1999 

 OUR LIVING OCEANS 



Table 21-1 



Recent average landings of 

 nearshore resources by re 

 gions, in metric tons. 



Region 



Northeast 

 Southeast 

 Pacific 



Western Pacific 

 Alaska 



Recent average yield 

 I RAY) 



74,450 



93.540 



133.090 



1.420 



10.200 



Commercial 

 RAY 



72,550 



91.534 



n/a 



n/a 



9,700 



Recreational 

 RAY 



1,900' 



3,767' 



n/a 



n/a 



500 



Total 



312.700 



'Only for tautog and white perch, recreational harvest estimates unavailable for invertebrate species 

 ^Southeast Recreational RAY includes finfish only Numbers are estimates based on surveys 



Species/group 



Recent 



average yield 



(RAY)' 



Fishery 



utilization 



level 



Stock level 



relative to 



LTPY2 



Table 21-2 



Productivity in metric tons 

 and status of northeast near 

 shore fishery resources. 



Blue crab 



Sea urchin 



Atlantic hardshell clam 



Oyster 



Blue mussel 



Horseshoe crab 



Tautog 



Other shads and herring 



White perch 



Jonah crab 



Softshell clam 



Rock crab 



Conch 



Sea cucumber 



American eel 



Sea worm 



Periwinkle 



Bay scallop 



Total 



42,000 



11,400 



3,400 



3,000 



2,600 



2,100 



1,700 



1,700 



1,200 



1,100 



1 ,000 



900 



850 



740 



480 



240 



30 



10 



74,450 



Full 



Over 



Over 



Over 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Over 



Over 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Full 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Over 



Near 



Below 



Below 



Below 



Near 



Unknown 



Below 



Below 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Below 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Unknown 



Below 



'1995-97 average lincluding recreational landings) 

 -LTPY = Long-term potential yield 



Left page: blue crab; right 

 page: commercial catch of 

 blue crab. 



sidcred to be SLibst.intkil. 



There was an outbreak oi Pfiesteria piscidida, 

 a .single-celled microorganism related to the di- 

 nollagellates responsible tor red tide, in the Chesa- 

 peake Bay region in the stininier ot I ')97. This 

 outbreak, possibly due to increased nutrients in 

 the water caused by pollution, resulted in some 

 fish kills as well as health problems tor a small num- 

 ber of swimmers, divers, and fishermen in some 

 isolated estuarine and coastal areas in Maryland 

 and Virginia, and ranging as far south as North 



Carolina. As a consequence, some areas were tem- 

 porarily closed to fishing, swimming, and boating 

 activities. 



Landings ot blue crab arc the most important 

 ot the nearshore harvests tor the Northeast Re- 

 gion (fable 21-2). Commercial landings in 1997 

 were 43,500 t, 2 1 % less than in 1 996, with an ex- 

 vessel value of about S83, 000, ()()(). Abundance in 

 C^hesapeake Bay, the region's m.iin producer, was 

 above average in the 1 98()'s, but decreased some- 

 what in the 1990's and is currently at about the 



2 1 4 



