26 



COMMERCIAL FISHERIES REVIEW 



Vol. 28, No. 9 



and a small quantity on privately-owned beds. 

 During the past ten years, production of oys- 

 ters has been governed by the amount of seed 

 available from the State's natural seed beds. 

 The State has not opened the seed beds every 



New Jersey Landings, 1965 and 1964 



1 





1965 1 



1964 1 





Qty. 



Value 



Otv. 



Value 



Fish 



Lbs. 



i 



Lbs. 



$. 



Bluefish .... 



817, 137 



12,335 



541,000 



87,043 



Butterfish . . . 



1, 138, 123 



91,267 



1,187,200 



132,938 



Cod 



164,286 



28,311 



283,000 



44,974 



Fluke 



3,612,738 



855,775 



3,670,500 



865,495 



Menhaden . . . 



74,362,219 



1,270,649 



64,278,700 



969,552 



Scup or porgy . 



9,089,953 



887,316 



8,551,000 



847, 326 



Sea Bass .... 



2,145,977 



344, 309 



2,194,900 



335, 309 



Striped Bass . . 



779, 694 



166, 165 



995, 600 



174,057 



Swordfish . . . 



1,000,553 



437,987 



306, 900 



103, 338 



Tuna: 











Bluefin . . . 



1,260,557 



84, 897 



2,758,300 



139, 104 



Whiting .... 



3,727,882 



156,319 



3,270,800 



153,836 



Other fish . . . 



12,194,027 



306,724 



8, 250, 300 



303,434 



Total fish . , 



110.293,146 



4,7421054 



96,288,200 



4,156,406 



Shellfish, etc. 











Crabs: 



Blue: 











Hard .... 



892, 100 



95,468 



569, 500 



81,487 



Soft .... 



34,045 



8,839 



9,600 



1,919 



Rock .... 



60,257 



2,231 



44,800 



1,515 



Horseshoe . . . 



211,600 



1,058 



354,000 



1,594 



Lobstere .... 



1,018,859 



562, 276 



1, 060, 600 



516,301 



Shrimp .... 



1/ 



1/ 



2,400 



2,400 



Clams: 











Hard 



1, 869, 970 



858,767 



1,894,000 



820, 169 



Soft 



33, 648 



14,020 



21,500 



8,965 



Surf 



42, 306, 687 



3,047,857 



36,875,200 



2,503,719 



Conchs .... 



183,500 



48,385 



190, 900 



39,076 



Mussels, sea. . 



%J 



1/ 



600 



300 



Oysters .... 



502, 659 



681,319 



1,097,700 



1,024,410 



Scallops: 











Bay 



95,533 



45,000 



376, 300 



154,911 



Sea 



1,895,979 



1,152,610 



140, 300 



79,756 



Squid 



453,017 



32,718 



376,900 



21,735 



Terrapin, dia- 











mond-back . 



ly 



1/ 



3,900 



1,365 



Turtles .... 



y 



1/ 



55,900 



6,585 



Total shell- 











fish, etc. . 



49,557,854 



6,550,548 



43,074,100 



5,266,207 



Grand total , j 



t5$,8Sl!000 



11.292.602 



139,362,300 



3,422,613 



1/Not available. 





Note: Data for 1964 are revised. Univalve and bivalv 



e mollusks 



are reported in pounds of meats. All other species ar 



e shown 



in round wejqht. 





year and this has been the main cause of 

 year-to-year fluctuations in production. 



Bay Scallops : Catches dropped sharply 

 from 1964. The failure was attributed to the 

 abundance of weed growth, usually removed 

 by northeast storms in the fall months. There 

 were no storms, however, and dredges picked 

 up large quantities of seaweed, thus limiting 

 the fishery. 



Shad : Fish were caught by drift and 

 stake -gill nets mainly in the Delaware Bay 

 and Hudson River during the spring. There 

 was good fishing In the Hudson River the 

 last week In April and the first week In May, but 



the catch did not meet fishermen's expecta- 

 tions. Fishing effort was less than in 1964 

 and was partially responsible for the poor 

 catch. Delaware Bay stake-net fishermen 

 were just able to show a profit from the 

 catches in 1965. Those fishermen would 

 have made larger catches if prices for shad 

 had been higher. Many fishermen quit fish- 

 ing weeks before the run of shad ended. 



Striped Bass: This was the second best 

 year with landings of about 800,000 pounds-- 

 216,000 pounds below the record year of 

 1964. Otter-trawl year was credited for 

 most of the catch (70 percent) during Jan- 

 uary-March, the period of peak landings. 

 Nearly all tlie otter-trawl vessels from 

 Point Pleasant and Atlantic City contributed 

 to the catch of striped bass during those 

 months. There was no other species avail- 

 able in any quantity at that time of the year. 



Clams: Production of hard clams In 1 965 

 totaled 1.9 million pounds, about the same 

 as the previous year. Surf clam production, 

 however, was up 15 percent--42.3 million 

 pounds as against 36.9 million pounds In 

 1964. 



North Atlantic Fisheries Investigations 



DISTRIBUTION OF BRIT HERRING STUDIED: 



M/V "Rorqual " Cruise 5-66 (June 22-30, 

 1966): To search for and sample "brlt"-slze 

 herring (2 to 3 Inches) and sardlne-slze her- 

 ring schools was the objective of this cruise 

 by the research vessel Rorqual , operated by the 

 Bureau of Commercial Fisheries, U. S. Depart- 

 ment of the Interior. The area of operations 

 was Saco Bay to Machlas Bay (Gulf of Malne)- 

 inshore to 5 fathonas and offshore to 50 fath- 

 oms. 



Surveys during the cruise were made 

 with an echo sounder and traces were sam- 

 pled with a high-speed trawl and an otter 

 trawl. The areas surveyed and the results 

 obtained were as follows: 



Casco and Saco Bays (depth 10-20 fath- 

 oms, daytlme)--there were no traces ofher- 

 rlng and net tows did not catch any; offshore 

 Casco and Saco Bays (depth 20-50 fathoms, 

 nlght)--no traces of herring were found. 



