concentrations in southern regions (North Carolina). Length-at-age 

 relationships nave not been clearly defined, but it appears that they nature 

 at 3 years (Byrne and Azarovitz 1982 ) - 



Summer flounder are active swimmers and predators and feed largely on 

 fishes, squids, shrimps and other crustaceans, sea worms and sand dollars 

 (Bigelow and Schroeder 1953). 



NMFS statistics for the Mid-Atlantic region indicate that the overall 

 stock size has increased during the 1970 ' s from lower levels during the 

 previous decade (NMFS 1979). 



Bottom Trawl Survey Results 



The cumulative spring and autumn distributions over the time series are 

 shown in Figures 7.1 and 7.2. These plots generally are representative of 

 what is known of summer flounder distribution and movements. The spring 

 distribution shows the fish concentrated offshore east of the 100 m contour. 

 If our spring data were gathered more synoptically, the inshore concentration, 

 as indicated by Figure 7.1, would not be evident, especially in the northern 

 half of the area. As discussed under "Methods," the timing of two spring 

 cruises is the major factor here. In Figure 7.3 data from all cruises prior 

 to 1976 have been deleted, and the result is considered more representative of 

 spring (March to April) distribution. The inshore movement south of Delaware 

 Bay had begun with some larger catches occurring on the mid-shelf area and 

 smaller catches inshore. South of the Virginia Capes some overwintering in 

 nearshore waters was possible. The inshore concentrations in Figure 7.1 were 

 from stations occupied during late April and May, so it seems likely that by 

 mid-spring many summer flounder had moved inshore in the northern area. The 

 autumn distribution (Figure 7.2) indicates some offshore movement had begun. 



159 



