the more efficient coastal trawlers still had constraints 

 that linked them to the land. They had no means of 

 processing their catch other than to ice it or freeze it, and 

 since their carr>'ing capacity was limited, they had to 

 return to port at frequent intervals to unload. The large, 

 highly flexible, self-contained fishing fleets of the dis- 

 tant-water fishing nations, centrally controlled and 

 capable of catching and processing any resource, edible 

 or industrial, have reduced the possibilities for survival 

 of some segments of the domestic fishing fleet, es- 

 pecially if domestic fisheries continue to operate on the 

 assumption that they can survive by holding to 

 traditional methods of operation. 



Despite the additional and serious problems that 

 foreign fishing poses for domestic fisheries in the Middle 

 Atlantic Bight, it is a dangerous oversimplification to 

 blame all the troubles of the domestic fishing industry on 

 "the Russians" (McHugh 1974; Williams 1975). This has 

 been confirmed by Gates and Norton (1974), who viewed 

 foreign fishing, along with other issues, primarily as 

 symptoms rather than causes of the problems of the 

 domestic fisheries. Smith (1975) reached essentially the 

 same conclusion in a study of the otter trawl fishery of 

 Oregon. The basic problems of our coastal fisheries are 

 domestic, but most people tend to forget that the decline 

 of many fisheries of New Jersey and New York, as in 

 most other coastal states, began long before the postwar 

 expansion of foreign distant-water fisheries began (Fig. 

 5). The basic problems are sociopolitical and economic, 

 and these problems have made it virtually impossible for 

 the United States to manage its coastal fisheries effec- 

 tively. Almost without exception, we have been unable to 

 establish viable management regimes for coastal fishery 

 resources over which the United States has complete 

 control. These include most of the shellfisheries, which 

 with few exceptions harvest resources endemic to ter- 

 ritorial waters, and even some migratory fishes like men- 

 haden and striped bass, which apparently seldom, if 

 ever, move beyond the 12-mile zone of fishery jurisdic- 

 tion during their seasonal migrations. These matters 

 have been discussed in detail by Knapp (in press) and 

 Williams (1975). 



INDUSTRIAL FISHERIES 



As in the State of New York (McHugh 1972a), indus- 

 trial fisheries, mostly for menhaden, have dominated the 

 marine fisheries of New Jersey for most of recorded his- 

 tory (Figs 3, 4). The principal difference is that, whereas 

 menhaden landings in New York apparently were sub- 

 stantial at times in the period prior to 1940, the men- 

 haden industry in New Jersey was relatively minor before 

 the second world war. The menhaden industry in the ear- 

 ly days was traditionally based in New England, and this 

 probably explains why it developed earlier in New York 

 than in New Jersey. 



Examination of Figure 4 suggests that the industrial 

 fisheries of New Jersey can be divided into five fairly dis- 

 tinct periods each dominated by a different species or 



Table 1. — Average annual landings of industrial fishes and 

 industrial shellfishes, including bait, in New Jersey for five major 

 periods in the history of the industrial fisheries of the State. 

 Weights in metric tons. 



less than 0.5 metric ton. 



group of species. Average annual landings of these and 

 other industrial species are given in Table 1. 



Atlantic Menhaden 



In 1880 (Earll 1887) the menhaden, Brevoortia tyran- 

 nus (Latrobe), industry dominated the fisheries of Sandy 

 Hook Bay; five large factories for production of oil and 

 meal were operating as compared with only one in New 

 Jersey today. The fish were caught in pound nets and 

 fykes, whereas today most of the menhaden catch is 

 taken by purse seines. An important menhaden fishery 

 operated also in the vicinity of Atlantic City, delivering 

 catches to factories at Tuckerton and Great Egg Harbor. 

 Large quantities of menhaden taken in haul seines and 

 pound nets in this area were used directly as fertilizer for 

 farm lands. 



In 1880 (Mather 1887) menhaden applied directly to 

 the soil provided fertilizer for extensive farm lands on 

 Long Island. At the eastern end of Long Island, at least 

 16 menhaden factories were operating, some of them for- 

 merly whaling bases. The menhaden resource was 

 responsible for development of a rich agricultural in- 

 dustry in the sterile, sandy soil. 



One cause of the great postwar development of the At- 

 lantic coast menhaden fishery was the decline of the sar- 

 dine industry on the Pacific coast (McHugh 1969a). De- 

 mand for fish meal as an ingredient of poultry rations 

 was stimulated by rapid postwar growth of the poultry 

 industry. Landings of menhaden in New Jersey and New 

 York rose rapidly in the 1940s and 1950s, and in both 

 states the catch remained high for about a decade. In 

 New York landings fluctuated about a level of 40,000 

 metric tons, more or less, during this period of greatest 

 development of the fishery. In New Jersey (Figs .3, 4) it 

 was considerably greater. The peak postwar catch was 

 about four times as great in New Jersey as in New York, 

 but the period of relatively high catches began somewhat 



