offshore shoals and banks less than 10 fathoms 

 in depth . The areas off Barnegat, Brigantine, 

 Sea Isle City, and in the vicinity of Five Fath- 

 om Bank are most heavily fished. 



Catch 



The purse seine fishery for mackerel 

 has been characterized by violent fluctuations 

 during the past 30 years. In 1949, over 16 

 million pounds of this species were landed in 

 New Jersey ports by a large fleet of New Eng- 

 land seiners (see fig. 23). The following year 



the most important species, accounting for 

 about 87 percent of the catch for the 7 -year 

 period. Weakfish constituted about 11 percent 

 of the yield. Annual production averaged 

 roughly 2.2 million pounds. Other species in- 

 cluded bluefish, croaker, striped bass, men- 

 haden, butterfish, and sea bass. Fishing 

 commences in May and continues through late 

 October or early November (see fig. 25). 



YEARS 

 Figure 24. --Purse seine foodfish landings 



(exclusive of mackerel), i°47-1953 



Figure 23. --Purse seine landings of macker- 

 el, 1944-1953 



a sizable fleet returned to southern New Jersey 

 waters, but production totalled only 250,000 

 pounds. Since then, only one or two seiners 

 have visited the area, landing only a few thou- 

 sand pounds each season . Detailed catch data 

 respecting the mackerel purse seine fishery 

 were not available. Partial dock records for 

 the period 1947 through 1953 indicate that near- 

 ly the entire New Jersey catch -was made during 

 the month of April. 



Foodfish landings, exclusive of macker- 

 el, by the southern New Jersey purse seine 

 fleet for the 7-year period 1947 through 1953 

 are shown in table 9, and figure 24 . Porgy was 



20.0- 



15.0 



UJ 



o 

 cr 



UJ 

 0. 



10.0- 



Figure 25. 



M J J 



MONTH 



-Purse seine landings, in monthly 

 percentages, 1947-1953 



34 



