FISHERIES OF PAMLICO AND CORE SOUNDS 39 
Long-haul seine fishing is conducted chiefly in the southern and 
western parts of Pamlico Sound and in the northern half of Core 
Sound. Moreover, this fishing is regulated greatly by weather con- 
ditions, so that the taking of samples was necessarily more irregular 
than was the case with pound nets. However, experience showed 
that samples could be procured more or less regularly while en route 
from one pound-net station to another, and since noon is the cus- 
tomary time for long haulers to end their fishing for the day, samples 
usually were secured as soon as the fish had been bailed into the 
skiffs. Samples were taken at varying intervals in virtually all the 
long-haul localities, 44 samples in all being studied. 
Taking a random sample of about 50 pounds of unculled fish from 
each of three crews of pound-net fishermen, a total amount of ap- 
proximately 150 pounds of fish was secured from each locality every 
week. The average daily catches of the crews seemed to be from 
300 to 600 pounds of market fish to the crew, with the exception of 
Monday’s catches, which were always larger than those of any other 
day because the pounds usually are not fished either Saturdays or 
Sundays. Personal observations were taken each morning on the 
majority of the catches brought in, and any unusual catch, both as 
to quantity and quality of fish taken, was noted. 
A different problem was presented in obtaining samples of the 
catch of long-haul seines because of the variation in both quantity 
and quality, which ranged from 500 to 1,500 pounds of marketable 
fish. When the catch consisted chiefly of large fish, somewhat 
larger samples were taken than was the case when the catch was 
made up of small fish. In general, from 50 to 100 pounds of fish 
constituted the sample. 
In obtaining all samples no hand selection was permitted, all fish 
being bailed, unculled, into a large bucket container by the fisherman, 
under the personal inspection of the investigator. The samples, 
once obtained, were sorted according to species, the species of scrap 
fish, such as pinfish and menhaden, alone being unseparated. The 
weights of certain food species and also the weights of scrap fish in 
the samples were secured. Each specimen of food-fish species was 
carefully measured on a rule constructed for the purpose,® each fish 
sexed, and the spawning or resting condition of the fish was noted. 
Scales were taken from many fish for the ultimate purpose of deter- 
mining the age composition of the catch. Over 26,000 pound-net 
fish and 2,500 long-haul fish were thus measured during the 20 weeks, 
from the middle of June until the first of November, spent in actual 
field operations. 
In analyzing the data collected by these means, length-frequency 
tables were constructed from the measurements of the samples ob- 
tained. While each sample was originally tabulated separately, 
frequency tabulations for the day were made for the three samples 
together. The day samples were then combined by months, by 
simple addition, and these monthly frequencies were then reduced to 
a percentage basis. In so far as the unweighted samples are repre- 
sentative, the actual composition of the commercial catch is accu- 
rately portrayed; but, because of the varying number of samples 
taken in the different months, it was deemed advisable to weight the 

§ The measurement of length used in this work is the projection of the distance from the snout, or point 
of the mandible, to the end of the middle rays of the caudal fin. 
