In earlier times scup were caught In the 

 greatest quantities In southern New England, 

 especially In Rhode Island. Recently the species 

 has become increasingly important in the 

 southern part of its range. This has resulted 

 principally from a remarkable rise in the 

 summer fishery catch of New Jersey in 1929. 

 This increase has been sustained to the present 

 (1935). A further development in recent years 

 has been the discovery of scup in sufficient 

 concentration in the winter to support an 

 increasingly important fishery (Pearson, 1932), 

 Although for many years there had been 



much speculation about the winter habitat 

 of the species (Lyman, 1872; Blgelow and 

 Welsh, 1925), it was not undl the winter of 

 1928 that large quantities of scup were lo- 

 cated in the general offshore region from 

 the offing of Cape Hatteras, N.C., northward 

 to the offing of Cape May, N.J. 



In addition to their Importance in the com- 

 mercial summer fishery, scup have contributed 

 much to the catch of the large and increasing 

 numbers of anglers from New Jersey to 

 southern Massachusetts. 



DESCRIPTION OF THE FISHERIES 



The existence of distinct summer and 

 winter fisheries for scup along the Atlantic 

 coast is a natural consequence of seasonal 

 changes in water temperatures. Both fish- 

 eries occur within the Middle Atlantic Bight, 

 or that part of the Atlantic Ocean within 

 the 100-fathom curve extending from Cape 

 Hatteras to Cape Cod (fig. 2). This region 

 of the Continental Slope is inhabited by 

 populations of fish including scup, whose 

 movements are affected by changes in water 

 temperatures. The most significant move- 

 ments are the migrations of fish to and 

 from the inshore coastal waters in the 

 spring and autumn. Those migrations occur 

 simultaneously with seasonal changes in 

 water temperature throughout this region. 



In the winter, the inshore waters out 

 to about 20 fathoms are too cool (2° to 3° 

 C.) to be tolerated by most of the shore- 

 fishes which at this time of the year are 

 in offshore and warmer regions (6° to 12° 

 C). At that time, the fishery is centered 

 from Cape Hatteras to the offing of Cape 

 May where large quantities of scup, sea 

 bass, and fluke are caught. Vernal warm- 

 ing commences by early March, and sur- 

 face temperatures usually reach a maxi- 

 mum throughout the area from Cape 



Hatteras to Cape Cod early in August. At 

 this time, the higher temperatures are 

 usually inshore. With this warming, the 

 shore species migrate from their winter 

 habitat to inshore waters. During the spring 

 and summer and as late as November, the 

 fishery for scup is in the inshore waters,, 

 principally from Cape May to Rhode 

 Island. Autumnal cooling begins by October, 

 and the lowest temperatures are reached 

 in March. With the decline in tempera- 

 tures in the autumn, scup begin their mi- 

 gration to offshore and southern winter 

 regions. 



The summer fishery for scup is princi- 

 pally by pound nets, floating traps, otter 

 trawls, purse seines, and handlines. 

 The winter fishery is exclusively by otter 

 trawls. 



POUND NETS 



Pound nets were first introduced on the 

 Atlantic coast about 1850 in Rhode Island, 

 and were in general use by 1873 from New 

 Jersey to southern Massachusetts (True, 1887). 



