TABI£ 1. — Catch, total fishing effort, and catch per unit of effort of the Atlantic 



menhaden purse-seine fishery, 1955-57 



■"" Slight discrepancies in numbers as given in previous reports and in subtotals and 

 totals due to rounding off of figures. 



2 Source: Fishery Statistics of the United States, 1957. By Edward A. Power, U. S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, Statistical Digest No. 44, 429 pp. 



^ The North Carolina fall fishery normally extends into January, therefore, catch 

 total includes January 1958, but not January 1957- Seasonal breakdown of the catch ob- 

 tained from U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service. G.F.S. Nos. 1742 and 1991. 



below those of the previous year in 

 all areas except Chesapeake Bay, and 

 in the North Carolina fall fishery the 

 catch reached the lowest level in three 

 seasons. As in previous years, the 

 Middle Atlantic Area provided the 

 greatest share of the total catch (54 

 percent), while the South Atlantic Area 

 contributed the least (7 percent). 



Total fishing effort amounted to 

 31,600 sets, an 8 percent increase over 

 that in 1956 (table l).* Effort in the 

 summer fishery (30,316 sets) was 15 

 percent greater than that in 1956, but 

 in the North Carolina fall fishery 

 (1,474 sets), it was 42 percent less than 

 that in the previous year. Catch per 

 unit of effort averaged 20 tons per 

 set as compared with 26 tons in 1955 

 and in 1956. Average catch per unit 



* Logbook data upon which catch per unit of effort 

 calculations were based represented 52 percent of the 

 purse-seine c:atch; adjustments were made to account for 

 the total catch. 



of effort in the summer fishery was 

 below that of the previous 2 years in 

 all areas except Chesapeake Bay, but 

 in the North Carolina fall fishery it 

 exceeded that in 1956 and nearly 

 equaled that in 1955. 



There were 133 vessels engaged 

 in the summer fishery (130 vessels in 

 1956) and 63 in the fall fishery off 

 North Carolina (59 vessels in 1956). 

 Thirty-eight airplanes, or an average 

 of about one airplane for every three 

 vessels, were employed for locating 

 fish and directing the setting of the 

 seine around a school. 



As a result of tests conducted 

 during 1956, the "power block", a 

 mechanical gear for hauling the seine 

 aboard the purse boats, was adopted 

 by about half of the fleet operating in 

 Chesapeake Bay in 1957. Crews aboard 

 those vessels equipped with the "power 

 block" were reduced from 28 to an 

 average of 13 men. It was estimated 



