1956. From these data and plant and logbook 

 records of vessel landings and fishing 

 activities, calculations have been made of 

 the numbers of fish caught at each age, 

 catch per unit of effort, and total fishing 

 effort along the Atlantic coast. A chrono- 

 logical review of the salient events and 

 features which characterized the 1956 com- 

 mercial fishery also is given. Except for 

 the North Carolina fall fishery, discussion 

 of the fishery jind summaries of the catch- 

 sampling data are presented by geographical 

 aseas (fig. 1). Because of its uniqueness, 

 the North Carolina fall fishery is discussed 

 sepsLcately. 



We wish to acknowledge the interest 

 and cooperation of vessel captains and 

 oilots who furnished records of their daily 



Figure 1. — Aieas used in summarizing Atlantic menliaden 

 catch data. (Locations of menhaden reduc- 

 tion plants aie shown by dots) 



fishing activities. Vlant managers and 

 owners provided detailed records of vessel 

 landings and assisted in many ways in the 

 conduct of the investigations. 



THE 1956 COMMERCIAL FISHERY 



The total catch of Atlantic menhaden 

 in 1956 was 766,000 tons (table 1, page 

 4). This was an increase of 65,000 tons 

 over the 1955 catch and represented the 

 greatest annual yield of a single species 

 ever taken by United States fishermen. 

 With the exception of catches in Chesapeake 

 Bay, catches in all major areas exceeded 

 those of 1955, with the South Atlantic sum- 

 mer fishery showing the greatest percentage 

 increase (52 percent). Nearly the entire 

 catch was processed into fish meal, oil, 

 and condensed solubles, with only small 

 quantities being used for bait. 



South Atlantic Area 



The first purse-seine catches of the 

 1956 fishing season were made on April 4 

 north of Fernandina, Fla. , in the vicinity 

 of St. Augustine and marked the southern 

 limit of the fishery. Only three landings 

 were made during the following week, but 

 on April 13 numerous schools were encoun- 

 tered off Fernandina Beach, and during the 

 next 6 weeks excellent catches were re- 

 corded by a fleet of 12 vessels operating 

 out of that port. By the end of May over 

 21,000 tons of menhaden had been landed 

 from these waters, the highest yield for a 

 similar period since 1952. Catches dropped 

 markedly in early June when the schools 

 were observed moving northward, and except 

 for a few fair catches during the last week 

 in June and the first week in July, fishing 

 was poor through the remainder of the sum- 

 mer. The last landings of the season were 

 made on October 24 off Fernandina Beach. 

 The estimated catch in Florida waters 

 amounted to 34,000 tons, an increase of 88 

 percent compared with 1955. 



In North Carolina waters, schools 

 were encountered simultjuieously off South- 

 port and Beaufort on May 7, and sizcible 

 catches were recorded by a fleet of 18 ves- 

 sels through the remainder of the month. 

 The most productive fishing, however, occur- 

 red in June when several large bodies of 

 fish slowly made their way northward along 

 the North Carolina coast. Over 17,000 tons 



