began fishing in the vicinity of Portland, 

 Maine. All vessels from Gloucester, Point 

 Judith, and Portland were small-to-medium- 

 sized otter trawlers that had been outfitted for 

 purse seining during the summer months. 



The Amagansett fleet operated off Southern 

 Long Island during June and July. Foggy 

 weather restricted fishing during the latter 

 part of June, and catches were small. Weather 

 during July, however, was fair, and excellent 

 catches were made. When the schools disap- 

 peared from this locality in late July, the fleet 

 shifted to Nantucket Sound. Fish were reported 

 scattered and difficult to capture in this lo- 

 cality, and catches were small. During the 

 second week in August, schools began con- 

 centrating in Block Island Sound. The largest 

 landings of the season were made in this 

 locality during the remainder of the month 

 by the Amagansett and Point Judith fleets. 

 Schools became scattered again during Sep- 

 tember, and vessels scouted from Cape Cod 

 to eastern Long Island Sound. In early October, 

 the fleet concentrated in the waters off eastern 

 Long Island where fishing continued until 

 October 21. 



Early-season landings in Narragansett Bay 

 by the Point Judith fleet were relatively light. 

 The largest landings of the season were made 

 in July. In mid-August, the fleet shifted to 

 Block Island Sound where good catches were 

 made through the end of the month. Following 

 the disappearance of schools in this locality, 

 the fleet returned to Narragansett Bay where 

 fishing continued until October 5. 



The Gloucester fleet began fishing at the 

 eastern end of Cape Cod, but landings were 

 small, and the fleet shifted to Massachusetts 

 Bay during the first week. Adverse weather 

 restricted fishing during July. In August, the 

 weather improved, schools became more 

 abundant, and catches increased in both Nan- 

 tucket Sound and Massachusetts Bay. In late 

 July, the vessels moved Into Nantucket Sound, 

 where fishing was concentrated through the 

 first 3 weeks in August. During the last week 

 in August, fishing shifted to Boston Bay, but 

 the schools disappeared during the following 

 week, and the vessels returned to Nantucket 

 Sound where they continued fishing for the 

 remainder of the season. With the exception 



of the first week of September, landings were 

 small during the remainder of the season, and 

 termination of fishing by most of the vessels 

 occurred on September 19. A single vessel, 

 however, continued to make occasional land- 

 ings until October 17. 



Schools were reported scarce in Maine 

 waters during the entire season. Only four 

 purse seine landings were recorded, three in 

 July and one in August. 



The purse seine catch in the North Atlantic 

 Area was 64,000 tons. This was an increase 

 of 29,000 tons over 1958. The greatest share 

 of the catch was made in August (30 percent), 

 followed by July (27 percent), September (24 

 percent), June (13 percent), October (5 per- 

 cent), and May (1 percent). The mean catch 

 per set was 24 tons, 3 less than the 5-year 

 average. 



North Carolina Fall Fishery 



The North Carolina fall fishery commenced 

 on November 12. Through November 20, fishing 

 was intense between Drum and Ocracoke Inlets, 

 but catches were small because of adverse 

 weather. Following a 6-day tie up, 62 vessels 

 resumed fishing on November 26 and continued 

 to November 30, by which time the fish had 

 moved to between Beaufort Inlet and New 

 River Inlet. After the disappearance of the fish 

 off New River Inlet on November 30, another 

 large school appeared off Hatteras Shoals on 

 December 2. Fishing was productive for 2 days 

 and then was curtailed because of adverse 

 weather through December 8. On December 9, 

 large concentrations of fish were located be- 

 tween Beaufort and Wrightsville Beach. Ex- 

 cellent landings continued to be made from 

 these large schools until they disappeared off 

 New River Inlet on December 18. 



The season ended on January 11 when the 

 last landing was made off Beaufort Inlet. Over 

 91,000 tons were landed during the fall fishery. 

 The mean catch per set was 21 tons. 



DISTRIBUTION OF PURSE 

 SEINE SETS 



The calculated numbers of purse seine sets 

 within 10-minute unit areas are shown in 

 figure 2. Fishing occurred from the northern 



