Table 37. — Estimated commercial landings of yellcwtail 

 flounder in New Jersey and New York 1937-1975. Annual 

 average for approximately five-year periods in metric 

 tons . 



states, suggesting that the effects of foreign fishing are 

 now being felt in the New York Bight region. 



Yellowtail flounder is a species of relatively deep 

 water, although most of the catch is made in water shal- 

 lower than 100 m. For this reason the species does not 

 support an important recreational fishery. Some hardy 

 sport fishermen do seek the species, however, and a small 

 winter recreational fishery has developed off Long Is- 

 land (Ahem 1974). 



Grosslein et al. (1973, see footnote 7) concluded that 

 the equilibrium maximum sustainable yield for the 

 southern New England stock of yellowtail flounder is 

 about 15,800 metric tons and that present quotas will 

 allow the stock to return to equilibrium. The large 

 foreign catch in 1969 (Table 38) came almost entirely 

 from Nantucket Shoals, but this heavy exploitation was 

 not associated with a decline in domestic catches in New 



Table 38. --Estimated commercial catches of yellowtail flounder 

 in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united states 

 coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons. 



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

 did not include recreational catches of yellowtail flounder. 



Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 

 1976 quota for yellowtail flounder in subareas 5 and 6 combined 

 was 20,000 metric tons. 



Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings 

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



York Bight until 1974. What relation the resource being 

 harvested by southern New Jersey fishermen bears to the 

 New England stock is not known. Past experience and 

 what is known about the life history of the species would 

 suggest that the allowable catch will be variable and that 

 this will not become a major New Jersey fishery. 



Little Tunny 



Euthynnus alletteratus (Rafinesque), little tuna or 

 tunny, was important in the commercial fisheries of New 

 Jersey for only about 8 yr, from 1945 to 1952 inclusive. 

 Maximum landings reported were about 328 metric tons 

 (722,000 pounds) in 1952 (Fig. 34). A minor peak in com- 

 mercial landings was reported in 1921. Landings reported 

 in New York have been smaller, but two peaks also ap- 

 pear in the statistical record, from 1921 to 1930 with a 

 maximum of 27 metric tons (60,000 pounds) in 1930, and 

 from 1946 to 1949 with a maximum of 45 metric tons 

 (99,000 pounds) in 1949. Most of the commercial catch in 

 both states is taken in pound nets, which were a much 

 more important gear in the 1920s than in the late 40s and 

 early 50s, although there was a brief postwar increase in 

 numbers of pound nets licensed (Knapp in press). Little 

 tunny is primarily a fish of ocean waters, probably highly 

 erratic in its migrations to shallow waters. The two peaks 

 in landings, coming at approximately the same time in 

 both states, with about a decade of zero catches inter- 

 vening, suggest that the species either was especially 

 abundant at these times, or that oceanographic con- 

 ditions were favorable for inshore migrations. Tunas are 

 grouped in the national saltwater angling survey reports. 

 Thus, it is not possible to compare sport and commer- 

 cial catches of little tunny. 



No foreign catches of this species have been reported. 

 It is possible that little tunny is taken by foreign long- 

 liners, but it may be too small to be caught with longline 

 hooks. 



-.---^-l. . 



-^ 



.J^ 



hL 



Figure 34. — Annual commercial landings of little tunny in New York 

 and New Jersey 1889-1975. 



Surf Clam 



Surf clam, Spisula solidissima (Dillwyn), has been 

 landed in small quantities in New Jersey and New York 

 since 1900, but this was a minor fishery until the middle 



37 



