The purse-seine season in Chesapeake 

 Bay officially opened May 30 — , and except 

 for roughly 20 days of poor fishing follow- 

 ing the tropical storms which swept that 

 area in August, catches were exceptionally 

 good throughout the summer cind fall. The 

 bulk of the catch through July was composed 

 of age-2 fish, after which time age-1 fish 

 predominated. The last landings in the Bay 

 were made on November 3. A catch of 153,000 

 tons established the second highest record 

 in the history of the Bay fishery. 



Purse seining in the Middle Atlantic 

 Area commenced on May 18 when scattered, 

 small schools of fish were spotted along the 

 northern New Jersey coast from Barnegat Inlet 

 to Raritan Bay. Fishing in this area con- 

 tinued through the month. During the first 

 week in June, schools becsune increasingly 



_4/ Virginia law prohibits purse-seine 



fishing in Chesapeake Bay prior to the 

 last Monday in May. 



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abundant along the southern New Jersey and 

 Delaware coasts, and by mid-June a fleet 

 of 46 vessels fished the area from Chinco- 

 teague, Va. , to Fire Island, N. Y. Except 

 for a 2-week period of rough weather in 

 August, when most of the fleet was tied up, 

 the entire area produced excellent catches 

 through the third week in October. In mid- 

 September, schools of larger fish moved 

 into Long Islcind Sound and around Montauk 

 Point; however, the schools were "wild", 

 and few of these fish were caught until the 

 last week of the season, when the entire 

 fleet fished from Long Branch, N. J., east- 

 ward to Fire Island Beach, N. Y. The purse- 

 seine catch in the Middle Atlantic Area 

 amounted to 328,000. 



The first catches of the season in the 

 North Atlantic Area were taken in Naxraigan- 

 sett Bay on June 1 by Point Judith, R. I., 

 vessels. During the following week, fish 

 were encountered in the vicinity of Montauk 

 Point, N. Y. , by the Amjigansett, N. Y. , 

 vessels and in Massachusetts Bay by the 

 Gloucester, Mass. , vessels. The first land- 

 ings at Portland, Me., were made on June 21. 

 Fishing in the Casco Bay area was spotty 

 throughout the summer; however, vessel cap- 

 tains reported that schools were abundant, 



,<^HVV 



Figure 6. --Distribution of fishing effort in the Chesapeake 

 Bay and Middle Atlantic areas, 1955. 



Figure 7. --Distribution of fishing effort in the North 

 Atlantic Area, 1955. 



