that use of this gear also shortened 

 the time required in "drying up" the 

 net by about 6 minutes per set. 



South Atlantic Area 



Purse-seine fishing in the South 

 Atlantic Area began on March 23 off 

 Fernandina Beach, Fla., but only occa- 

 sional catches were made in this lo- 

 cality during, the remainder of the 

 month and through most of April. 

 Numerous schools were encountered in 

 the inshore waters between Jackson- 

 ville, Fla., and Brunswick, Ga., during 

 May, but they were reported to be 

 small and difficult to catch. Stormy 

 weather further impaired fishing dur- 

 ing this period. Between April 24 and 

 June 5, there were only 15 days on 

 which vessels were able to go to sea. 

 In late May, 3 of the 14 vessels fish- 

 ing out of Fernandina shifted toYonges 

 Island, S. C, and in early June addi- 

 tional vessels left for the Gulf of 

 Mexico. Only 4 vessels remained at 

 Fernandina after June 8, and nriost of 

 the landings during the month were 

 contributed by a single vessel. Fish- 

 ing during July was concentrated in 

 St. Sinnon Sound, Ga., and St. Helena 

 Sound, S. C., and catches in these 

 localities were the heaviest of the 

 season. Catches progressively declined 

 during August and September, and fish- 

 ing terminated on October 9 at Fer- 

 nandina and on October 1 7 at Yonges 

 Island. 



Fishing by the North Carolina fleet 

 (17 vessels) began during the lastweek 

 in April off Southport and during the 

 following week off Beaufort. Southport 

 vessels encountered numerous schools 

 in the vicinity of Cape Fear during the 

 first 2 weeks of the season, but adverse 

 weather interrupted fishing during the 

 second week in May, and total landings 

 during the month were unusually light. 

 On June 3, Southport vessels shifted 

 to South Carolina waters, and during the 

 following 3 weeks, productive fishing 

 occurred from Myrtle Beach to George- 

 town, S. C. Schools became scarce in 

 this locality during the last week of 

 June, and the vessels returned to North 

 Carolina waters. Adverse weather pre- 

 vailed in the vicinity of Cape Fear 



during the last 3 weeks in July, and 

 only five landings were made at South- 

 port during this period. Except for 2 

 weeks of moderately good fishing in 

 this locality in August, landings through 

 the remainder of the season were small 

 and infrequent. The last landing at 

 Southport was made on October 18. 

 The first catches of the summer sea- 

 son in the vicinity of Beaufort were 

 made on May 6 when schools appeared 

 in abundance from New Topsail Inlet 

 to Cape Lookout. Four days later the 

 fish vanished, and few schools were 

 encountered in ocean waters off Beau- 

 fort through the rennainder of the sum- 

 mer. With the absence of the schools 

 in "outside" waters, the Beaufort fleet 

 began fishing in Core andBogue Sounds 

 (primarily in Core Sound). Although 

 catches were small, they were re- 

 corded almost daily from June 1 through 

 September 26. The schools disappeared 

 following a period of heavy rainfall 

 in late September and early October, 

 and few fish were encountered in these 

 waters again until November when 

 the appearance of the large, migrating 

 schools marked the beginning of the 

 fall fishing season. 



The summer catch in the South 

 Atlantic Area amounted to 38,000 tons 

 as compared with 73,000 tons in 1956 

 and 48,000 tons in 1955. June provided 

 the greatest share of the summer 

 catch (37 percent), followed by July 

 (19 percent). May and August (14 per- 

 cent each), September (10 percent), 

 April (4 percent), October (2 percent), 

 and March (1 percent). Catch per unit 

 of effort averaged 16 tons per set as 

 compared with 19 tons in 1955 and 24 

 tons in 1956. 



Chesapeake Bay Area 



The purse-seine season in Chesa- 

 peake Bay officially opened on May 27,' 

 with fishing by 24 vessels concen- 

 trated in the lower Bay in the vicinity 

 of Cape Charles. Relatively small 

 schools were encountered in abundance 

 along the eastern shore and in the 

 central part of the Bay through most 



5 Virginia law prohibits purse-seining in Virginia 

 waters prior to the last Monday in May. 



