of the season. The schools began to 

 disappear in these localities during 

 the second week in October, and, ex- 

 cept for sporadic catches, most of the 

 fishing through the closing weeks of 

 the season was conducted from Cape 

 Charles northward to southern Long 

 Island. The last landings of the season 

 were made on October 25. 



The purse -seine catch in the 

 Chesapeake Bay Area amounted to 

 118,000 tons as compared to 89,000 

 tons in 1956 and the recent record of 

 153,000 tons in 1955. July landings 

 accounted for 26 percent of the sea- 

 son's total, while June, August, and 

 September respectively accounted for 

 22, 20, and 24 percent. Catch per unit 

 of effort averaged 14 tons per set, the 

 same as in the previous year, but this 

 was considerably less than that in 

 1955 (27 tons per set). 



and Fire Island, N. Y. Landings from 

 these waters during the last 2 weeks 

 of the season amounted to over 75,000 

 tons, the largest recorded for any 

 similar period during the season. The 

 large, migrating schools were last 

 encountered about 25 miles offshore, 

 between Townsends Inlet and Asbury 

 Park, N. J., on October 25. One addi- 

 tional purse-seine set was made on a 

 school of young-of-the-year fish off 

 Beach Haven, N. J., on October 29. 



A catch of 342,000 tons was 60,000 

 tons below that of the previous year, 

 but 14,000 tons greater than that in 

 1955. Twenty-eight percent of the catch 

 was taken in July; May, June, August, 

 September, and October respectively 

 accounted for 2, 17, 20, 14, and 19 

 percent. Catch per unit of effort aver- 

 aged 22 tons per set, the lowest in 5 

 years. 



Middle Atlantic Area 



Fishing began in the Middle 

 Atlantic Area on May 22 when small, 

 scattered schools were located simul- 

 taneously in Delaware and Raritan 

 Bays. During the following 3 weeks a 

 fleet of 47 vessels scouted the waters 

 from Long Island to Cape Charles, but 

 catches were spotty throughout the 

 area. In mid-June, schools suddenly 

 appeared in abundance along the coast 

 from Ocean City, Md., to Sandy Hook, 

 N. J. After a week of productive fish- 

 ing, the schools became scarce, but 

 reappeared in abundance during the 

 first week in July. As the season 

 advanced, schools often would dis- 

 appear in the inshore waters and occur 

 far offshore, but fishing in the deeper 

 waters was relatively unproductive. As 

 a result, catches during most of July 

 and August were highly variable. 

 Catches were small through most of 

 September, but during the second week 

 in October, large schools of migrating 

 fish appeared along the coast of south- 

 ern Long Island and individual vessel 

 catches sharply increased. From Oc- 

 tober 8 through October 25, fishing by 

 the entire Middle Atlantic fleet, to- 

 gether with vessel from Amagansett, 

 N. Y., and Chesapeake Bay, was con- 

 centrated between Seaside Park, N. J., 



North Atlantic Area 



The purse-seine fishery in the 

 North Atlantic Area got underway dur- 

 ing the second week in June, with 10 

 vessels fishing out of Amagansett, 

 N. Y.; 2 out of Point Judith, R. I.; and 

 4 out of Gloucester, Mass. By the first 

 week in July, 2 additional vessels had 

 entered the fishery at Point Judith, 

 and 10 vessels were added to the fleet 

 at Gloucester. In late July, 3 vessels 

 began fishing in the vicinity of Portland, 

 Maine. * 



Fishing by the Amagansett vessels 

 was conducted along the eastern end of 

 Long Island during the first 5 weeks of 

 the season, and catches were highly 

 variable. The fish disappeared in this 

 locality during the second week in 

 July, and the fleet shifted to Massa- 

 chusetts waters where numerous 

 schools had been reported in Nantucket 

 Sound. The heaviest catches of the 

 season were made in the vicinity of 

 Cape Cod during the week of July 15- 

 20, but in the following week the schools 



'With one exception, vessels employed in the men- 

 haden fishery at Point Judith, R. I.; Gloucester. Mass.; 

 and Portland, Maine, were small to medium-size otter 

 trawlers which converted to purse-seining during the 

 summer months. 



