ESTIMATE OF SPORT FISHERY CATCH 



Estimates of catch (numbers and weight) 

 have been assennbled by section, by facility, 

 by month, by season, by species, and by various 

 connbinations thereof to present them in the 

 n-iost usable form. 



These detailed presentations will not be dis- 

 cussed individually, but rather our discussions 

 will concern the Cape Canaveral Area as a 

 whole. 



Detailed data for the SouthernSection appear 

 in tables 23-31, and those for the Northern 

 Section appear in tables 32-39. 



In tables 40-48 are presented monthly sum- 

 nnaries of catch by species (in numbers and 

 weight), organized by facility, by section, and 

 by sections combined. From these nnonthly 

 sumnnaries, it is evident that nine species 

 represent the bulk of the catch, in numbers 

 of fish. These are, in order of importance, 

 spotted sea trout, pinfish, puffers, sea trout 

 (other), catfish, king whiting, sheepshead, 

 bluefish, and croaker. 



Seasonal sunnmaries of catch (numbers and 

 weight) by species, organized by facility, by 

 section, and by sections combined, are pre- 

 sented in tables 49-51. Spotted sea trout was 

 taken in the greatest numbers, representing 

 20 percent of the catch for the three seasons 

 for which we have data (spring, 25 percent; 

 summer, 17 percent; and fall, 15 percent). 

 Next is pinfish, with 13 percent of the total 

 catch (spring, 8 percent; summer, 16 per- 

 cent; and fall, 18 percent). Puffers follow, with 



12 percent of the total catch (spring, 16 per- 

 cent; summer, 8 percent; and fall, 1 1 per- 

 cent). Sea trout other than spotted total 8 

 percent of the catch (spring, 7 percent; sum- 

 nner, 8 percent; and fall, 10 percent). Catfish 

 also represent 8 percent of the total (spring, 

 9 percent; summer, 8 percent; and fall, 6 

 percent). King whiting total 6 percent (spring, 

 4 percent; summer, 8 percent; and fall, 5 per- 

 cent). Sheepshead total 4 percent (4 percent 

 for each season). Bluefish represent 3 percent 

 (spring, 8 percent; and summer and fall, less 

 than 1 percent). Croaker is last, with 2 per- 

 cent of the total catch (spring, 1 percent; sum- 

 mer, 4 percent; and fall, 2 percent). 



The catch in numbers for these nine species 

 combined represents 82 percent of the 857,485 

 fish estimated for the spring, 74 percent of the 

 589,852 fish estimated for the summer, and 72 

 percent of the 785,676 fish estinnated for the 

 fall. Total numbers of fish for these nine 

 species, all seasons combined, represent 76 

 percent of the total of 2,233,01 3 fishestimated 

 for all species. 



With reference to weights, ranking of the 

 nine dominant species for the three seasons 

 combined is as follows: Spotted sea trout, 33 

 percent of the total; sea trout other than 

 spotted and catfish, 8 percent each; puffers, 

 6 percent; bluefish and sheepshead, 5 percent 

 each; king whiting, 4 percent; pinfish, 3 per- 

 cent; and croaker, 1 percent. The total weight 

 for these nine species, all seasons comibined, 

 represents 73 percent of the total of 2,292,455 

 pounds estimated for all species. 



Table kO. — Estimated sport fishery catch. Cape Canaveral Area; Horthern Section only, Febiniary I963, 

 in numbers of fish and veight in pounds, by facility, by species 



Total 



19,980 14,211 14,560 8,4o8 2,198 5,344 19,4o4 30,643 56,142 58,606 



54 



