Table 20. — Species composition, Ocean City, 

 Maryland, charter-boat fishery 



Table 21. — White marlin landings, 

 Ocean City, Maryland 



Species 



Percentage of catch 

 by weight 



1954 



1955 



Average 



weight 



in pounds 



1.2 

 53.8 

 15.2 

 6.3 

 1.8 

 3.4 



1.2 



14.6 



2.4 



8.0 

 4.0 

 4.0 

 4.5 

 5.0 

 0.8 

 1.0 

 1.0 

 55.9 



(l) hand-line fishing for porgy, sea bass, 

 and weakfish in the inshore waters near 

 shoals and wrecks, (2) troll-line fishing 

 for bluefish and other pelagic species from 

 2 to 20 miles offshore, and (3) troll-line 

 fishing for white marlin from near-shore 

 to over 50 miles offshore. Oftentimes troll- 

 ing for white marlin and bluefish will be 

 conducted during the same trip, usually after 

 several hours of unsuccessful fishing for 

 shore species. 



Sunnmary data for the charter -boat 

 fishery are presented in table !?• Except 

 for the increased number of boats, relatively 

 little change has occurred in the fishery. 

 The marked decline in the number of trips 

 and resulting catches in 1955 apparently was 

 due to the tropical cyclones which threatened 

 that locality during August and September. 

 Other than a record of the number of boats 

 and trips, no data were available for the 

 1956-57 seasons. 



Species composition of the catch, given 

 in table 20, shows that bluefish and white 

 marlin dominated the fishery in 1954 and 

 1955, with the frequent occurrence of bonito 

 and dolphin in 1955. Landings of white marlin 

 for 1954-57 are given in table 21. 



Waters fished by the Ocean City fleet 

 extend from Fenwick Island Light to Winter 

 Quarter Lightship and to a distance of 50 

 miles offshore in a southeasterly direction 

 from Ocean City Inlet. It was noted that, in 



Year 



1954 



1955 



1956 



1957 



Number 

 of fish 



1,023 520 1,616 1,062 



recent years, charter-boat fishing for white 

 marlin has been conducted at greater dis- 

 tances from shore as vessels with improved 

 cruising speed and range entered the fish- 

 ery. 



CONCLUSIONS 



The survey area lies in the geographical 

 center of the Middle Atlantic Bight, a region 

 characterized by numerous estuaries emp- 

 tying huge quantities of nutrients onto a wide 

 Continental Shelf. It supports large popula- 

 tions of resident species and seasonal 

 concentrations of migratory fishes. Pro- 

 duction of finfish and shellfish in the area 

 appears to be the highest per unit area in 

 the Western Hemisphere. Despite the pres- 

 ent high yields of the established fisheries, 

 the fishery resources of the area appear 

 to be underexploited and underutilized for 

 the following reasons: (l) many of the spe- 

 cies reported from the area are not cap- 

 tured in any quantity by fishing methods 

 now in use, (2) so-called "trash" species 

 are discarded at sea because of no available 

 utilization for food or industrial products, 

 (3) during seasonal abundance of some spe- 

 cies, viz., porgy, squid, sea herring, whit- 

 ing, and red hake, fishing is curtailed, and 

 catches are limited due to little or no 

 market demand. 



The fishery resources of the area fall 

 into four loosely associated groups, viz ., 

 (1) resident benthic, (2) sedentary benthic, 

 (3) migratory coastal, and (4) migratory 

 pelagic (Rounsefell andEverhart, 1953). The 

 resident benthic species, which include 

 fluke, sea bass, butter fish, and porgy, are 

 exploited throughout the year by one or more 

 of the following gears: otter trawl, pot, 

 pound net, and hand line. Of these species, 

 only sea bass appears to be exploited at a 

 level approaching maximum. The sedentary 

 benthic species include the surf clam and 



15 



