The retail price to the sport fishermen aver- 

 ages 70 cents per pound. 



One bait dealer at Titusville reported selling 

 500 pounds of dead mullet per week during 

 October and November and 125 pounds per 

 week the remainder of the year; an annual total 

 of 9,762 pounds at 25 cents per pound is worth 

 about $2,440. The increase in sales in the fall 

 is attributed to the bluefish fishery. The amount 



of dead mullet sold in the entire Northern 

 Section is estimated to be at least double that 

 for Titusville. 



Southern Section 



Estimated bait sales in the SouthernSection 

 are: 



The average buyer purchases 2 to 3 dozen 

 live shrimp, three-fourths of a pound of dead 

 shrimp (heads -on weight), and about one and 

 one-half pounds of mullet. Other bait sold in- 

 cludes: pigfish, squid, sand fleas, yellowtails, 

 fiddler crabs, and needlefish. 



Live shrimp for fishing in the Cape Canaveral 

 Area are obtained mostly from Smith andSutton 

 at Oak Hill, some from Rice at Vero Beach, 

 and occasionally from other places in Florida; 

 and dead shrimp from Oak Hill, Port Canaveral, 

 Jacksonville, Vero Beach, Venezuela, 

 Nicaragua, Costa Rica, and India, The other 

 bait used is locally obtained. 



MISCELLANEOUS RECORDS 



Gary Bennett 



Gary Bennett, owner and operator of a large 

 bait and tackle shop in Cocoa, kept partial 

 records of the fish catch in the Cocoa area for 

 several years, which he pernnitted us to use. 

 A comparison of Bennett's data for 1956, 

 1957, and 1959 with ours shows that the sea 

 trout (mostly spotted) was the only species 

 reported with enough consistency to reflect 

 trends. Spotted sea trout is the nnost sought 

 after game fish in the inside waters, and spe- 

 cial buttons are given to individuals catching 

 trout weighing 6 pounds or more. Other spe- 

 cies of fish were reported to Bennett if they 

 were large specimens, caught in considerable 

 numbers, or incidental to a spotted sea trout 

 catch which was reported. 



The catches of sea trout (most or all spotted) 

 from Bennett's records for Indian River, 

 Banana River, Sykes Creek, and Barge Canal 

 were combined (table 56). Sea trout fishing 

 (average monthly catches) was poorest in 

 February and March, generally improved 

 steadily through the spring, and was best in 

 late spring and sumimer. The catch decreased 

 in late sumnner (Septennber) and increased 

 through the fall and early winter. 



liable 56. — Sea trout (mostly spatted) catch, Indian River, Sykes 

 Creek, Barge Canal, and Banana River for I956, 1957, 

 and 1959, in numbers of fish, by month, by year, with 

 averages 



[Extracts of records maintained by Gary Bennett, Cocoa, 

 Florida, on fish catches reported to hijn] 



16,101 17,363 14,717 



4B,l8l 



16,060 



Charter and Party Boat Ocean Fishery 



The charter and party boats fishing in the 

 ocean in the Cape Canaveral Area are based 

 at ports from Melbourne to Port Orange. As 

 the vessels from Port Orange and Melbourne 

 fish only a small amount of their time in the 

 study area, they were omitted from the statis- 

 tics. Also, the erratic and questionable catch 

 records of the vessel Intrepid of Patrick Air 

 Force Base were omitted. The fleet fishing 

 the area the major portion of the time consists 

 of 24 boats: 



The following methods were used to estimate 

 the total party and charter boat catch in the 

 study area in 1962. We interviewed the major 



71 



