72° 



_j 



/MILLIONS OF 

 POUMDS 



71" 



a 



I 



1 



1921-32-33- 34-35 



TOTAL CATCH 



THOUSANDS OF 

 POUNDS 



^ 



3i 



3& 



I92I-32-32-34-35 



CATCH PER DAY'S FISHING 



IF 



hi 



i2° 



Figura 9,-- Catch of scup by the southern winter travil fishery. 1931-3S. 



the landings were comprised mainly of large 

 fish 25 cm. (10 inches) or more long aiKl 

 weighing from 3/4 to 2 pounds (Pearson, 1032). 

 They were. In the main, fish spawned prior 

 to 1027 and hence over 4 years of age. This 

 distribution was of the same sizes and ages 

 that comprised the catch of the New Jersey 

 trawlers and seiners the preceding summer 

 (1030) (fig. 8). In the following winter (1032), 

 younger sizes pret.lominated. The catch landed 

 in Virginia was composed mainly of small- 

 and medium-sized fish with modal length 

 values alx^ut IS cm. (" Inches) and 22.5 cm. 

 (0 Inches), weighing from one-quarter to one- 

 half pound, and K^lng I to 3 years old. Ob- 

 servations at Wildwood, N.J.. in winter 1032 

 reveakxl the discarding at sea of considerable 

 quantities of scup below 20 cm. (8 Inches, 

 appraximately), or most of the 1030 year 

 class. It was not possible, however, to deter- 

 mine accurately from the Interview records 

 the amounts of the 1030 class discarded, 

 although Judging from the composition of the 



Virginia landings of scup it perhaps amounted 

 to about 35 percent in numbers of fish. This 

 discard was in accordance with the New Jersey 

 vessel practice of discarding the smaller 

 sizes. Although the New Jersey vessels fre- 

 quently fish In somewhat more northern parts 

 of the ground, principally for fluke, their scup 

 catches are made for the most part in the same 

 general region fished by the Virginia vessels. 

 In contrast with the preceding winter, the 

 1032 winter fishery drew on the same year 

 classes (1028 and 1030) and sizes that were 

 prominent in the New Jersey inshore pound 

 net fishery the preceding summer. 



In the winter of 1033, the catch of scup 

 landed at Virginia ports again consisted mainly 

 of small and medium sizes and represented 

 the same broods that had been present in the 

 New Jersey Inshore pound net fishery the 

 preceding summer (1032). The fish were 

 mostly of the 1030 and 1031 year class, the 

 latter brood in the majoritj-. 



34 



