fall fishing grounds, unfavorable 

 weather limited the number of fish- 

 ing days. 



4. The most productive unit fishing 

 areas (200 sets and over) in 1957 

 were located (a) in the vicinity of 

 Fernandina, Fla., and Cape Fear, 

 N. C; (b) in Chesapeake Bay and 

 coastal waters immediately north 

 of Cape Charles; (c) along the 

 coasts of Delaware, New Jersey, 

 and western Long Island; and (d) 

 Narragansett Bay. 



5. Samples from the catch showed 

 that the 1955 and 1956 year classes 

 (fish of ages 3 and 2 respectively) 

 shared almost equally in providing 

 over four -fifths of the catch. The 

 1956 year class constituted the 

 greatest portion of the summer 

 catches in the South Atlantic and 

 Chesapeake Bay Areas, whereas 

 the 1955 year class dominated the 

 summer catches in Middle and North 

 Atlantic Areas. The 1957 year class 

 (age 0) accounted for about three- 

 fourths of the number of fish in the 

 fall catch off North Carolina. There 

 was a decline in the proportion of 

 fish in older year classes in 1957. 



6. Data on length and weight showed 

 that fish of the dominant age group 



in the summer catches in all areas 

 were smaller in 1957 than fish of 

 the same ages in the previous 2 

 years. 



LITERATURE CITED 



JUNE, FRED C, AND JOHN W.REINT- 

 JES. 



1959. Age and size composition of 

 the menhaden catch along the 

 Atlantic Coast of the United 

 States, 1952-55; with a brief 

 review of the commercial fish- 

 ery. U. S. Fish and Wildlife 

 Service, Special Scientific Re- 

 port--Fisheries No. 317, 65 pp. 



1960. Age and size composition of 

 the menhaden catch along the 

 Atlantic Coast of the United 

 States, 1956; with a brief review 

 of the comnnercial fishery. U.S. 

 Fish and Wildlife Service, Spe- 

 cial Scientific Report--Fish- 

 eries No. 336, 38 pp. 



U. S. WEATHER BUREAU. 



1958. Climatological data. National 

 summary. U. S. Weather Bu- 

 reau, Annual Summary 1957, 

 vol. 8, no. 13, 138 pp. 



MS #1028 



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