96 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



Such an investigation would present relatively little difficulty if advantage 

 were taken of the recent developments in abdominal tagging and magnetic 

 recovery of the tags. 



Although the menhaden makes its annual appearance along the entire 

 Atlantic coast, the routes of migration, local appearance, and abundance are 

 variable. In some cases the fish have been known to abandon completely 

 waters that they had hitherto visited in great numbers. In other cases the 

 abundance shows the fluctuation in population that is common to all the sea 

 fishes. Fowler (1906) says that menhaden were present on the New Jersey 

 coast along Cape May in goodly numbers but not in the abundance of former 

 years. 



Mr. William Gaskins of the Wallace Fisheries, Morehead City, North 

 Carolina, has told the writer that the Mayport fishery on the Florida coast 

 has been a virtual failure for four successive years. The fish which have 

 ordinarily supplied this fishery did not strike into the coast at the usual points 

 but passed by many miles at sea moving to the north. Mr. Gaskins also 

 reports that a fall fishery off Beaufort, North Carolina, was supplied with 

 fish which first made their appearance at Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina, 

 and moved north until they encountered schools of southbound fish which 

 they joined and reversed their northward movement. This fishery was pro- 

 ductive in the Beaufort-Morehead City area until about 1925, but since that 

 time none of these northbound fall fish have appeared. Above, in a discussion 

 of the so-called "Boston Bay" and "Delaware" fish, it has already been 

 pointed out that these fish now forsake the coast about New River Inlet and 

 move to the open ocean. Eighteen years ago, this fall run of fish supported 

 an active fishery at Southport which is no longer existent. 



Mr. George Wallace of the Wallace Fisheries, Morehead City, North 

 Carolina, says that prior to fifteen years ago the appearance of the spring 

 run of menhaden in large quantities could be regularly depended upon to 

 strike in abundance in April. These fish have not made an appearance in any 

 numbers since 1933. 



The classic example of the abandonment of a fishing ground is that off the 

 coast of Maine. The menhaden fishery was first established in Maine about 

 the middle of the nineteenth century and prospered greatly for a number of 

 years, although at times the fish failed to appear in as great abundance as 

 usual. Over the years, however, they did come in sufficient numbers to justify 

 continuous plant maintenance and operation, but in 1904 they completely 

 disappeared, and, according to Bigelow and Welsh (1925), the appear- 

 ance of menhaden north of Cape Cod between 1904 and 192 1 was an 

 extremely rare event. Within the last year or two they have showed signs of 

 returning, and recently there is considerable talk of reviving the menhaden 

 fisheries of Maine. Bigelow and Welsh (1925) describe in a very interesting 



