AGE AND SIZE COMPOSITION OF THE 



1960 MENHADEN CATCH ALONG 



THE U.S. ATLANTIC COAST 



WITH A BRIEF REVIEW OF THE 

 COMMERCIAL FISHERY 



by 



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



Fishery Research Biologists 



Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 



U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 



Beaufort, North Carolina 



ABSTRACT 



The 1960 purse seine catch of Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus, was the 

 second smallest since 1955, In the summer fishery, 501,000 tons were landed; in 

 the North Carolina fall fishery, 68,000 tons. The total estimated number of purse 

 seine sets was 27,052 and the mean catch per set 21 tons, as compared with a mean 

 of 28,810 sets and 23 tons persetfor the period 1955-59. There were fewer vessels 

 than in 1959 in all areas except the Middle Atlantic Area. 



The catch was dominated by age-2 fish of the 1958 year class. This age group 

 accounted for 69 percent of the catch in the South Atlantic Area, 82 percent in the 

 Chesapeake Bay Area, 95 percent in the Middle Atlantic Area, 45 percent in the 

 North Atlantic Area, and 21 percent in the North Carolina fall fishery. Mean length 

 and weight of age-2 fish were less than in the previous 5 years. 



INTRODUCTION 



This is the sixth report of a series sum- 

 marizing the annual catch-sampling data col- 

 lected by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries 

 as part of a continuing investigation of the 

 Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus. This 

 report summarizes the 1960 purse seine 

 fishery, and includes measures of the total 

 catch and the distribution of fishing activity 

 as well as summary data on the number, age. 



length, weight, and sex of Atlantic menhaden 

 caught in the purse seine fishery. As in pre- 

 vious reports, the review of the "summer" 

 fishery is referred to four geographical areas 

 (fig. 1), while the North Carolina fall fishery 

 is treated separately. 



THE 1960 PURSE SEINE FISHERY 



The 1960 purse seine catch was next to the 

 smallest since 1955 in both the summer 



