Lobster Landings 



SCALLOP FISHERY 



Several vessels of the offshore fleet 

 trawl for the northern lobster along the edge of 

 the continental shelf from May through Septem - 

 ber. Monthly landings during recent summers 

 average roughly 40,000 pounds. The catch is 

 marketed in the coastal cities and resort areas 

 in the middle Atlantic region . Market demands 

 in these localities control production. 



Lobster landings have contributed be- 

 tween 37,000 and 256,000 pounds a year to the 

 otter trawl catch during the period 1947 through 

 1953 (fig. 17). Nearly all lobster landed during 

 1947, 1948, and 1949 were taken incidental to 

 the fishery for foodfish . During 1950, 1951, 

 and 1952, however, certain vessels trawled ex- 

 clusively for this species during the summer 

 months, contributing approximately 60 percent 

 of the annual catch and, in 1953, more than 85 

 percent of the annual lobster landings came 

 from these vessels. 



Fishing grounds for lobster are in 80 

 to 120 fathoms of water where the bottom is 

 very rough. 



No detailed catch data are available for 

 this fishery. 



During the summer months some vessels 

 from the offshore otter trawl fleet convert to 

 scallop dredging within the survey area . While 

 the catch is small, it is relatively important 

 because of the high value of scallops . Landings 

 of scallop meats at southern New Jersey ports 

 in 1953 amounted to 293,000 pounds, with an es- 

 timated value of $146,500 to the fishermen. 

 The bulk of the catch is landed from June to 

 November, a period when otter trawling on the 

 offshore grounds is relatively unproductive. 



A description of gear and methods of 

 fishing may be found in Royce (1947) . 



The principal grounds fished by the scal- 

 lop fleet landing in southern New Jersey lie in 

 the vicinity of the Hudson Canyon, off Barnegat, 

 New Jersey, in 30 to 50 fathoms of water. 



Estimated annual landings of scallops at 

 southern New Jersey ports for the 7 -year period, 

 1947 through 1953, are shown in figure 18. The 

 bulk of the catch was landed by three to five ves- 

 sels, operating regularly out of Atlantic City, 

 Wildwood, and Cape May, New Jersey. The re- 

 mainder of the catch was contributed by incidental 

 landings of vessels usually landing at southern 

 New England and Virginia ports . 



No calculation of indices of abundance 

 was made for this fishery due to the few vessels 

 landing regularly in the area . 



1952 1953 



Figure 17. --Lobster landings, otter trawl 

 fishery, 1947-1953 



Figure 18. --Scallop fishery, estimated landings, 

 1947-1953 



26 



