from a decline, from 1928 to 1933, in the 

 number of nets operated, probably because 

 of increased fishing at other points along the 

 coast, greater market competition, and the 

 discarding, during 1929-35, of large quantities 

 of fish that in previous years would have been 

 marketable. 



is not in operation at that part of the coast. 

 Since 1930, however, there has undoubtedly 

 been less profit from this practice because 

 the larger catches of scup along the New Jersey 

 coast throughout the summer have competed 

 seriously with pounded scup caught in Rhode 

 Island. 



Measurement of fluctuations . — To 

 measure the magnitude of changes in abun- 

 dance, in the region from New York to New 

 England, the catch per trap was computed 

 from private records of operators in the vi- 

 cinity of Fire Island and Montauk, N.Y., New- 

 port, R.I., and Woods Hole, Mass. 



At Fire Island, the catch per trap was low 

 between 1925 and 1930, rising in 1931, and 

 subsequently reaching a peak in 1933 (fig. 4). 

 The decline in 1934 and 1935 might well have 

 been the result of discarding fish because of 

 prevailing poor market conditions. 



At Montauk, at the eastern tip of Long 

 Island, the catch of scup is relatively small 

 compared to the rest of the coast, and hence 

 the fluctuations are not considered significant 

 in the statistical analysis of the catch. 



At Newport, the trend of catch has been 

 similar to that of the ocean traps off Fire 

 Island. Large catches were made in both 

 places from 1931 to 1935 inclusive. The pic- 

 ture of fluctuations in catch per trap at New- 

 port is, however, not the true picture of actual 

 catches. Because of the practice of "pounding", 

 a difference exists between the reported land- 

 ings and the actual catches at sea. 



"Pounding" consists of putting a large pound 

 or square bag at the head of each trap and 

 slowly running the trapped scup over the cork 

 lines into it when the net is hauled. These 

 pounds have a capacity of 400 to 500 barrels 

 (approximately 200 pounds of live fish per 

 barrel) and, when filled, are towed to some 

 sheltered cove or inlet along the nearby 

 shore and anchored. Hundreds of barrels of 

 scup can be pounded each year. When the 

 main scup runs have passed and the market 

 recovers to fair prices, shipments are made 

 from these pounds throughout the summer 

 when the commercial fishery for the region 



Pounding results in reported catches being 

 more a record of shipments than of amounts 

 actually caught. No complete records are 

 available of the amounts pounded. In addition, 

 the lack of sufficiently reliable data on the 

 changes in amount of gear makes it prac- 

 tically impossible to obtain any accurate 

 measure of changes in abundance or in avail- 

 ability on a catch per trap basis. However, 

 since the trend of the Newport catches follows, 

 in general, that of the Fire Island catches 

 where pounding is not practiced and a fairly 

 accurate record of the change in gear is avail- 

 able, it is probable that the catch of the 

 Newport traps indicates, in a general way, 

 the trend of the major fluctuations in the 

 stock present at that part of the coast. 



At Woods Hole, the northern end of the 

 range and comparatively near to Newport, 

 the trend, as indicated by the catch per trap, 

 is markedly different from that of either 

 Newport or Fire Island or points along the 

 New Jersey coast. In recent years the trend 

 of the catch per trap has been downward, 

 while at most other localities along the coast, 

 it has been upward (fig. 4). 



Causes of changes in yield . — To de- 

 termine whether changes in the catch per trap 

 data in New York and southern New England 

 areas are due to changes in availability or to 

 changes in abundance, it is necessary to con- 

 sider carefully the habits of the scup along this 

 particular part of the coast. As previously 

 stated, scup occur in the general region from 

 Fire Island to Woods Hole in the greatest 

 commercial quantities during 8 to 10 weeks 

 in the spring (end of April to end of June), 

 when large schools of spawning fish make 

 their appearance in the close inshore waters, 

 particularly along the Rhode Island coast. 

 During this period, the trap catches are large, 

 but after the main spawning season, the 

 catches decline sharply until the fishermen 



27 



