Table 8. --Estimated commercial catch of squids in the north and 

 middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast 1960-1975. 

 Weights in metric tons. 



Table 9. — Average annual commercial landings of food 

 shellfishes in New Jersey for five major periods in the history of 

 the commercial food shellf isheries of the State. Weights in 

 metric tons. 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 

 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates. 



Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 



1976 quota for squids in subareas 5 and 6 was 74,000 metric tons 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings 

 in K.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years. 



Loligo was 700 million pounds (about 318,000 metric 

 tons). Grosslein et al. (1973, see footnote 7) estimated 

 conservatively that the average biomass in the Middle 

 Atlantic Bight is 50,000 to 100,000 tons. The greatest 

 catch on record, domestic and foreign, was about 57,000 

 metric tons in 1973. Grosslein et al. also concluded that 

 the current rate of exploitation probably is below max- 

 imum sustainable yield (although the 1973 catch of over 

 57,000 metric tons was near the lower limit of their es- 

 timate and about 50% of their upper limit). These 

 authors were more concerned about the effects of in- 

 cidental catches of species like silver hake, scup, butter- 

 fish, summer flounder, sea bass, and red hake, which are 

 important to U.S. coastal fishermen. If the conservative 

 estimates of squid standing crop are reasonably ac- 

 curate, concern about the squid resource might also be 

 warranted. The 1976 quota placed on the squid catch in 

 ICNAF subareas 5 and 6 combined by international 

 agreement is 74,000 tons. 



FOOD FISHERIES 



Trends in landings illustrated in Figure 5 have led to 

 the assumption that the history of New Jersey's com- 

 mercial fisheries can be divided into five relatively dis- 

 tinct periods. Tables 9 and 10 have been based on this as- 

 sumption. These five periods were: 1) an initial period in 

 which catches of major species were high, or were rising 

 to a peak (1880-1901); 2) a period (1904-26) in which 

 catches of most species apparently were reduced, and in 

 which only 4 yr of landings were collected; 3) a period of 

 relative prosperity (1929-49), characterized by develop- 

 ment of the trawl fisheries, and in the middle and late 



1940s by the stimulating effects of wartime shortages of 

 animal protein; 4) a decade of rapidly declining catches 

 of almost all species except surf clam and striped bass 

 (1950-70); and 5) a recent 5-yr period of increasing abun- 

 dance and increased catches of several formerly impor- 

 tant species. Consideration of the following discussions 

 by species will make it clear that this division into five 

 periods, although it is a useful generality, oversimplifies 

 the dynamic aspects of the fisheries of New Jersey, as it 

 did for New York (McHugh 1972a). In each period, land- 

 ings of individual species rose and fell, as the resources 

 upon which the fisheries were based varied in abun- 

 dance from natural causes or from fishing, or were more 

 or less available to the fishing fleets for a variety of 

 reasons. Nevertheless, the five periods recognized ap- 

 pear to provide a simplified view of the evolution of the 

 fisheries by gears, fishing grounds, and the economics of 

 the industry, as has been explained already. 



The illustrations are based entirely on reported domes- 

 tic commercial fishery landings. This is because es- 

 timates of domestic recreational catches of marine 

 resources are available only for 3 yr: 1960, 1965, and 1970 

 and because sport catches and foreign catches have not 

 been reported by waters of individual states. In discus- 

 sions of individual species, however, available infor- 

 mation on recreational and foreign fisheries has been 

 given due consideration. 



The food fisheries of New Jersey have been dominated 

 by American oyster and hard clam until recently. Since 

 the late 1940s surf clam has been the major species 

 (Tables 9, 10). Important finfishes in the 19th century 

 were American shad, bluefish, weakfish, black sea bass, 

 Atlantic sturgeon, and Atlantic cod. More recently, food 

 fish landings have been dominated by scup, summer 

 flounder, silver hake, and butterfish. But commercial 

 catches of some important species have increased and 

 decreased from time to time for various reasons and some 

 species have become important to sport fishermen, so 



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