net, about 75 percent more webbing is used 

 than the length of the cork or lead lines. 



From 10 to 50 nets are fastened together 

 and set in a continuous string. Often during 

 periods of poor fishing, from one to five nets 

 are set for the purpose of locating runs of fish. 

 Since mackerel nets are fished at night, their 

 position in the water is marked by attaching a 

 lighted buoy to every fifth net in the string. 

 Since currents and wind affect the relative 

 position of the nets and boat, a watch must be 

 kept to prevent the nets from tangling. Nets 

 nearest the vessel are lifted periodically to 

 check the catch. If the set proves unproductive 

 and time permits, the nets may be taken aboard 

 and set in a different locality, but ordinarily 

 they are not lifted until after sunrise. At the 

 time of recovery the nets containing the catch 

 are piled on deck, fish are removed and sorted 

 at the landing dock. 



Fishing Grounds 



Grounds of importance to the mackerel 

 gill net fishery lie in a continuous belt from 3 

 to 20 miles offshore in 5 to 15 fathoms of water. 

 Areas of heaviest fishing, for the most part, 

 are located in close proximity to the fishing 

 ports. Activities of the fleet, however, are de- 

 termined by the movements of the fish. In late 

 winter and early spring, the first catches usual- 

 ly are made in the vicinity of Winter Quarter 

 Lightship, off Chincoteague, Virginia, and fish- 

 ing gradually moves northward along the coast. 

 In late fall the first catches are usually made 

 in the northern part of the area. 



Catch 



Estimated landings of mackerel by the 

 drift gill net fishery within the survey area for 

 the 8 -year period, 1946 through 1953, are shown 

 in figure 32 . Annual catches during the period 

 have averaged slightly over 1.0 million pounds. 

 The poorest catch was in 1953 when less than 

 250,000 pounds were landed. It is of interest 

 to note that the gill net catch of mackerel in 

 1949 did not show the marked increase in pro- 

 duction shown by the purse seine fishery (see 

 page 34) . 



Other species commonly occurring in the 

 catches are bluefish, butterfish, red hake, sea 

 herring, menhaden, mackerel shark, weakfish, 

 and whiting. These are of little importance to 

 the fishery, however (table 12). 



I i i i i r 



j i i i_ 



1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 195 



YEARS 



Figure 32. --Drift gill net landings of mackerel 

 1946-1953 



The seasonal movements of mackerel in 

 this area of the coast vary greatly from year to 

 year creating a relatively unstable fishery. 

 Table 13 shows the catch by month in percentages 

 for the period 1946 through 1953 . Prior to the 

 1949 season the bulk of the catch was landed in 

 April and May. During the following three sea- 

 sons, however, "a winter fishery developed with 

 most of the catch being taken from December 

 through February. Whether this condition was 

 brought about by changing oceanographic con- 

 ditions, or other factors changing the habits of 

 the fish, cannot be determined. There have been 

 no apparent changes in fishing methods or mar- 

 keting conditions during this period which might 

 explain this seasonal shift. 



Because of the erratic nature of the fishery, 

 no index of abundance was calculated. 



TRAWL LINE FISHERY 



A winter fishery for cod, using trawl or 

 trot lines, formerly was an important minor 



41 



