Except with certain ethnic groups, eel is not a popular 

 seafood in the United States. The resource in the New 

 York Bight area probably is underexploited. Some enter- 

 prising fishermen have discovered markets for eel in 

 Europe (Anon. 1972) and this probably accounts for re- 

 cent rises in landings in both states. Potential markets 

 also exist in Japan (Folsom 1973). 



Substantial catches of American eel have been 

 reported in the saltwater sport fisheries (Table 20). The 

 estimated catch is substantially larger in the north At- 

 lantic region than the middle Atlantic. Recently, con- 

 siderable quantities of small American eel have been sold 

 as live bait in New Jersey (Paul Hamer pers. commun.). 



American eel has not been reported in foreign catches 

 in the Middle Atlantic Bight, but conger eel is taken. 



CONGER EEL 



AMERICAN EEL 



t 7 



UJ 



3 

 6 



v.- 



..,-A., 



90 1900 O 20 30 40 50 60 70 



Figure 18.— Annual commercial landings of American and conger eel 

 in New Jersey 1887-1975. 



Table 20. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of 

 American eel in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the 

 United States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons. 



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

 did not give data by individual states. New York was included with 

 the New England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic 

 states . 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landinas 

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



White Perch 



White perch, Morone americana (Gmelin), a close 

 relative of striped bass, is anadromous. Unlike striped 

 bass, which makes extensive coastal migrations after it 

 has reached an age of about 2 yr, white perch does not 

 migrate far from its home stream. The species was men- 

 tioned by Mather (1887) as being caught in bays along 

 the south shore of Long Island. It apparently was not an 

 important commercial species in the New York Bight 

 area in the 1880s, but white perch undoubtedly was 

 taken by recreational fishermen. Commercial landings 

 apparently were greatest about the turn of the century 

 (Fig. 19), but the catch then fell off to much lower levels. 

 Since the middle 1930s, however, the catch has fluc- 

 tuated between 20 and 110 metric tons, interrupted 

 periodically by declines of short duration, as can be ex- 

 pected of an estuarine species. In the 1960s most of the 

 catch in New Jersey was taken in haul seines, gill nets, 

 fykes, and hoop nets; and most of it was landed, and 

 presumably caught, in counties bordering on the ocean 

 coast. 



Commercial landings of white perch in New York were 

 apparently considerably smaller than in New Jersey un- 

 til about the middle 19.30s (Fig. 19). Since that time land- 

 ings in both states have been relatively small. New Jer- 

 sey landings on the average exceeding those in New York 

 somewhat, as would be expected of a species which has 

 its center of distribution to the south (Table 21). 



Recreational catches of white perch have been much 

 larger in the middle Atlantic than the north Atlantic 



Table 21. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of 

 white perch in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the 

 United States coast 1960-1975. weights ih metric tons. 



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

 did not give data by individual states. New York was included 

 with the New England states and New Jersey with the other middle 

 Atlantic states. 



In 1970 recreational catches of white perch were included in the 

 general category "perches." 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings 

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



23 



