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AGE 



I95« 1957 r95e 1955 1954 1953 1952 1951 1950 1949 I94« 

 YEAR CLASS 



Figure 5.- Age composition of purse seine catches of 

 Atlantic menhaden, 1958. 



by a single year class at age 1 during the past 

 4 summer seasons. For the second successive 

 season, fish of the 1956 year class (age 2) 

 continued to be numerous in the catch, and for 

 the third consecutive season, the 1955 year 

 class (age 3) also made a substantial showing. 

 No fish beyond age 4 occurred in the samples. 



In Chesapeake Bay, age-2 fish (1956 year 

 class) accounted for more than half the catch 

 with a contribution of more than 500 million 

 fish. This was the largest contribution of age-2 

 fish during the past 4 seasons and the second 

 season in succession that the 1956 year class 

 provided the bulk of the catch. In 1957, at 

 age 1, it furnished more than four-fifths of the 

 bay catch, and its contribution was nearly 

 double that of either of the previous two year 

 classes at the same age. Age-1 fish(1957year 

 class) ranked second in importance and also 

 furnished approximately 500 million fish (46 

 percent of the catch). The 1955 year class 



(age 3) also made a notable contribution to the 

 catch. 



The catch in the Middle Atlantic Area was 

 dominated by age-2 fish (1956 year class) 

 which accounted for 95 percent of the total. 

 Age-1 fish (1957 year class) furnished only 2.5 

 percent of the catch, and fish of age 3 and 

 older ages were represented in considerably 

 fewer numbers in 1958. The number of fish 

 caught was less than 1 billion (894 million) 

 for the first time since 1952. 



The catch in the North Atlantic Area was 

 dominated by age-2 fish (1956 year class), 

 but they were only about half as numerous as 

 the 1955 year class at age 2 in 1957. For the 

 second Successive season, age-1 fish also ap- 

 peared in the catches; however, they accounted 

 for less than 1 percent of the total. Compared 

 with the previous season, there was a greater 

 proportion of age- 3 fish in the catch, but there 

 was a noticeable reduction in the contributions 

 by all older age groups. 



In the North Carolina fall fishery, age-0 

 fish (1958 year class) were most numerous 

 (38 percent of the catch), followed by age-2 

 fish (36 percent). This was the greatest con- 

 tribution to the catch of age-2 fish in the past 

 4 seasons. Contributions of all other age 

 groups, except age 7 (1951 year class), were 

 below average. 



Length Composition 



Length-frequency distributions of fish in 

 samples from the summer purse seine catches 

 in each area and from the fall catch off 

 North Carolina are shown in figure 6 and listed 

 in appendix tables 1-5. 



In the South Atlantic Area, fish ranged from 

 90 to 250 mm. in fork length, and two promi- 

 nent peaks were evident in the length-frequency 

 curve. The length distribution of age- 1 lish 

 showed a primary peak at 172 mm., while 

 that of age-2 fish had a distinct mode at 192 

 mm. The spread in lengths was greater for 

 age-1 fish than for age-2 fish, and beyond 

 150 mm., there was a complete overlap in the 

 length distributions of the two age groups. 



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