The number of boats in the Indian 

 River fleet decreased from 101 in 1953 

 to 92 in 1954 and 95 in 1955.' Also fewer 

 trips were reported, while the estimated 

 number of fishermen showed a slight in- 

 crease due to a revised estimate of the 

 average number of fishermen per trip. 

 The total number of fish caught and the 

 number of fish per man-hour also declined. 

 Using average weights obtained from the 

 Ocean City, Md. charter-boat fishery (table 

 20), the estinnated total production for the 

 Indian River party -boat fleet was 1.5 million 

 pounds, with 3.5 pounds of fish caught per 

 man-hour. This value is lower than the 

 5.8 pounds calculated for the Ocean City, 

 Md. fishery (table 19). This difference 

 probably resulted from the greater average 

 number of hours spent fishing per trip 

 (10.3 hours for Indian River party boats 

 and 5.4 hours for Ocean City charter 

 boats). No further comparisons can be 

 made bet\veen the tv^o fleets since fishing 

 methods, grounds, and species taken are 

 substantially different. 



Table 18. — Species composition, Indian 



River, Delaware, ocean party-boat 



fishery 



MARYLAND 



Species composition of the Indian River 

 party-boat catch is shown in table 18. 

 Fishing grounds used by the Indian River 

 fleet have remained the same as described 

 in the previous report (June and Reintjes 

 1957). 



No survey of the sport surf fishery was 

 conducted during the period. 



' Four year's study of sport fisheries m Delaware. Anonymous, 

 Marine Laboratory, Universir\' of Delaware, Newark, Del., 

 Report Dingell- Johnson project f 19.5fi), 18 pp. (mimeo.). 



The only ocean sport-fishing fleet in 

 Maryland is located at Ocean City. This 

 fleet is composed principally of charter 

 boats which operate in the inshore and off- 

 shore waters from May to October, with 

 only occasional trips outside the season. 

 There also are several party or head boats 

 which fish principally for sea bass and 

 porgy on shoals near sunken wrecks. 



Boats in the charter fleet engage in 

 three diverse fisheries during the season: 



Table 19. — Summary data. Ocean City, l>4aryland, charter-boat 



fishery 



14 



