prepared to encircle the fish, the two purse 

 boats are separated and headed in opposite 

 directions, both boats paying out the seine until 

 the circle is completed. At that point, pursing 

 commences using the torn weight. The torn is 

 heaved overboard and rides down the purse line 

 closing off the bottom of the net while the men 

 in each boat haul the ends of the net aboard. 

 The wings of the net are gradually "webbed in" 

 and the 'fish confined to the center of the net, 

 called the bunt . When the net is sufficiently 

 "dried up", the vessel comes alongside the 

 purse boats, and the catch is bailed into the 

 hold of the fishing vessel by means of either a 

 huge dip net or a suction hose. An average set 

 of the net yields about 20 tons of fish, although 

 sets yielding nearly 170 tons have been made. 

 Detailed descriptions of fishing vessels, gear, 

 methods, and the development of the fishery 

 may be found in Lee (1952 and 1953); Harrison 

 (1931); Greer (1917); Miles and Simmons (1950); 

 and others . 



Fishing Grounds 



For the purposes of this study, the area 

 chosen for consideration includes the coastal 

 waters of New Jersey, Delaware, and Maryland, 

 between Barnegat Lightship and Winter Quarter 

 Lightship. The data presented here are precise 

 plotting of location and relative importance of 

 the grounds fished by the purse seine fleet oper- 

 ating from menhaden-processing plants located 

 within these arbitrary boundaries. Occasionally, 

 vessels operating from plants located outside 

 the area fish on the same grounds, and similar- 

 ly, local vessels extend their operations into 

 waters outside the general area. The amount of 

 interchange between the fleets varies from year 

 to year, depending upon the availability of fish . 

 Fishing effort expended by the resident purse 

 seine fleet outside the survey area amounted to 

 approximately 8 percent in 1952 , while in 1953 

 it was 21 percent. 



In summarizing the data for each season, 

 the amount of fishing effort (number of sets) ex- 

 pended by the purse seine vessels within a given 

 subarea, defined as a unit area bounded by 10 

 minutes of latitude and 10 minutes of longitude, 

 was determined and expressed in percentage of 

 the total number of sets made. Figures 2 and 3 

 show the areas of heavy (greater than 4.0 per- 



cent), moderate (2.0 to 3.9 percent), and light 

 (0.1 to 1.9 percent) fishing. 



It is apparent that the grounds of great- 

 est importance to the middle Atlantic menhaden 

 purse seine fishery lie roughly within the 10 

 fathom contour, between Barnegat Inlet, New 

 Jersey, and Ocean City, Maryland. Of the total 

 fishing effort represented, 90.6 percent was 

 spent on these grounds in 1952 and 72.6 percent 

 in 1953 . 



Although the distribution of effort shows 

 remarkable similarity for the two seasons, there 

 was somewhat less fishing inside Delaware Bay 

 in 1953 (1.6 percent) than in 1952 (10.6 percent). 

 Fishing extended farther offshore in 1953 (up to 

 35 miles), especially in the waters north of Dela- 

 ware Bay. Areas south of Ocean City, Maryland, 

 are of little importance to the middle Atlantic 

 purse seine fleet. 



Catch 



Apart from annual fluctuations in total 

 catch, the general trend is upwards over the 15- 

 year period, 1939-1953, within the area con- 

 sidered (fig. 4). This may be explained, partly 

 at least, by the expansion and development of 

 the fish meal industry following the outbreak of 

 World War II. The increased demand for high- 

 protein meal for animal rations, together with 

 favorable marketing conditions, have stimulated 

 expansion of the fishery. Doubtless the decline 

 of the sardine and herring fisheries of the Pacific 

 coast during this period also had favorable effects 

 on the menhaden industry. Between 1939 and 1953, 

 the total catch exceeded 120, 000 tons in 9 years, 

 150,000 tons in 3 years, and 300,000 tones in 1 

 year. The largest catch was recorded in 1953 

 when 311,000 tons of fish were landed. 



Compilation and Analysis of Data 



In calculating a measure of abundance, 

 comparisons were made of the catch of a group 

 of vessels in one year with the catch of the same 

 group in the adjacent years. This method of 

 "linkage" is similar to one often used by econom- 

 ists in expressing changes in commodity prices, 

 and descriptions may be found in Croxton and 

 Cowden (1953). Summary data on vessels and 

 catch are given in table I . 



