AGE AND SIZE COMPOSITION OF THE MENHADEN 



CATCH ALONG THE ATLANTIC COAST OF 

 THE UNITED STATES, 1959 



WITH A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE COMMERCIAL FISHERY 



by 



William R. Nicholson and Joseph R. Highann, Jr. 



Fishery Research Biologists 



Bureau of Comnnercial Fisheries 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Beaufort, North Carolina 



ABSTRACT 



There were 705,000 tons of Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) caught dur- 

 ing the 1959 purse seine fishery with 614,000 tons taken during the summer fish- 

 ery and 91,000 tons during the North Carolina fall fishery. This was the second 

 largest catch in the period 1955-59. The number of purse seine sets (33,099) also 

 reached a record in the same 5-year period. The mean catch per set (21 tons) 

 was the same as in 1958, when the smallest catch (551,000 tons) in 5 years was 

 taken. 



The near-record catch was primarily the result of two exceptionally large year 

 classes. The 1958 year class (age-1 fish) constituted 91 percent of the catch in the 

 South Atlantic Area, 90 percent in the Chesapeake Bay Area, and 58 percent in the 

 Middle Atlantic Area. The 1956 year class accounted for 58 percent of the catch in 

 the North Atlantic Area and 58 percent in the North Carolina fall fishery. Mean length 

 and weight of age-1 fish in all areas was the smallest in 5 years. Summer catches 

 in all areas comprised fish which, on the average, were smaller than in previous 

 years. Catches in the North Carolina fall fishery comprised fish that were larger 

 than in previous years, the increase being due primarily to the absence of age-0 fish 

 in the catches. 



INTRODUCTION 



Purse seine catches of Atlantic menhaden 

 (Brevoortia tyrannus) have been sampled each 

 year since 1955 as part of the biological in- 

 vestigations being conducted by the Bureau of 

 Commercial Fisheries. Sampling was designed 

 to measure age, size, and sex composition to 

 determine if changes in catch were related to 



changes in fishing effort or fish abundance 

 (June and Reintjes, 1959). 



This report, the fifth of a series, reviews 

 the 1959 purse seine fishery and summarizes 

 the catch-sampling data. As in previous re- 

 ports, the summer fishery is reviewed and 

 summarized by four geographical areas (fig. 

 1), while the North Carolina fall fishery is 



