Summary of Summer Fishery 



1. The catch of scup has been subject to 

 sharp fluctuations within a rather short period 

 of time (1922-35). Beginning with a relatively 

 high yield in 1922, the catch declined to a 

 very low point in 1928 but recovered quickly, 

 and in 1929 reached a level exceeding any 

 previous record. The catch continued to in- 

 crease each subsequent summer and reached 

 a new record high level in 1935. 



2. Total catch and catch per trap showed 

 close agreement in time and magnitude, which 

 indicates that the good catches of recent years 

 were due to increased abundance caused by 

 the successful spawning and survival of sev- 

 eral successive broods. 



3. The increase in yield in recent years 

 (1929-35), as depicted by the total catch and 

 catch per trap data, does not reflect the real 

 magnitude of the abundance of scup because 

 (1) large quantities were discarded at sea 

 and (2) fishing effort was directed to other 

 more profitable species because of the lack 

 of profitable markets for scup. 



4. The recovery of the scup fishery to a 

 high level of abundance as a result of the 

 successful survival of a brood spawned during 

 a period when the large and old fish were not 

 relatively numerous indicates that increase 

 in abundance of this species is not neces- 

 sarily dependent on the presence of a large 

 spawning reserve of old fish. 



5. The summer scup population appears 

 to be divided into two groups: (1) An inshore 

 stock composed of younger and smaller sizes 

 and exploited by pound nets and (2) an off- 

 shore stock of fish about 4 years old, ex- 

 ploited by purse seines and otter trawls. 



6. There are some indications that the 

 fishery in northern New Jersey draws on a 

 population unit separate from that of southern 

 New Jersey. The separation is not quite dis- 

 tinct, however, for broods from northern New 

 Jersey become available in the more southern 

 fishery of the State. 



7. The total catch of scup in this fishery 

 has not shown as marked an increase since 

 1929 as has the New Jersey fishery. On the 

 basis of catch per trap, both fisheries have 

 experienced increases of about the same 

 magnitude since 1931. This failed to be re- 

 flected in the total catch of New York-Rhode 

 Island because depressed economic and market 

 conditions caused a decrease in number of 

 pound nets and traps. 



8. The increase in catch per trap reflects 

 increased abundance. 



9. This increase has been the result of the 

 appearance of large numbers of scup of the 

 same age groups that were dominant in the 

 preceding 2 years along the New Jersey 

 coast, but the dominance of these broods 

 was less marked in the New York-Rhode 

 Island fishery, because at the latter points 

 the fishery takes relatively more of the larger 

 and older fish. 



WINTER TRAWL FISHERY 



Statistics of the Fishery 



Changes in total yield. — The catch 

 of this fishery is made entirely by otter 

 trawlers fishing between the 20-fathom and 

 the 100- fathom contours in the offing of the 

 Virginia Capes (fig. 2). Because these winter 

 catches of scup are credited to those States 

 in which the home ports of the vessels are 

 located and are combined with the summer 

 catches by otter trawls in the coastal waters 

 of those States, the published figures do not 

 indicate the catch of this fishery separately. 



A special series of records has been ob- 

 tained through the cooperation of dealers, 

 commencing with winter 1931, 2 years fol- 

 lowing the beginning of the winter otter trawl 

 fishery. In 1931, data were obtained mostly 

 from private bookkeeping accounts of principal 

 dealers at Phoebus and Portsmouth, Va., at 

 which ports the bulk of the catch was landed 

 that winter. Pearson (1932) estimates that 

 80 percent of the catches were recorded in 

 1931. In 1932, standard record forms were 

 supplied to the dealers at the principal ports 



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