constituted 21 percent or more of the catch 

 for the fourth consecutive year. Age-1 fish 

 (1959 year class) were absent from the catch 

 for the first time in 4 years. The percentage 

 of age-4 fish (27 percent) was the largest 

 since 1955, but there was a further decline 

 in the contributions by fish of ages 6 to 10. 



Excluding the catch of age-1 fish, the North 

 Carolina fall fishery was dominated by age-2 

 fish (1958 year class). While accounting for 21 

 percent of the catch, the latter age group did 

 not contribute to the fall fishery in proportion 

 to its contribution to the summer catches in 

 different areas. Contribution by age-4 fish 

 (35 million) was the highest in 6 years. The 

 catch of age-0 fish (1960 year class) was 



made almost entirely by vessels fishing out 

 of Southport, N.C., in early January. The 

 total catch of 185 million was only slightly 

 greater than in 1959 but substantially less 

 than in any of the previous 4 years. Although 

 the tonnage was less in 1960 than in 1959, 

 the number of fish was greater because of the 

 greater number of age-0 fish. 



Length Composition 



The length-frequency distributions (in per- 

 cent) of fish in samples from the summer 

 fishery and from the North Carolina fall fishery 

 are shown in figure 4 (see also appendix 

 tables 1-5). 



1 — I — I — I — r 



10 1— SOUTH ATLANTIC AREA 



_ N = 5,170 



20 \— CHESAPEAKE BAY AREA 

 15 |_ N = 10,179 



10 I— 



fa 



5 

 



10 

 5 

 



10 

 5 



-| 1 1 1 1 1 



ri '^GE-O FISH mU AGE-2 FISH 



{ I AGE-1 FISH |!;;::;:} AGE-3 FISH 



W^ AGE-4 AND OLDER FISH 



_ MIDDLE ATLANTIC AREA 

 N - 35.259 



_ NORTH ATLANTIC AREA 

 N ■= 12,400 



_ NORTH CAROLINA FALL FISHERY 

 _ N ■ 6,194 



T — r 



80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240 260 280 300 320 340 360 



Figure 4.— Length composition of samples of Atlantic menhaden from 

 purse seine catches, 1960. 



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