were landed at the two ports during the 

 month. The first abruptly disappeared off 

 Southport during the last week in June and, 

 except for one small school, were not ob- 

 served in this locality again until July 11 

 when a large body of fish appeared off the 

 mouth of the Cape Fear River. The fish 

 again disappeared in mid-August and were 

 largely absent from those waters until Sep- 

 tember 6 when a relatively large body of 

 fish again was sighted along the beach, west 

 of the Cape Fear River. Fishing continued 

 in this locality through October 9 when the 

 schools once more disappeared. Fishing in 

 the vicinity of Beaufort reached a peak in 

 June. Although the first week in July 

 virtually marked the end of summer fishing 

 in oceam waters in this locality, landings 

 inside Bogue and Core Sounds continued to 

 be good through September. The last catch 

 of the summer season was made on October 9 

 off Beaufort Inlet. Total summer landings 

 in North Carolina waters exceeded 39,000 

 tons as compared with 25,000 tons in 1955. 



Chesapeake Bay Area 



The first fish marking the commence- 

 ment of the "spring run" of menhaden into 

 Chesapeake Bay ^pejired in the pound nets 

 located off Reedville and White Stone, Va. , 

 during the first week in April. Although 

 fish had occurred in the catches throughout 

 the previous month,, landings were extremely 

 light and the fish variable in size. The 

 total pound-net catch in Chesapeake Bay in 

 1956 was estimated at slightly over 5,000 

 tons. 



Purse-seine fishing in Chesapeake Bay 

 by a fleet of 23 vessels began on May 28, 

 with the first catches made in Tangier Sound. 

 Summer fishing weis moderately productive in 

 the lower Bay through September 2 5. Adverse 

 weather was primjirily responsible for de- 

 crease landings throughout the remainder 

 of the season. Fishing was terminated on 

 October 17, nearly 3 weeks in advance of 

 the closing date in the previous year 

 (November 3). The catch of 89,000 tons was 

 about 42 percent below that of 1955 when a 

 catch of 153,000 tons established the 

 second highest record in the history of the 

 Bay fishery. 



Middle Atlantic Area 



The first menhaden caught in the Mid- 

 dle Atlantic Area were large fish taken on 



April 4 by pound nets located off northern 

 New Jersey and Staten Island. Catches 

 gradujilly increased during the following 3 

 weeks, and on April 18 heavy landings were 

 recorded simultaneously at Beach Haven, 

 Point Pleassmt, and Port Monmouth, N. J. A 

 high level of production continued in this 

 area of the coast until the third week in 

 May, when the fish commenced schooling at 

 the surface, and pound-net catches dropped 

 markedly. The estimated pound-net landings 

 for this area in 1956 amounted to 18,000 

 tons. 



The first purse-seine fishing in the 

 Middle Atlantic occurred in Raritan Bay on 

 May 22, but fish reportedly were sparsely 

 schooled, and the catches were small. On 

 May 28 numerous schools were located off 

 the mouth of Delaware Bay, and within a week 

 productive fishing by a fleet of 45 vessels 

 occurred from Cape Charles, Va. , to Rock- 

 away Inlet, N. y. Of the record catch of 

 402,000 tons, 92 percent was taken from 

 Cape Chjirles, Va. , to Jones Inlet, N. Y. , 

 by September 25, Most of the remainder of 

 the catch came from southern Long Island 

 waters where the larger, older fish appeared 

 in tremendous bodies following a week of 

 stormy weather in late September. Produc- 

 tive fishing continued in this area until 

 October 17, when the fish abruptly disap- 

 peared, terminating the most successful 

 season in the history of the Middle Atlantic 

 Area. 



North Atlantic Area 



In the North Atlantic Area the 1956 

 purse-seine catch amounted to 96,000 tons. 

 This was an increase of 13,000 tons over 

 that of the previous year and represented 

 the highest yield recorded in northern 

 waters since the late 1800 's when the fish- 

 ery centered in New England. The first 

 purse-seine landing of the season was made 

 on June 5 in Narragansett Bay by a Point 

 Judith, R. I., vessel. On June 8 fish were 

 encountered off Chatham (eastern end of 

 Cape Cod) by a Gloucester, Msiss., vessel, 

 and within 3 days, 13 Gloucester vessels 

 were operating in this area. The Glouces- 

 ter fleet was joined by the Amagansett, 

 N. Y. , fleet in following the schools as 

 they moved northward along the Cape into 

 Massachusetts and Cape Cod Bays, Fishing 

 by both fleets (30 vessels) continued in the 

 latter area through midsummer, with schools 

 reportedly fairly numerous from Chatham 



