30 MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



Other migrators seem to require still warmer, subtropical temperatures. 

 Coastwise these temperatures may be found as far north as Hatteras in 

 midsummer, though the summer upwelling of cold water off Daytona, Florida 

 (Figure 9), reported by Green (1944) may partially interrupt this continuity. 

 Offshore in or near the Florida Current subtropical temperatures prevail for 

 a greater part of the year and thus a coastal skip distribution from Cape 

 Canaveral to Cape Hatteras again appears as a possibility. This is important 

 in anticipating the occurrence of the fishes variously referred to as Gulf 

 Stream, big game, and tropical marine species. Many of these are known off 

 the coast of North Carolina but it is not known whether their occurrence is 

 regular or sporadic. Even if this area is far from their centers of abundance, 

 the hypothetical skip distribution, which is applicable whether they are 

 migrators, residents, or stragglers, makes their presence off North Carolina 

 seem, in some respects, more probable than off coastal areas immediately 

 to the south. 



Certain fishes like the tuna, Thunnus thynnus, and the white marlin, 

 Makaira albida, perform long migrations from tropical waters to cooler seas 

 off the northern states. It is thought that in so doing they partially follow the 

 warm course of the Gulf Stream System and thus come close to the North 

 Carolina coast in passing Hatteras. 



Many that characteristically migrate northeastward along the Middle 

 Atlantic States in the spring, such as scup, Stenotomus chrysops, and sea 

 bass. Centra prist es striatus, were once thought to retreat to deep waters off 

 the Middle Atlantic States in the fall, but it is now known that vast quantities, 

 if not all, of these populations migrate to the warm Hatteras region in winter. 

 Also many fishes from the North Carolina sounds, and perhaps to some extent 

 from the coast far south of these sounds, migrate to the warmer Hatteras 

 area in winter. In the last two decades a large winter trawl fishery has 

 developed from catches of such fishes off the Virginia capes and the Carolina 

 coast. 



In describing this winter trawl fishery, Pearson (1932) distinguished two 

 general areas, one to the north and one chiefly south of Hatteras (Figure 12) : 



"Area A extends roughly from latitude 35° 50' to 37° N. and from 

 longitude 74° 50' to 75° 30' W. The vessels usually sail a southeast or south- 

 east by south course from Cape Henry Light, Va., to reach this general 

 fishing area. The distance offshore extends from 1 5 to 60 or more miles and 

 the depth of water ranges from 20 to 50 fathoms. Inshore, the ocean bottom 

 appears to be generally sand or shell but mud or rocky bottom becomes more 

 typical in the deeper offshore water. The fishermen have learned to recognize 

 that rough, shell or 'rock' bottom usually yield catches of scup and sea bass 

 while a sandy and smoother bottom will produce largely flounders and 

 possibly croakers. 



