Figure 1.— Middle Atlantic Bight (Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras) showing location of the area known as New York Bight and subareas 5 and 6 of the 

 International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF). Only part of division 5Y, which includes all of the Gulf of Maine, is 

 shown. For all practical purposes it can be assumed that the fishing grounds end at the 200 m isobath, thus it is not important that the northern 

 and eastern boundaries of subarea 5 and the eastern boundary of subarea 6 are not shown. The southern boundary of subarea 6 is just off the chart, 

 at lat. 35°00Ti. 



tons. Domestic fisheries in the area, as will be illustrated 

 in the species discussions to follow, are by no means un- 

 der such rigid control. This applies particularly to the 

 recreational fisheries, which essentially are uncon- 

 trolled. 



New York Bight is flanked on two sides by the greatest 

 concentration of human population in North America. 

 Some 17 million people live in the New York met- 

 ropolitan region alone. Shipping in and out of the area is 

 heavy, the waters and beaches are used extensively for 

 recreation, including sport fishing, and the inner part of 

 the Bight receives large quantities of domestic and in- 

 dustrial wastes. The Bight also has been considered 

 seriously as a site for deep-draft supertanker ports, off- 

 shore air terminals, and offshore nuclear power plants. 

 Exploratory drilling for petroleum in Baltimore Canyon 

 Trough, off the New Jersey coast, is under serious con- 

 sideration. These issues, and recent intensified public 



and official interest in environmental quality, have 

 marked the Bight for special attention. As background 

 for environmental studies and environmental manage- 

 ment in the area, it is important to understand the his- 

 tory of its marine fisheries and the present condition of 

 the living resources on which these fisheries are based. 

 An historical review of the marine fisheries of New 

 York State has already been published (McHugh 1972a). 

 The principal conclusions of that study were that the 

 record of landings since 1880 provided a classic example 

 of ineffective management and that the principal causes 

 of the decline of commercial fishing in New York were 

 sociopolitical and domestic, not directly related to 

 foreign fishing. This report deals primarily with New Jer- 

 sey fisheries. The opportunity has been taken, however, 

 to bring the New York study up to date by considering 

 landings and trends in the period 1971-75. The New Jer- 

 sey study was part of the intensive investigation of New 



