McHUGH: MARINE FISHERIES OF DELAWARE 



FIGURE 25.— Commercial landings 

 by pots in Delaware, 1887-1977, and 

 numbers of units of gear licensed. 



CO 



z 

 o 





to 



CC 

 Q 



3 

 I 



tr 



CO < 



Q liJ 



Z C3 



< u. 



c/1 O 



(/) 



1 H 



17.5 - 

 15.0 

 12.5 h 

 10,0 

 7,5 

 5.0 

 2.5 







18 



16 



14 



12 



10 



8 



6 



4 



2 







^^H'"-'-^ -- H- ""!-"" -^—-^ L— U-^.A.^J i 



J L 



"T^^-'^.^Ji 



90 



11900 



10 



20 



30 



40 



50 



60 



70 



YEAR 



the northern limit of its usual range, the blue crab 

 is likely to be variable in abundance in Delaware. 



Lines 



Various kinds of line also were fished in Dela- 

 ware from time to time. In addition to handlines, 

 trawl lines, trotlines with baits, and longlines 

 with hooks have been fished from time to time. 

 From 1887 to 1926 inclusive, the kinds of line were 

 not specified. In all years but one, however, weak- 

 fish was the largest catch. In 1926 crab made up 

 about 859c of the catch, probably on trotlines with 

 baits. From 1929 on, weakfish was an important, 

 but variable component of the catch; tautog, 

 Tautoga onitis, was important for a few years in 

 the early 1930's; and croaker was an important, 

 but variable component of the catch from 1930 to 

 1944. Striped bass was important from 1943 to 1945 

 and rose to first or second in rank in the 1970's. 

 Trawl lines and later trotlines with hooks took 

 almost exclusively cod, the first from 1929 to 1944, 

 the second from 1960 to 1971. Trotlines with baits 

 took blue crab in 1929, 1935, 1939 to 1951, and 1955 

 to 1960. Handlines were the only ones that have 



persisted, and their catches were almost entirely 

 weakfish and striped bass in the 1970's (Figure 

 26). Once again, weakfish appears to have been 

 the mainstay of the handline fishery. 



Otter Trawl 



The otter trawl fishery was relatively short 

 lived in Delaware. It began in 1935, did not make 

 catches again until 1940, reached its peak in 1948, 

 and was over at the end of the 1966 season (Figure 

 27). It was an inshore fishery for the most part, 

 taking mostly weakfish, summer flounder, scup, 

 white perch, croaker, red hake, spot, butterfish, 

 silver hake, striped bass, and squids. Over half 

 the accumulated catch was weakfish, which sub- 

 stantiates the importance of this species to the 

 fisheries of Delaware. The other main species, in 

 the sense that they supported the fishery to 

 the end, were summer fiounder, butterfish, and 

 striped bass. In the 1960's, recreational fishermen 

 found an old law that prohibited trawling in 

 Delaware Bay and put on pressure to enforce it. As 

 already mentioned, this, with the decline in weak- 

 fish, was the final blow to the trawl fishery 



593 



