south shore of Long Island, but although described as 

 once plentiful, was scarce by 1880. Earll (1887) did not 

 mention catches off New Jersey. The major commercial 

 fishery is south of Cape Hatteras. Spanish mackerel, a 

 schooling fish, makes annual migrations northward in 

 summer. Modest commercial landings have been re- 

 ported in New Jersey and New York, and as might be 

 expected of a species of southern origin these landings 

 were usually higher in New Jersey. Maximum recorded 

 landings in New Jersey were about 107 metric tons in 

 1931, and 35 metric tons in New York in 1890. Since the 

 middle 1940s catches in both states have been negligible. 

 Since 1960 maximum landings in the middle Atlantic 

 region (N.J. to N.C. inclusive) were 120 metric tons in 

 1970, less than 1 ton of which was reported from New 

 Jersey. 



Spanish mackerel is a popular sport fish where it is 

 abundant. Reported recreational catches in the middle 

 Atlantic region were 429 metric tons in 1970 and 76 tons 

 in 1965. Commercial catches in the same area in the 

 same years were 120 and 87 metric tons respectively. 



This is a coastal species, unlikely to be taken by 

 foreign fishermen. The life history is not well under- 

 stood. Fluctuations in landings suggest that the species 

 varies widely in abundance or availability, or both. 



Northern Kingfish 



Menticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch and Schneider), 

 northern kingfish, is more important in the New York 

 Bight area as a recreational than as a commercial species 

 (Table 29). Maximum commercial landings in New Jer- 

 sey were about 70 metric tons in 1939, and in New York 

 about 35 metric tons in 1940. It is caught mostly by 

 trawls fishing near shore and by pound nets. 



In the sport fishery in the surf along the south shore of 

 Long Island, Briggs (1962) found that northern kingfish 

 was the dominant species from 1956 to 1960. According to 

 later studies (Briggs 1965, 1968), it had become 

 somewhat less abundant in New York waters. The 

 species is a seasonal visitor, arriving in New York Bight 

 in spring and leaving in fall. Like many seasonal mi- 



Table 29. — Estimated conanercial and recreational catches of 

 northern kingfish in the north and middle Atlantic regions of 

 the united States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons. 



20 30 40 50 60 70 



Figure 27. 



-Annual commercial landings of northern kingfigh in New 

 York and New Jersey IMS-IS?."). 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 

 1970 did not give data by individual states. Now 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 

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

 recent years. 



• Less than 0.5 metric ton. 



grants from the south its local abundance is highly 

 variable (Fig. 27). This variability was noted also by 

 Mather (1887) who described northern kingfish as less 

 abundant in New York waters in 1880 than formerly. 



In recreational fisheries along the New Jersey coast in 

 1952 and 1953 (June and Reintjes 1957), northern king- 

 fish varied in importance. In numbers of fish caught it 

 ranked about fifth in the surf fishery, fourth in the char- 

 ter boat fishery, and sixth in the party boat fishery. In 

 the surf fishery in Delaware in 1952 it ranked third. 



No catches have been reported by foreign fleets. It is 

 not likely that this shallow-water coastal species would 

 be taken far out on the continental shelf. In the period 

 1946 to 1953 inclusive it was a minor species in the in- 

 shore trawl fishery off Delaware Bay but not listed in the 

 offshore fishery (June and Reintjes 1957). 



Atlantic Mackerel 



The pattern of commercial mackerel. Scomber scom- 

 brus Linnaeus, landings in New Jersey (Fig. 28) has been 

 similar to that in New York, with catches relatively large 

 in the 1940s, very small in the 1950s and early 1960s, and 

 increasing moderately in the last 10 yr. In most years. 

 New Jersey landings have been substantially higher than 

 New York. The sharp drop in the late 1940s was caused 

 primarily by a sudden drop in abundance or availability 

 (Hoy and Clark 1967). In the last few years, most of the 

 New Jersey catch has been taken in otter trawls, most of 

 the New York catch in pound nets. Increasing catches in 

 the last decade, despite substantial declines in numbers 



30 



