130 



MIDDLE ATLANTIC FISHERIES 



Striped bass . Landings were 1.6 million pounds worth $'123,000--a decline of 14 percent In vol- 

 ume and 7 percent In value compared with 1969. New York with 1.3 million pounds accounted for 

 83 percent of the landings . Most of the New York landings were made by haul seines . New Jersey 

 landings of 223,000 pounds were taken principally by otter trawls . 



Butterflsh . Landings of 1.5 million pounds worth $262,000 declined 39 percent in volume and 5 

 percent In value compared with 1969. Fishermen found that the fish were about as plentiful as u- 

 sual but were considerably smaller than In previous years. Otter trawl fishermen were discouraged 

 by the loss entailed in culling unmarketable small butterflsh from the catch. Losses were some- 

 times as much as 50 percent per trip. 



Oysters . Landings of 1.4 million pounds of oyster meats worth$1.8 million increased 7 percent in 

 volume and 31 percent in value compared with 1969. Landings were the best in New York (520 ,000 

 pounds) since 1962 and in Delaware (216 ,000 pounds) since 1959. However, New Jersey landings 

 (677 ,000 pounds) were the smallest since 1965 . In New York, efforts made by the industry to grow 

 seed and transplant it to areas for oyster growing began to show favorable results . Most of these 

 oysters were sold on the market as half-shell trade and brought good prices to fishermen. In 1970, 

 the average price per pound was $2.07. Delaware landings were more than four times the produc- 

 tion of the previous year. Most of the oysters were taken from the Delaware Bay. In New Jersey, 

 the sharp decline In landings resulted from high mortalities caused by borers and the MSX disease, 

 unfavorable weather at times of peak demand, poor recovery of meats, and lack of shuckers at fish 

 processing plants. 



Hard blue crabs . Landings of 1.4 million pounds were worth $220,000 — an increase of 20 percent 

 in quantity and 52 percent in value compared with 1969. In 1970, the average price per pound was 

 16 cents--about 3 cents more than in 1969. The fishery is confined to New Jersey and Delaware. 

 Delaware Bay is the principal area for hard blue crab production. In 1970, 92 percent of the land- 

 ings were taken there by pot fishermen from both States . 



Sea scallops . Landings of 635,000 pounds of sea scallop meats worth $835 , 000 decreased 30 per- 

 cent in volume and 15 percent in value compared with 1969. Landings were the smallest since 

 1944. Fishing effort declined as the available stock of sea scallops dwindled. Exvessel prices 

 averaged $1.31 per pound — a gain of 23 cents per pound compared with 1969. 



Bay scallops . Landings of 365,000 pounds of bay scallop meats worth $470,000 were 47 percent 

 greater in quantity and 25 percent greater in value than in 1969. The bay scallop fishery is con- 

 fined to New York. Most of the production came from bays on the eastern end of Long Island. An 

 abundance of grass in Great South Bay made dredging difficult, and most fishermen left It to enter 

 the high-priced hard clam fishery. 



Other information . Additional data may be found in the New York and New Jersey monthly and an- 

 nual landings bulletins published in the Current Fishery Statistics Series by the Statistics and Mar- 

 ket News Division in cooperation with the respective States. Information on daily, monthly, and 

 annual production of fishery products in selected areas of these States is available in reports pub- 

 lished by NMFS's Fishery Market News Service in New York City. 



Acknowledgments . The following organizations helped collect the data appearing in this section: 

 New York Conservation Department, Marine Fisheries Division and Division of Fish and Game; 

 New Jersey Conservation Department, Division of Fish and Game, and New Jersey Shellfish Com- 

 mission; and State of Delaware Commission of Shellfisheries . 



