also intervened. Maintaining them at fairly high levels will require cooperation from other 

 states, cooperation which has not been forthcoming up to now. The State- Federal Fishery Management 

 Board may help to improve interstate cooperation. The shellfisheries are more likely to survive, but to 

 do so they will require enlightened management. The popular food fishes are likely to continue to 

 decline as commercial species and become largely recreational. Some attention to the balance between 

 commercial and recreational fisheries probably should be given soon. 



The marine fisheries of the State of Delaware in 

 many respects characterize the marine fisheries of 

 the Middle Atlantic Bight region (New York to 

 Virginia) as a whole. Delaware Bay is in the geo- 

 graphical center (lat. 39° N) of the section of coast 

 from Cape Cod, Mass. (lat. 42° N), to Cape Hat- 

 teras, N.C. (lat. 36° N), and its marine fisheries 

 have relied on three general classes of marine 

 resource: 1) endemic species, more or less re- 

 stricted to the region, or at least restricted in 

 their migrations, such as surf clam, Spisula solid- 



'The studies on which this paper is based were supported in 

 part by grants from the New York Sea Grant Institute. 



^Contribution No. 292 of the Marine Sciences Research Center 

 of the State University of New York. Stony Brook, N.Y. 



'Marine Sciences Research Center. State University of New 

 York. Stony Brook. NY 11794. 



Manuscript accepted June 1981. 



FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 79. NO. 4, 1981. 



issima, and American oyster, Crassostrea virgin- 

 ica; 2) boreal species that migrate seasonally into 

 the region in winter, such as Atlantic cod, Gadus 

 morhua, or silver hake, Merluccius bilinearis\ and 

 3) temperate water species that migrate north 

 in summer, like Atlantic croaker, Micropogonias 

 undulatus, or weakfish, Cynoscion regalis. Dela- 

 ware is far enough south so that it does not usually 

 get large quantities of boreal species, but it does on 

 occasion have large numbers of southern species 

 in the area. 



June and Reintjes (1957), with respect to the 

 fisheries of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, 

 noted that this area more or less marks the center 

 of geographical distribution of migratory fish 

 stocks which range between Cape Cod and Cape 

 Hatteras. They pointed out that it is the southern 



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