There are two separate United States men- 

 haden fisheries, one along the Atlantic Coast 

 and another along the Gulf of Mexico. Al- 

 though both fisheries depend primarily on 

 purse seine fishing gear, each fishery catches a 

 different species of menhaden. Formerly the 

 Atlantic fishery annually produced the most 

 poundage of menhaden, but since 1962 has 

 been overtaken by Gulf landings (Fig. 1). 



s ,. 



lt4Z l»45 



Figure l.-Catch of menhaden, 1942-68. 



In recent years the menhaden fishery has 

 experienced a serious decline in production. 

 After record catches in 1961 and 1962 of 

 about 2.3 billion pounds (1.043 million metric 

 tons) for the Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico 

 combined, the catch dechned to about 1.2 

 billion pounds (0.544 milhon metric tons) in 

 1967 and increased only slightly in 1968 to 

 about 1.4 billion pounds (0.635 million metric 

 tons). 



Most of the decline in menhaden landings 

 has been in the Atlantic coast fishery where the 

 catch declined from 1.3 billion pounds (0.590 

 million metric tons) in 1962 to 0.55 billion 

 pounds (0.249 million metric tons) in 1968, a 

 58% decline. The increase in the catch in 1968 

 must be considered relatively insignificant 

 when compared with previous catches (Fig. 2). 

 Thus, the 1968 Atlantic catch was not only 

 below the average annual catch for the 5 years 

 of continued low production (1963-67) but 

 also less than one half the average annual catch 

 for the 10-year period (1953-62). It also is 

 apparent from Figure 2 that the trend of the 

 Atlantic landings for the year is established 

 relatively early in the fishing season. 



On the Atlantic coast the fishery is in most 

 instances a single-day operation; the boats leave 



Figure 2.— Cumulative annual catch of Atlantic men- 

 haden at end of each month of fishing season. 



early in the morning and return to the plants 

 the same day. In recent years, with reduced 

 abundance of fish, some boats have stayed out 

 for more than 1 day, particularly in the more 

 northern fishing areas. For a more detailed 

 description of the fishing operations, see Henry 

 (1969). 



When the catch of Atlantic menhaden 

 amounted to only 0.6 billion pounds (0.272 

 million metric tons) in 1964, a 0.7 billion 

 pound (0.318 million metric ton) drop in only 

 2 years, there was considerable concern about 

 the resource both within the industry and the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries. At that time, 

 I published a report (Henry, 1965), based on 

 data through 1964, discussing some of the 

 changes that were taking place in the fishery 

 such as reduced catches and changes in fishing 

 effort, fishing areas, and average age. I also 

 discussed various methods of estimating the 

 abundance of year classes. Also in 1964 re- 

 search, which the Bureau started on this 

 resource in 1955, was greatly expanded. After 

 several additional years of continued low cat- 

 ches, it seems appropriate to continue the 

 analysis of my previous paper for any signifi- 

 cant changes in the expected trends and con- 

 ditions of the resource. In this report I have 

 continued, through the 1968 season, analyses 

 and interpretations I have made of this fishery 

 relating to the decline in abundance and the 

 relationships between the fishing areas. Some 

 data on migrations, age, and growth are in- 

 cluded to emphasize that the decline would 

 have been greater except for a compensating 



