NOAA PROFESSIONAL PAPER 11 



Tablf 1 1 . 1-3. — Catches of surf clams during NMFS surveys off New Jersey coast, /y 76-77 



a. Number measured. 



Table 11.1-4. — Catches of ocean quahogs during NMFS surreys off New Jersey coast, 1976-77 



a. Number measured. 



ings at the two ports continued to decline and remained 

 low through November. Some vessels moved to other 

 ports to be near unaffected beds or went farther offshore 

 to fish for ocean quahogs. Surf clam landings for New 

 Jersey were 11,056 t in 1976, 31 percent lower in 1975. 

 NMFS data show that landings from the southern New 

 Jersey offshore area (>3 miles) increased almost threefold 

 in 1976 over 1975. Thus, the decline in average catch per 

 tow in the nonmortality area, <37 m, although not sta- 

 tistically significant, may reflect the increase in fishing 

 intensity directed away from the mortality area during 

 1976 (NMFS 1976, 1977). 



Ocean Quahog 



Substantial quantities of ocean quahogs were landed for 

 the first time at New Jersey ports in 1976, in part to com- 

 pensate for the loss of surf clams (fig. 11.1-4). Vessels 

 from Cape May-Wildwood began fishing for quahogs in 

 March. Vessels from Atlantic City fished surf clams until 



August when they shifted to ocean quahogs. Landings at 

 Cape May-Wildwood accounted for 77.9 percent, and 

 those at Atlantic City 22.9 percent, of the New Jersey 

 total. November landings at Pt. Pleasant were only 0.04 

 percent. If the mass mortality had not occurred, vessels 

 from Atlantic City and Pt. Pleasant would have continued 

 fishing for surf clams throughout 1976. New Jersey land- 

 ings of ocean quahogs were 71.7 percent (1,859 t) of the 

 U.S. total (2,593 t) and landings at Atlantic City and Pt. 

 Pleasant were 15.9 percent of the total. 



Sea Scallop 



In 1976, sea scallop landings at New Jersey ports quad- 

 rupled over 1975, to 1,304 from 322 t. In 1975 and 1976, 

 about three-quarters of the landings were at Cape May- 

 Wildwood, 24 percent were at Point Pleasant, and the rest 

 at Atlantic City. Thus, it is clear that the oxygen-depletion 

 event minimally affected the scallop fishery. 



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