CHANGES IN THE FISHERY 



Because landings in the North and Middle Atlantic 

 areas after 1962 declined and many plants closed or 

 reduced fishing, the fisheries are discussed as a single 



Figure 1. — Location of plants and fishing areas, 

 Atlantic menhaden fishery. 



area rather than separately as in previous reports. In 

 1963 the 1958 year class, which had supported the 

 fishery for 4 yr in the Middle Atlantic and for 3 yr in 

 the North Atlantic, ceased to contribute substantially 

 to the catch. Plants at Gloucester, Mass. and Pt. 

 Judith, R.I. ceased processing menhaden from purse 

 seiners in 1963 and 1964, respectively. By 1966 the 

 number of vessels at Amagansett, N.Y. and Port 

 Monmouth, N.J. had fallen to about 2% of the 

 number in 1962. The Tuckerton, N.J. plant closed 

 after the 1964 season. One plant at Lewes, Del. closed 

 after the 1964 season and the other during the middle 

 of the 1966 season. The plant at Wildwood, N.J. 

 operated only a part of each season from 1964 to 1969 

 and closed in 1970. The Amagansett plant, which did 

 not open in 1967, operated only two vessels in the 

 following years and closed again in 1970. The Port 

 Monmouth plant in 1970 processed only menhaden 

 caught in pound nets or by small trawlers converted to 

 purse seining until one regular purse seine vessel 

 began fishing in early September. 



While plants in the North and Middle Atlantic 

 areas either closed or reduced fishing in the years 

 following 1962, plants in the Chesapeake Bay area in- 

 creased fishing effort through 1966, despite a 

 downward trend in catches that continued through 

 1969. Consolidation and acquisition reduced the 

 number of companies from four to two, although three 

 to five plants continued to operate. The fishing 

 season, which formerly ceased by mid-October, ex- 

 tended to late November by 1964 as larger and faster 

 vessels, which could range farther from port, exploited 

 migrating schools passing in ocean waters off the 

 mouth of the bay. In many instances, fish which 

 formerly would have been landed in the North 

 Carolina fall fishery were transported to Virginia 

 plants for processing. 



In the South Atlantic area, one plant which had 

 operated at Femandina Beach, Fla. from 1948 to 1957 

 reopened in 1965 but fished only four seasons. A plant 

 which operated at Southport, N.C. from 1952 to 1961 

 was sold in 1963. It processed only during the 1963 fall 

 fishery, the 1964 summer and fall fishery, and May 

 1964. A large refrigerated vessel fished from the other 

 plant at Southport, but otherwise the size and 

 number of vessels operating from South Atlantic 

 plants changed little from previous years. 



TOTAL CATCH 



In previous reports the estimated numbers of fish 

 landed were broken down by areas of capture on the 

 basis of the percentage of catch samples from 

 different areas. Because of minor changes in es- 

 timating the number of fish caught, some of the 

 numbers published in previous reports for 1955-62 

 have been revised and are included. 



