1961 CATCH 



1962 CATCH 



JAN. FEB. MAR. APR. MAY JUNE JULY AUG. SEPT. OCT. NOV. DEC. 



Figure 3. — Catch and effort of the pot fishery for blue 

 crabs, St. Johns River, 1961-62. 



1961 (209.2 pounds) and in March 1962 (460.8 

 pounds); in both years the smallest catches 

 were in October (37.5 pounds per trawl-day in 

 1961 and 61.3 pounds in 1962). 



The monthly fluctuations in catch and effort 

 of fishermen employing pots (fig. 3) started 

 from low catch and effort in January-March 

 and rose steadily to a peak in August. After 

 August, catch and effort progressively de- 

 creased (with the exception of an increase 



in October 1962) to the end of the year. The 

 catch and effort were greater in 1962 than in 

 the previous year for all months except 

 January, February, and March. Differences 

 between years in catch and effort were espe- 

 cially great from July through October. For 

 each of these months the percentage increase 

 of catch was greater than the percentage in- 

 crease of effort. 



Records of the pot fishery by area (table 2) 

 show that the catch was largest in Area 3 in 

 1961 and in Area 1 in 1962. For both years, 

 Area 3 had the highest level of effort. The 

 pounds per pot-day differed by 0.2 pound be- 

 tween 1961 and 1962 for Areas 2 and 3, as com- 

 pared to an increase of 4.0 pounds for Area 1. 

 Of the three areas, only Area 3 showed a 

 decrease in catch per pot-day in 1962. 



The relation between catch and effort for 

 each of the three areas for 1961 and 1962 is 

 shown in figures 4, 5, and 6. The rate of in- 

 crease in the catch for Area 1 in 1962 over 

 1961 was substantially greater than the rate 

 of increase in effort. Increase in the catches 

 for Areas 2 and 3 followed similar rates of 

 increase in effort. 



Table 2. — Monthly catch and effort data for the blue crab pot fishery in the St. Johns River, 1961-62 

 (Area 1, mouth - Ortega River; Area 2, Ortega River - Palatka; Area 3, Palatka - Astor) 



Apr. 



May 



July 



Aug. 



Sept. 



Oct. 



1961 



Number of fishermen 

 Pounds of crabs 

 Number pot-days 

 Pounds per pot-day 



6 7 



7,085 10,692 



1,233 2,029 



5.7 5.3 



9 



3,782 

 849 



4.5 



12 



8,540 



2,224 



3.8 



15 



28,220 



5,838 



4.8 



48,973 



9,693 



5.1 



19 



63,294 



12,224 



5.2 



17 



74,714 



12,863 



5.8 



17 



77,370 



11,904 



6.5 



18 



63,072 



11,338 



5.6 



6 5 12 



27,583 27,823 372,080 



5,924 4,711 95,145 



4.7 5.9 3.9 



18 



45,110 



8,542 



5.3 



13 22 



17,698 448,550 



4,344 83,081 



4.1 5.4 



Area 3 



Number of fishermen 2 2 2 15 17 21 22 24 19 18 17 12 25 



Pounds of crabs 633 754 874 15,245 55,086 71,947 67,260 90,190 63,643 56,709 49,800 21,472 493,613 



Number pot-days 378 360 348 5,782 12,782 16,467 16,079 23,258 19,503 14,589 8,457 7,552 125,555 



Pounds per pot-day 1.7 2.1 2.5 2.6 4.3 4.4 4.2 3.9 3.3 3.9 5.9 2.8 3.9 



