smaller party or head boats. A summary an- 

 alysis of the fishery for 1952 and 1953 is pre- 

 sented in table 24 . It may be seen that there 

 was little apparent change in the fishery over 

 the 2 -year period. Smaller parties and a 

 slightly greater catch per fisherman were in- 

 dicated in 1953. As shown in table 25, blue- 

 fish and bonito dominated the catch in 1953. 

 The larger percentage of weakfish in 1952 in- 

 dicates that a large number of catches from 

 Delaware Bay were represented among the 

 sample data. Results of the survey were tabu- 

 lated by landing port rather than by origin of 

 catch . 



Table 24. --Summary analysis, southern 



New Jersey charter boat fishery, 

 1952-1953 



1952 



1953 



Number of charter boats 

 Average number of fisher- 

 men per trip 

 Number of fishermen 



interviewed 

 Number of fish caught 

 Number of fish per man 



18 16 



6.5 4.5 



114 163 



920 1,752 



8.1 10.7 



to show the comparative abundance of the six 

 principal species in 1952 and 1953. Only those 

 catches consisting of two -thirds or more of a 

 single species were used. It may be seen that 

 small fluctuations occurred among five of the 

 species. Most noteworthy, however, is the 

 complete disappearance of mackerel from the 

 catches in 1953. 



Incomplete interview data for the area 

 indicated that surf fishing in 1952 produced 551 

 fish for 1,024 fishermen, or 0.54 fish per man. 

 In 1953, 362 fishermen landed 360 fish or 0.99 

 fish per man. The percentage composition of 

 the catches is shown in table 27. No explana- 

 tion is offered for the shift in importance of the 

 various species. 



Party and charter boat fishing grounds 

 extend along the entire southern New Jersey 

 coast, but usually are confined to less than 25 

 miles from land. The areas in the immediate 

 vicinity of the principal ports are most heavily 

 fished (see fig. 37). 



Surf fishing occurs along all ocean beaches 

 within the area . 



CONCLUSIONS 



Table 25. --Species composition in numbers 

 of fish, southern New Jersey 

 charter boat fishery, 1952-1953 



Combined data from the party and 

 charter boat fisheries are presented in table 26 



1 . A survey of the ocean fisheries being 

 prosecuted in the region lying between Barnegat 

 and Winter Quarter lightships indicated that 



this is one of the most productive coastal regions 

 in North America. In 1953, total estimated 

 landings of fish and shellfish amounted to 662 . 1 

 million pounds, with an estimated ex-vessel 

 value of $11.5 million . 



2 . Menhaden, otter trawl, and surf clam 

 fisheries account for 98 percent of total annual 

 production. Miscellaneous minor fisheries in- 

 clude purse seine for foodfish, pot, pound net, 

 drift gill net, trawl line, hand line, troll line, 

 scallop, lobster, and sport. Of these, drift 

 gill net, pound net, trawl line, hand line, and 

 troll line fisheries have become of decreasing 

 importance in recent years. 



3. Menhaden is the major fishery in the 

 region, producing over 622 million pounds, or 

 94 percent of the total catch, in 1953, the largest 



51 



