caught during the summer season and 

 for every 1,000 tons during the North 

 Carolina fall season. Methods of col- 

 lecting and processing the samples 

 followed those described in the first 



TABLE 2. — Number of samples taken from 

 purse-seine catches, 1957 



report in this series (June andReintjes, 

 1959). 



Age Composition 



In table 3 are given the calculated 

 percentage age composition and the 

 number of fish at each age in the 1957 

 Atlantic coast purse-seine catch, to- 

 gether with comparable data for 1955 

 and 1956. 



The 1955 and 1956 year classes 

 (fish of ages Zand 1) contributed almost 

 equally to the 1957 purse -seine catch 

 and together accounted for over four- 

 fifths of the total calculated number of 

 individuals. Although fish of the 1956 

 year class (age 1) were most numerous 

 in the catch, their contribution (1.5 

 billion) was less than that of the pre- 

 vious year class at age 1 in 1956 (2.1 

 billion). This was the second year in 

 succession, however, that fish of age 1 

 exceeded in number those of any other 

 age group. The 1955 year class (age 2) 

 furnished 1.4 billion fish to the 1957 

 catch. This represented the largest 

 contribution by fish of age 2 in the 

 past 3 years. The 1957 year class 

 (age 0) ranked third in number of fish 

 caught in 1957 (0.3 billion). Its contri- 

 bution exceeded by tenfold that of the 

 1956 year class at age in 1956, but 



TABLE 3. — Age composition (in percent) and calculated number of fish (in millions) 



at each age in pxirse -seine catches, 1955-57 



(Numerically dominant year class underscored) 



AGE COMPOSITION 



NUMBER OF FISH 



