data for 1955 shown in parentheses) are 

 given in table 1. Catch per unit of effort 

 and total fishing effort were calculated 

 from fishing logbook records kept by the 

 vessel captains or pilots and daily catch 

 records furnished by the processing plants. 

 Complete logbook records were obtained from 

 only 50 percent of the total number of ves- 

 sels engaged in the fishery. To compensate 

 for the fact that only a portion of each 

 area fleet was represented in the data, 

 adjustment factors, based upon the ratio of 

 total number of vessel landing days to log- 

 book days, were used in the calculations 

 for each area. 



The purse-seine catch in 1956 amounted 

 to 740,000 tons, an increase of 55,000 tons 

 over that of the previous year. The greater 

 catch in 1956 was produced by a greater 

 amount of fishing effort, accompanied by an 

 increase in apparent abundance (catch per 

 set) on most of the summer fishing grounds. 

 The lower apparent abundance (31.8 tons) on 

 the North Carolina fall fishing grounds in 

 1956 as compared with that of the previous 

 years (38.7 tons) probably was due largely 

 to increased competition between fishing 



NUMBER OF SETS 

 9 

 10-24 

 25-49 

 50-99 

 100-199 

 200 and over 



Figijxe 2. --Distribution of purse -seine sets in the 

 South Atlantic Area, 1956. 



Figure 3. --Distribution of puise-seine sets in the Chesapeake 

 Bay and Middle Atlantic Areas, 1956. 



gear during the ''"'^ jeason (59 vessels in 

 1956 as comparea i. ch 49 in 1955). Appar- 

 ent abundance was lowest in Chesapeake Bay 

 (13.9 tons) and greatest in the North At- 

 lantic (35.2 tons) in 1956. 



The distribution of the total esti- 

 mated number^ of purse-seine sets in 1956, 

 by unit areas of 10 minutes of latitude and 

 10 minutes of longitude, is shown in figures 

 2-4. The areas heaviest effort (200 sets 

 and over) included: coastal waters off Fer- 

 nandina Beach, Fla., waters continguous to 

 Capes Fear and Lookout, N. C. , lower Chesa- 

 peake Bay, the coastal waters of Virginia, 

 Maryland, Delaware, New Jersey, and the 

 western end of southern Long Island, and 

 Massachusetts Bay. These unit areas (shown 

 by the black squares) accounted for over 

 60 percent of the total calculated number 

 of purse-seine sets. Interviews with ves- 

 sel captains indicated that those sets 

 recorded roughly beyond the 20-fathom curve 

 off the New Jersey, Delaware, and Virginia 

 coasts probably were incorrectly located 

 and most likely should be credited to the 

 corresponding inshore unit areas. In com- 

 parison with 1955, a greater amount of 



