214 



MARINE FISHERIES OF NORTH CAROLINA 



TABLE 6 



The Annual Catch of Hard Crabs in Barrels in Several Counties of North Carolina 



from 1939 to 1946. Based on State Tax Collections on Each Barrel of Crabs 



(Amounts Are Probably Under Actual Production But May Be Proportionate 



from Year to Year). Multiply the Number of Barrels by 100 to Obtain 



Pounds of Crabs 



Although a large part of the annual production of crabs in North Carolina 

 depends upon the variable supply of crabs in Chesapeake Bay, many fisher- 

 men believe that natural fluctuations occur in the abundance of crabs in 

 North Carolina coastal waters. While fluctuations in year-class abundance 

 of blue crabs have been found to prevail in Chesapeake Bay (Pearson, 

 1948), essential information is lacking to determine the presence of fluctua- 

 tions in North Carolina. Only by some constant unit of measurement of 

 the crab stock (e.g., catch per unit of fishing effort) can variations in natural 

 abundance of crabs be determined over a period of years. 



Again, adequate catch records are not available to compare the density 

 of the crab population in North Carolina with that in Chesapeake Bay. 

 However, a broken series of daily catches based on the number of pounds 

 of hard crabs taken per man-day by trot-line operated in Core Sound and 

 Hampton Roads will serve to indicate the degree of monthly and annual 

 variations in the abundance of crabs in the two regions (see Table 7). 

 Natural abundance of crabs was apparently higher in Core Sound in March 

 and April, 1942, than during the same period in 1944. The April catches 

 during 1942 and 1944, as well as the summer catches in the lower Pamlico 

 River in 1944, were substantially lower than in February and March. This 

 condition appears due largely to the fact that while many female crabs with 

 eggs are taken by crabbers in April, they must be excluded by law from the 

 market catch. In early season, before the female crabs have produced their 

 egg sponge, a larger proportion of female crabs enters into the market catch 

 than occurs from April to September. 



The smaller daily catches in Hampton Roads during April, 1944, than in 

 the following summer months are accounted" for by the fact that water 

 temperatures in this area are generally too low in April to encourage active 



