THE FISHERY 



The Atlantic menhaden fishery extends from 

 New England to Florida and for convenience of 

 discussion has been divided into four ge- 

 ographic areas: North Atlantic, Middle Atlan- 

 tic, Chesapeake Bay, and South Atlantic (Fig. 

 10). In addition to a summer fishery that 

 generally extends from about May to October 

 in the four areas, there is a fall fishery which 

 depends primarily on maturing fish migrating 

 from the north to spawn off the North 

 Carolina and South Atlantic coast. Further- 

 more, there is some biological basis for this 

 division. Although there is considerable inter- 

 change of fish between those areas throughout 

 the fishing season, the Chesapeake Bay and 

 South Atlantic catches consist principally of 1 



40° 



30* 



25" 



85° 80« 75* 



Figure 10.— Fishing areas for Atlantic menhaden. 



and 2 year old, immature fish, whereas the 

 Middle and North Atlantic catches are of the 

 older fish which migrate northward in the 

 spring and summer. 



The Chesapeake Bay segment of the men- 

 haden industry has expressed the view that the 

 menhaden stock in the Bay essentially is 

 independent of the stocks outside the Bay. 

 This view appears contrary to all the data 

 available; in fact, results from our tagging 

 studies have shown very clearly the close 

 interrelations of the menhaden along the entire 

 coast. 



Development of a Unit of Fishing Effort 



In the analysis of a fishery it is important to 

 develop a meaningful unit of fishing effort. In 

 the earlier years of the Atlantic menhaden 

 studies (June and Reintjes, 1957), a boat-week 

 unit of effort was developed in an analysis of 

 the fishery off Delaware Bay. In subsecjuent 

 analyses for the entire Atlantic coast, the unit 

 of fishing effort mentioned was the purse seine 

 set. 



The number of sets and catch per set were 

 recorded annually through the 1962 fishing 

 season (Nicholson and Higham, 1965). How- 

 ever, it was realized that the catch per set was 

 more a measure of school size than a relative 

 measure of fishing effort on the stocks. It did 

 not seem realistic to assume that 10 sets on 10 

 small schools would have the same effect on 

 the stocks that 10 sets on 10 large schools 

 would have. Consequently, a new unit of effort 

 was developed" called the "standard vessel 

 day." 



Each menhaden fishing vessel was given a 

 relative weighting factor, based on catches 

 made by the vessels over a comparable period 

 of years. Vessels added to the fleet since 1962 

 have been given a weighting factor which 

 appears most reasonable based on the size of 

 the new vessel relative to the sizes of the vessels 

 for which the catches were compared. Since 

 the newer vessels are generally larger, they 

 usually have received relatively large weighting 



Changes in catch and effort in tlie Atlantic menliaden 

 fishery, 1940-62, by W.R. Nichols. Unpublished manuscript. 

 National Marine Fisheries Service, Center for L-'stuarine and 

 Menhaden Research, Beaufort, N.C. 



