Table 2, — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of 

 searobins in the north and middl*" Atlantic regions of the United 

 States coast for the period in which recreational or foreign 

 catch estimates are available, weights in metric tons. 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did 

 not give data by individual states. New York was included with the 

 New England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states. 



Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. This species is 

 included with the second tier quota for 1976. 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in 

 N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years. 



- An unreported catch is possible. 



• Less than 0.5 metric ton. 



animal, and thus not strictly a resource of the open 

 waters of New York Bight. 



hook and line. In other New Jersey streams lesser num- 

 bers are taken by anglers (Paul Hamer pers. commun.). 

 For some reason, this sport fishery has been ignored in 

 the national surveys of saltwater sport fishing, perhaps 

 because it takes place in fresh water. No estimates of the 

 magnitude of this sport catch exist. 



Relatively large catches of alewives have been taken 

 recently by foreign fleets operating in the Middle Atlan- 

 tic Bight (Table 3). This has been a matter of serious 

 concern, especially to the fishing industry in Virginia, 

 where the resource is still of major importance. Gross- 

 lein et al. (1973, see footnote 7) confirmed that abun- 

 dance inshore has been declining. Edwards (1975)'" 

 stated that the biomass of alewives in the area from the 

 Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras inclusive was about 8 

 million pounds (3,630 metric tons) in the period 1972-74, 

 down from 87 million pounds (39,500 metric tons) in 

 1963-65. The fishery now is controlled under bilateral 

 agreements with the major fishing nations. 



Atlantic Herring 



Maximum recorded landings of Atlantic herring, 

 Clupea h. harengus Linnaeus, in New Jersey were in 1947 

 (Fig. 4). Landings have been declining irregularly since 

 that time. One use for this resource was as animal food, 

 but local markets have declined (LoVerde 1972). Most of 



Alewives 



'"Edwards, R. L. 1975. Middle Atlantic fisheries: Recent changes in 

 populations and the outlook. A paper presented at New York Bight 

 meeting, New York City, November 1975, 20 ms p. 



Table 3. — Estimated cominercial catches of alewives in the north 

 and middle Atlantic regions of the united States coast 1960-1975. 

 weights in metric tons. 



Alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson), and 

 blueback herring, A. aestivalis (Mitchill), were impor- 

 tant species in the early fisheries along the Atlantic 

 coast, but their importance in New Jersey in total weight 

 landed declined fairly early in the 20th century (Fig. 4).' 

 Alewives have been used as food fishes and as industrial 

 fishes, but the demand as human food has been declin- 

 ing, although less sharply in the area from Chesapeake 

 Bay southward. There was apparently no attempt in 

 New Jersey to use alewives as a substitute for menhaden 

 in the 1960s as there was in 1966 in New York. Relatively 

 large landings of alewives in New York in 1966 were 

 caught by menhaden purse seiners (Lyles 1968) at- 

 tempting to compensate for the declining menhaden 

 resource. 



Alewives are a popular recreational resource in certain 

 areas during the spawning migration in spring. Where 

 the species are abundant, as in certain Virginia rivers 

 and in the Potomac, large quantities are taken by dip net 

 as they migrate up rivers and streams. In the Delaware 

 River at Trenton, considerable numbers are taken by 



^he two species are similar in appearance and have not been listed 

 separately in the statistics, but under the collective term alewives. 



The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 19G5. and 197C 

 did not include recreational catches of alewives. 



Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable l.indings 

 in N.H.. Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years. 



- An unreported catch is possible. 



• Less than O.S metric ton. 



