39 



chain (Captiva, 1960) was added; this partially 

 alleviated the problem. 



Fishing Results 



The s out he r n hardclam was the species 

 captured during these explorations. The taste 

 and texture of its meat are comparable to the 

 northern hard clajn. Porter and Chestnut 

 compared the two species in 1962. 



Small numbers of ocean quahog (Arctica is - 

 landica ) were captured duringtwo cruises, but 

 with different gear and only in deeper water 

 (20 to 2 5 fathoms) north of Oregon Inlet. Their 

 ecological range differed from that of the hard 

 clam. We have not captured this clam south of 

 Oregon Inlet. Cape Hatter as is reported the 

 southern limit of its geographical range (Ab- 



bottj 1954). It is a common commercial spe- 

 cies north of the survey area and Arcisz and 

 Sandholzer described it in 1947. 



Cummins, Rivers, and Struhsaker (1962) re- 

 ported on commercial concentrations of hard 

 clams found in an area extending from Cape 

 Lookout Bight to 4 miles west of Beaufort In- 

 let (fig. 5). In this area, catches ranged from 

 one clam to 6\ bushels (585 pounds) of 3- to 

 5 -inch clams per 40 -minute drag. Catches 

 from an area near Cape Fear consisted mostly 

 of hard -clam shells and up to 77 individual live 

 clams per 30-mlnute drag (fig. 6). 



THE NORTH CAROLINA FISHERY 



During Cruise No. 20 (November 21 to De- 

 cember 13, 1959) commercial concentrations 



Fig. 5 - Silver Bay clam dredging stations from Cape Lookout to Bogue Banks, N. C, showing commercial concentrations of hard 

 clams. 



