Little tuna are found in Atlantic coastal waters from Cape Cod 

 to Florida^ Evidence points toward a seasonal northward migration 

 from Florida to Massachusetts, starting in April anl returning south 

 in October (Carlson, 1951) » Catches by ocean pound nets situated along 

 the New Jersey and New York coasts account for the majority of the 

 little tuna landings in the Middle Atlantic regiono Little real in- 

 formation is available concerning the abundance and life history of 

 the species.. They are taken occasionally, and sometimes in good 

 quantities, by trolling gear from Florida to Cape Cod, and are often 

 considered a nuisance by sportsmen who are after larger game fish. In 

 1951, an exploratory survey by the Fish and ??ildlife Service in co- 

 operation with a South Carolina fish processing firm, supported pre- 

 vious conclusions that little tuna occur over a wide range and can be 

 taken with commercial trolling gear, but unfavorable weather hampered 

 purse seining operations to some extent o All fishing for this spec- 

 ies has been near shore, and much more exploration must be undertaken 

 before the potentialities of the resource can be adequately e-i/aluatedo 

 However, it is apparent that even the known stocks are not being fully 

 exploited at the present time = 



Little tuna was canned in small quantities in Maryland and Vir- 

 ginia in 1946 and processing continued during the next few years » 

 Results were encouraging and offered considerable hope for further 

 development on a considerable scale (Chilton, 1949) = Landings of little 

 tuna in the New York wholesale fish market during the period from 1940 

 to 1952 averaged 220,000 pounds annually. 



Bonito appear to be closely related to the little tuna in habits 

 and occurrence., Few are taken north of Cape Cod, but they are caught 

 in small quantities all along the Atlantic coast to Florida = Tftey are 

 caught with trap nets and beach seines" and on hook and line, frequent- 

 ly by sportsmen o ^Dst of the production in recent years has been 

 from the South Atlantic States and Chesapeake Bayo No organized com- 

 mercial fishery exists for the species and like the bluefin and little 

 tuna, very little is known concerning its total abuxviance. 



AVAILABILITY OF LOCAL FLEET AND FISHERMEN 



With few exceptions, fishing craft operating in the Atlantic are 

 unsuited for large-scale tuna seining operations. Tuna purse seines 

 are of tremendous size with lengths ranging from 300 to 400 fathoms, 

 depths from 20 to 40 fathoms and generally weighing from ? to 10 tons. 



248 



