TABLE 9. --Mean weight (grams) of Atlantic menhaden at each age in samples from purse seine 



catches, by area and season, 1955-58 



[Most numerous age group underscored] 



Season, area and year 



Age group 



10 



Weighted 

 mean 



SUMMER FISHERY 



South Atlantic : 



1955 



1956 



1957 



1958 



Chesapeake Bay: 



1955 



1956 



1957 



1958 



Middle Atlantic: 



1955 



1956 



1957 



1958 



North Atlantic : 



1955 



1956 



1957 



1958 



FALL FISHERY 



North Carolina: 



1955 



1956 



1957 



1958 



35 



32 



^0 



60 



68 

 28 



31 

 28 

 35 

 26 



82 

 67 

 83 

 8A, 



1-12 



118 



97 



119 



225 

 206 

 W9 

 183 



190 



181 



166 



116 



94 



155 



125 



134 

 117 

 120 



222 

 196 

 171 

 162 



317 

 305 

 257 

 260 



401 

 395 

 352 

 317 



356 

 346 

 452 

 360 



155 

 176 

 190 

 143 



262 

 388 

 181 

 214 



404 

 448 

 429 

 319 



426 

 444 

 471 

 493 



460 

 516 

 540 

 573 



157 

 217 



224 



157 



278 



235 



257 

 469 



457 

 522 

 589 

 506 



494 

 521 

 566 

 588 



566 



563 

 606 

 668 



327 

 480 



505 

 582 

 608 

 578 



589 

 565 

 607 

 661 



648 

 582 

 636 

 722 



596 

 629 



621 

 617 



641 

 615 

 638 

 693 



690 

 642 

 646 



741 



7L2 

 643 

 535 



691 

 658 

 660 



711 



643 

 664 

 756 



543 

 688 

 630 



732 

 725 

 706 

 833 



806 

 784 



634 



760 

 766 

 612 



774 



98 



69 



102 



96 



185 

 125 

 108 

 142 



385 

 359 

 270 

 262 



514 

 522 



497 

 448 



256 

 373 

 450 

 344 



a large portion of the North Carolina fall catch. 

 The data for 1958 reflected the dominance of 

 age-2 fish (1956 year class) and the abrupt 

 decline of older age groups in the North At- 

 lantic Area. This also was the first season on 

 record in which the older age groups failed to 

 congregate in large schools off the coast of 

 southern Long Island in September and October 

 (p. 5). 



The conclusion drawn from these data is that 

 when the schools disappeared from the summer 

 fishing grounds north of Cape Hatteras, some 

 portion (if not all) of the various stocks 

 migrated southward and, in doing so, passed 

 along the North Carolina coast and provided the 

 basis for the fall fishery off Beaufort in 

 November and December. Because of adverse 

 weather and selective fishing by the fleet, 

 portions of the migrating stocks, particularly 

 the smaller fish in the younger age groups. 



may not have been represented in the North 

 Carolina fall catsches in proportion to their 

 abundance on the fishing grounds (June and 

 Reintjes, 1959 and 1960; June, 1961). 



Further evidence in support of a southward 

 migration in autumn, followed by a return 

 northward migration, is based on a comparison 

 of length frequencies of the major year classes 

 caught at the beginning of the summer fishery 

 (April 1 - June 15) in the different areas 

 (lower five panels of fig. 9 and table 11) with 

 those caught in the North Carolina fishery in 

 the previous fall (table 10). Data for the 

 beginning of the 1959 summer fishery were 

 included for comparative purposes. 



The most striking features of these curves 

 are (1) the heterogeneity of the length-age 

 curves in the different areas, (2) the absence 

 at the beginning of the summer fishery in the 



18 



