36 



Area Surveyed 



The northern portion of the area surveyed 

 (fig. 2) extends from the Outer Banks at Cape 

 Hatteras, the eastermost part of the work 

 area, to Cape Romain, north of Charleston, 

 S. C. It is interrupted by Capes Lookout and 

 Fear in North Carolina and Cape Romain in 

 South Carolina, which form three large bays-- 

 Raleigh, Onslow, and Long. 



South Carolina, Georgia, and northern Flo- 

 rida (fig. 3), which lie westernmost and the 

 greatest distance from the Gulf Stream, con- 

 stitute the middle portion of the survey area. 



Southward from the mouth of the St. Johns 

 River near Jacksonville to Eau Gallie (fig. 4), 

 the southernmost portion surveyed, the coast 

 is interrupted only by Cape Kennedy. 



Gear and Methods 



To obtain coverage throughout the work 

 area, whenever the opportunity occurred, clam 

 dredges were used during regularly scheduled 

 exploratory fishing cruises. These were mod- 

 ified 14-tooth Fall River type clam dredges 

 (see Tiller, Glude, and Stringer, 1952). Asin- 

 gle dredge was normally towed for 15 to 30 

 minutes off an aft gallows of the Silver Bay 

 with-|- or 4-inch wire rope. Two major dif- 

 ficulties affected catch rates --the vessel could 

 not be slowed to optimum dredging speeds, and 

 its draft restricted fishing to depths shallower 

 than about 3 fathoms. The gear appeared to 

 perform satisfactorily on soft mud and sand 

 bottom, but the Fall River type dredge tends 

 to become clogged in clay or sticky mud bot- 

 tom. On hard bottom, the dredge tends to skip 

 or jump, and for this reason an accumulator 



I 



^Jpjgv 





Fig. 2 - Silver Bay clam dredging stations from Oregon Inlet, N, C. , to Cape Romain, S. C, 



