used to calculate the number and location of 

 purse seine sets in five fishing seasons, 

 1955-59*. A description of the logbook used 

 aboard the vessel to record catch information 

 was given by June and Reintjes (1959). The 

 number of sets, the location of each set in a 



unit area of 10 minutes of latitude and 10 

 minutes of longitude (fig. 2), and an estimate 

 of the quantity of fish caught in each set were 

 recorded for each day's fishing by vessel 

 captains or pilots. Over 500 logbooks, listing 

 catch information on more than 80,000 sets. 



Figure 2.- -Example of one of the reference charts used in the location of 

 Atlantic Menhaden purse seine catches. 



were made available for analysis. Additional 

 data were obtained from interviews with crew 

 members of vessels on which logbooks were 

 not kept. It was assumed that (1) each purse 

 seine set recorded in the logbooks was made 

 on a single school of Atlantic menhaden and 



' Since purse seine fishing usually is continuous from 

 April through January of the following calendar year, 

 this period is referred to in this report as the annual 

 fishing season. 



(2) successful and unsuccessful sets were 

 recorded indiscriminately. The total number 

 of vessel landings given in reduction plant 

 records, the corresponding number of vessel 

 landings for which catch information was ob- 

 tained, and the percent coverage for each 

 fishing season are listed in table 1. 



The number of sets recorded in logbooks of 

 vessels operating from an individual plant was 

 tabulated by unit areas, and by month and 



