Age and Size Composition of the Menhaden Catch Along the 

 Atlantic Coast of the United States, 1962 



With a Brief Review of the Commercial Fishery 



By 



WILLIAM R. NICHOLSON and JOSEPH R. HICHAM, Jr. 



Fishery Biologists (Research) 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries Biological Laboratory 



Beaufort, N.C. 



ABSTRACT 



The 1962 purse seine catch of Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus , was 

 600,000 tons in the summer fishery and 29,000 tons in the North Carolina fall 

 fishery. The mean catch per purse seine set, based on an estimated number of 

 26,176 sets, was 24 tons. The 1958 year class (age 4) dominated the fishery in the 

 Middle and North Atlantic Areas for the fourth consecutive year and provided 5 per- 

 cent of the catch in the Chesapeake Bay Area and 36 percent of the catch in the 

 North Carolina fall fishery. On the basis of its contribution to the fishery in the 

 Chesapeake Bay and Middle Atlantic Areas, the incoming year class (1961) appeared 

 to be less than average in abundance. Except for age-0 fish, the mean lengths and 

 weights in the South Atlantic Area in 1962 were less than the means for the previous 

 7-year period. The means for age- 4 fish were less than the 7- year means in the Middle 

 and North Atlantic Areas, but slightly greater in the Chesapeake Bay Area. With few 

 exceptions, the mean lengths and weights of other age groups in the Chesapeake Bay, 

 Middle Atlantic, and North Atlantic Areas were greater than the 7-year means. 



INTRODUCTION 



This is the eighth in a series of annual re- 

 ports that review the purse seine fishing 

 season for the Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia 

 tyrannus. Summarized and discussed briefly 

 are data for 1962 on the age, size, and sex 

 composition of the catches, the number of 

 vessels in the fishery, and the distribution 

 of fishing activity. Comparable information 

 for 1955-61 also is included. Four geograph- 

 ical areas (fig. 1) and the North Carolina fall 

 fishery, a specialized fishery within the South 

 Atlantic Area, are subdivisions of the fishery 

 used in the summary and review of the data. 



THE 1962 PURSE SEINE FISHERY 



The purse seine catch of Atlantic menhaden 

 in 1962 was 629,000 tons --slightly better than 

 in 1961. This total catch included 600,000 tons 

 caught in the summer fishery and 29,000 tons 

 caught in the North Carolina fall fishery 

 (table 1). Catches in 1962 were smaller than 

 in 1961 in the South and Middle Atlantic Areas 

 and in the North Carolina fall fishery, but 



Table 1. — llean anoual catch, mean number of purse seine sets, and mean catch 

 per set, 19S5-61; and the catch, number of sets, and catch per set, 1962, 

 Atlantic menhaden purse Seine fishery 



Source; Fishery statistics of the United States, 1962, by Edward A. PcTwer, 

 U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Statistical Digest No, 56. . 



^ Fish caught in the Chesapeake Bay area and landed at Wildwood are included 

 in the catch for the Chesapeake Bay area. 



3 The North Carolina fall fishery normally extends into January; therefore, 

 catch total Includes January 1963, but not January 1962. Seasonal breakdown 

 of the catch waa obtained from U, S. Fish and Wildlife Service, C.F.S, Nos. 

 2835 and 3132. 



larger in the Chesapeake Bay and North At- 

 lantic Areas. As in previous years, the Middle 

 Atlantic Area provided the largest part of the*" 

 catch, but the North Carolina fall fishery. 



