Appendix Figure 1 shows tlie average 

 weights of different age groups of menhaden 

 caught in the Chesapeake Bay purse seine 

 fishery between 1955 and 1968. These data are 

 expressed as annual deviations from the 

 14-year average. It is obvious from these data 

 that since 1961 almost all ages of menhaden 

 caught in the Chesapeake Bay fishery have 

 been considerably larger than average and that 

 the fish were particularly small during 1957-61. 

 Since there is considerable migration of fish 

 from Chesapeake Bay to the Middle and North 

 Atlantic fishing areas, it might be suggested 

 that the differences in average weight shovm in 

 Appendix Figure 1 for Chesapeake Bay are 

 merely the result of a differential migration 

 pattern, i.e., only the larger fish from a year 

 class entering Chesapeake Bay or only the 

 smaller fish leaving in recent years. If we look 



at similar data for the Middle and North 

 Atlantic Areas (Appendix Figs. 2 and 3), we 

 see that the same phenomenon exists— larger 

 fish for every age group in recent years. 



Interestingly, the weights of the fish caught 

 in the South Atlantic Area (Appendix Fig. 4) 

 do not follow the same pattern as those of the 

 fish caught north of Cape Hatteras. In the 

 South Atlantic Area most of the fish have been 

 below average weight in recent years. The 

 weight data for the North Carolina fall fishery 

 (Appendix Fig. 5) do not agree with the data 

 from the more northern areas or those from 

 the South Atlantic summer fishery but appear 

 to be almost a composite of the two groups. 

 This is not too surprising since we believe there 

 is considerable mixing of fish from the 

 northern and southern areas in the fall fishery. 



27 



