Table 8. — Mean weight (g.) of Atlantic menhaden In purse seine catches, 1961, 

 and mean of the mean weights, 1955-60, by age, season, area, and year 



numbers. In the Chesapeake Bay Area, where 

 age-1 fish usually supply the greatest share 

 of the catch, the yield will depend on the 

 strength of newly recruited future year classes. 



The relative abundzmce of age-1 fish (1960 

 year class) in the Chesapeake Bay Area may 

 have been greater than was indicated by the 

 percentage age composition of the catches. 

 About 85 percent of the sets were made near 

 the mouth of the bay, where unusually large 

 nunnbers of age-2 fish (1959 year class) and 

 age-3 fish ( 1 958 year class) were concentrated. 

 Since the larger, older fish produce more oil 

 and better meal than smaller fish, they may 

 have been exploited selectively in preference 

 to age- I fish that usually occur farther up the 

 bay. If this is true, the 1960 year class should 

 contribute a greater number of fish in future 

 years than was indicated by its contribution 

 in 1961. 



The reasons for the scarcity of fish north 

 of Cape Cod are not clear. Fish taken in this 

 area are always age 3 and older, with fish 

 age 4 and older generally dominant fronn 

 Massachusetts Bay northward. From the 

 abundance of age-3 fish (1958 year class) 

 elsewhere, one would have expected fish to 

 be plentiful in Cape Cod Bay, but they were 

 not. Environmental factors, such as water 

 temperatures, current patterns, or changes 

 in the food supply may have been responsible 



for a reduced availability in 1961. It is not 

 possible at this time to predict whether the 

 trend to lower abundance m the areas north 

 of Cape Cod, which began in 1956, will con- 

 tinue and will lead to an eventual collapse 

 of fishing in that locality. 



SUMMARY 



1. The 1961 purse seine catch of Atlantic 

 menhaden was 619,000 tons, 541,000 tons in 

 the summer fishery and 78,000 tons in the 

 North Carolina fall fishery. The largest por- 

 tion of the catch was taken in the Middle 

 Atlantic Area and the smallest in the South 

 Atlantic Area. 



2. The number of sets increased over 1960 

 in the South Atlantic and Chesapeake Bay 

 Areas and decreased in all other areas. The 

 mean catch per set remained approximately 

 the same as in recent years in all areas ex- 

 cept the North Carolina fall fishery. 



3. The most productive fishing grounds were 

 in Chesapeake Bay and the coastal waters 

 from about Ocean City, Md., to Long Island 

 Sound, N.Y. Fish were exceptionally scarce 

 north of Cape Cod, Mass. 



4. The 1958 year class (age-3 fish) domi- 

 nated the fishery for the third consecutive 

 year, accounting for 80 percent of the catch 



15 



