September 1966 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



25 



Industrial fish : Menhaden production made 

 a very slow comeback after a disastrous year 

 in 1964. Landings for 1965 were up 10.0 mil- 

 lion pounds, but in this high volume industry 

 the catch of 74.4 million pounds, worth $1.3 

 million, is still considered poor. Landings 

 in 1963, although not a peak year, were 178.4 

 million pounds valued at $2.2 million. In 

 past years the industry in New Jersey had 

 annual harvests that were as high as 486 mil- 

 lion pounds. Only 1 of the reduction plants 

 in New Jersey processed menhaden during 

 the entire 1965 season. 



New Jersey landings by months, 1965, 



Surf Clams: Landings were in record 

 quantities. In 1965, total landings exceeded 

 the 1964 catch by about 5.5 million pounds of 

 meats. A total of 4 vessels was added to 

 the surf-clam fleet, bringing the total to about 

 60 vessels. Increased production was due to: 

 virgin surf-clam grounds located off Wild- 

 wood, no labor disputes, and favorable weather. 

 Because of the increasing -sales of clam pro- 

 ducts, production of that species has steadily 

 increased since 1952. 



Sea scallops : Landings reached an all- 

 time high of 1.9 million pounds, averaging 

 60.8 cents apound. Most of the scallops were 

 taken in an area off Cape Henry, Va., where 

 vessels from Canada to the Carolinas op- 

 erated. During the period of peak catches, 

 June -September, landings of 10,000 to 30,000 

 pounds of meats per trip were common. In 

 July one vessel caught 36,800 pounds on one 

 trip. 



Swordfish : In New Jersey, swordfishing 

 is a new and somewhat unexploited fishery. 

 Now 3 years old, it is strictly a long-line op- 

 eration. The 5 vessels engaged in this fish- 

 ery landed 1.0 million pounds or 694,000 

 pounds more than in 1964. 



Soup : This fishery continues to lead in 

 total landings of edible finfish. Scup may well 

 be considered the backbone of the New Jersey 

 fishery. Otter-trawl catches in the fall and 

 winter months were exceptionally good and 

 totaled 80 percent of the annual scup land- 

 ings. 



Whiting: This fishery is becoming more 

 prominent in New Jersey. Previously no 

 great effort was made to catch large quan- 

 tities of whiting because local fishermen 

 were unable to compete with the whiting fish- 

 ery in the New England States. As this spe- 

 cies was somewhat scarce in New England 

 waters, there was a greater demand during 

 the year. 



Blue crabs: Landings were up 347,000 

 pounds in 1965, due to the unusually good 

 catches made by the crab pot fishery in Del- 

 aware Bay during August and September. 

 This area produced 81 percent of the total. 

 The remaining 19 percent was caught by 

 crab dredges in Sandy Hook, Raritan and 

 Barnegat Bays. 



Tuna: Purse seiners from Massachusetts 

 and California operating out of New Jersey 

 experienced a disappointing season. Since 

 the start of this fishery in 1963, first land- 

 ings were usually made during June and the 

 season lasted 3 months. In 1965, no fish 

 were caught until mid -July and the last trip 

 was made by August 1. The State's ports 

 are centrally located to important wholesale 

 markets and transportation is readily at 

 hand, but tuna vessels are handicapped by the 

 lack of large, deep inlets, and sufficient un- 

 loading and storage facilities. The 1965 land- 

 ings of tuna amounted to 1,3 million pounds 

 compared to 2.8 million pounds in 1964, 



Oysters : Production was down by almost 

 600,000 pounds as the State did not open the 

 public seed beds located at the mouth of the 

 Delaware River. The normal practice is to 

 plant seed oysters on private grounds and 

 allow them to grow for 3-4 years prior to 

 harvesting. The high incidence of MSX dis- 

 ease in the growing areas requires that har- 

 vesting be at the earliest possible moment-- 

 within the same calendar year or no later 

 than 1 year after planting. As the main seed 

 beds were closed in 1965, the only sources 

 of oysters were: the remaining oysters ob- 

 tained from the public seed beds in 1 964; about 

 12,000 bushels of seed taken by tongersfrom 

 minor seed beds opened by the State in 1965; 



