152 DESCRIPTION OF IMPORTANT FISHERIES AND THEIR PRODUCTS 



remain at sea for several days, particularly when catches are running 

 light, and still deliver the fish in satisfactory condition. 



Company-owned carrier vessels are operated by captains selected for 

 the fishing season. The captain is paid a fixed price for quantities of fish 

 delivered to the reduction plant. The price paid for the fish varies from 

 year to year, but is fixed at the beginning of the season and apportioned 

 among the crew members according to a standard wage scale. A certain 

 percentage of this amount is withheld by the companies and paid to each 

 crew member at the end of the fishing season. In some cases, vessels 

 may be leased from independent companies or the vessel owners will 

 contract to sell the catches to a reduction plant on a share basis. The 

 value of the catch to the fishermen in 1961 was $25,200,000 ^^ 



Table 11.1. Landings of Menhaden, by Area, 1950-61 



Source: Data for 1950 to 1959 are from U.S. Dept. Interior, Statistical Digest; for 1960 from U.S. 

 Dept. Interior, Current Fishery Statistics, No. 2801; for 1961 from Current Fishery Statistics, Nos. 2863 

 and 2900. 



In the decade between 1952 and 1961, menhaden accounted for some- 

 where between 33 and 45 per cent of the total annual fish production 

 in the United States. Landings have increased almost every year since 

 1935 and, beginning with 1946, exceeded those of any other domestic 

 fishery. No other fishery in North America has enjoyed such a sustained 

 record of production. True, there have been marked variations in catch 

 in different parts of the range, but a seasonal decline in one locality 

 usually was compensated by increased landings in another. 



Prior to World War II, the fishery was conducted principally along 

 the Atlantic Coast. Beginning in 1947, however, the fishery in the Gulf 

 of Mexico expanded greatly, and landings there increased from less than 

 15,000 tons in 1940 to over 174,000 tons in 1950. In 1961 Gulf landings 

 reached a record of over 500,000 tons. 



