Table 7. — Summary data, offshore otter-trawl fishery 



SURF-CLAM FISHERY 



A commercial surf-clam fishery de- 

 veloped in the coastal waters of New 

 Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland following 

 explorations in 1949 which disclosed ex- 

 tensive virgin beds of these large mollusks. 

 Prior to the establishment of processing 

 plants in the area, the annual catch of 

 less than 60,000 bushels was utilized en- 

 tirely for bait. Since the beginning of 

 the fishery for canning purposes, surf- 

 clam production has increased each year, 

 reaching a high of 967,000 bushels in 

 1957 (upper panel fig. 7). 



During the recent expansion of the 

 fishery, most of the vessels employed 

 were small inshore otter trawlers which 

 had been converted to hydraulic dredging. 

 These gradually were replaced by larger 

 vessels recruited mostly from the oyster 

 and shrimp fleets of the Atlantic and 

 Gulf coasts. In addition to the increase 

 in vessel size, improvements in dredges, 

 hoses, pumps, engines, and other auxiliary 

 equipment have been made, vsdth the result 

 that efficiency of the fleet increased 

 markedly during the period 1954-57. Data 

 presented in table 8 show the growth of 

 the fishery in terms of fleet size and 

 annual production for this period. 



FISHING GROUNDS 



Productive surf-clam beds extend 

 from Atlantic City, N. J., to Winter Quarter 

 Lightship off Chincoteague, Va. Grounds 

 most heavily fished are located off the 

 mouth of Delaware Bay in the vicinity 

 of Five -Fathom Lightship (fig. 6). Areas 



Figure 6.--Distribution of fishing effort by the surf-clam fleet, 

 1954-57. 



of heavy fishing (more than 10.0 percent 

 per unit area) received 35.8 percent of 

 the total effort; moderate fishing (2.0 - 9.9 

 percent), 45.7 percent; and light fishing 

 (0.1 - 1.9 percent), 17.9 percent. In gen- 

 eral, fishing during the period 1954-57 

 extended farther offshore and southward 

 along the 20 -fathom contour than in the 

 previous 4 years (June and Reintjes, 1957). 

 Surf clam beds located off Indian River, 

 Del., and Ocean City, Md., were fished 

 intensively during the later period. In 

 addition, beds in the vicinity of Atlantic 

 City, N. J., which heretofore received little 

 attention were heavily exploited in 1957. 



