800 



CO 



o 



z 



o 



700 



600 



Q 500 



< 



V) 



O 400 



I- 



I 300 



o 



< 



o 



200 



00 



0-4 5-9 10-14 15-19 20-24 25-29 30-34 



SALINITY %o 



Figure 2. — Distribution of Mississippi menhaden catch in 

 salinity ranges, 1558-59. 



Salinities ranged from 6.15 °/oo 

 (parts per thousand) to 31.58 o/oo. Of the 

 81i samples, 58 percent showed salinities 

 of 20 o/oo to 2U °/oo, and 88 percent were 

 in a range from 15 °/oo to 29 °/oo. Figure 

 2 illustrates the distribution of the catch 

 in relation to salinity. 



MENHADEN IN THE 

 PURSE SEINE CATCH 



Brevoortia p at r onus ranges from 

 Tait^Da, Fla., to Brazos Santiago, Tex. 

 (Hildebrand 19U8), and makes up practically 

 the entire Gulf menhaden catch. A few 

 specimens of the two other Gulf species, 

 B. gunteri and B^ smithi, have been taken 

 by boats operating out of Mississippi ports, 

 but none were observed during this study. 



Samples from the purse-seine catches 

 included 55,9U9 fishes, of which 96.1 per- 

 cent were menhaden, counting each haul of 



equaD. value (table l). 'yflien samples were 

 weighted according to the size of each 

 haul, 97.2 percent of the catch was menha- 

 den. Twelve samples containing only B. 

 patronus were drawn from hauls of 5 to 75 

 thousand "fish" with an average catch of 

 50.8 thousand units. Other species were 

 observed in the net in 10 of these hauls. 

 The large hauls usually contained a higher 

 percentage of menhaden than small hauls. 

 Seventy-five percent of the catch was taken 

 in 50 percent of the hauls, and contained 

 over 99 percent menhaden. Figure 3 shows 

 the percentage of B. patronus in each set, 

 except for five which were less than 90 

 percent menhaden. Three of these five 

 hauls took 5,000 or fewer "fish." 



OTHER FISHES IN THE PURSE SEINE CATCH 



The list of other fishes observed 

 includes 62 species (table 2). Twenty-two 

 species were seen in the nets but did not 

 appear in the samples; of these species, 

 nine were seen only once, five were seen 

 in two sets, and eight occurred three times 

 or more. The anchovy, Anchoa mitchilli , 

 and the silverside, Menibras martinica , are 

 numerous in the areas fished, but are small 

 enough to escape through the net. Eight 

 species are usually too large to enter the 

 pumps used to unload the net. One jewfish, 

 Promicrops itaiara , estimated to weigh 300- 

 350 poiuids was taken from the net on May 29, 

 1959, near Sandy Point, La. Fishermen re- 

 called having taken several others in their 

 years of fishing. One tarpon. Me galops 

 atlanticus , was taken in Mississippi Sound 

 off the west end of Dauphin Island on 

 August 20, 1958. Taipon are occasionally 

 surrounded by the net but usually escape. 



Five species of sharks, the bull shark 

 ( Carcharhinus leucas ), sharp-nose shark 

 (Scoliodon terrae -novae), black-tipped shark 

 (Carcharhinus limbatusj, hammerhead ( Sphyma 

 diplana j and bonnet head shark ( Sphyma 

 tiburo ) , were seen in the net. This list 

 is probably inconplete, for sharks were 

 seen but not identified in 11 sets. Of the 

 88 sets, 22 included sharks. The crews 

 made every effort to prevent sharks from 

 reaching the pump ^ile loading. They were 

 either gaffed from the deck and dropped 

 outside the net or picked up from the purse 

 boat. Consequently, many specimens could 

 not be seen close enough for identification. 

 Jacks, Caranx hippos , were seen in 20 hauls. 



