NORTH AND WEST BAYS 
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Figure 23.—Estimated average daily instantaneous numbers of 
commercial shrimp fishermen (light) and boats (dark) by areas, 
weekdays (W), and weekend-days (E) each month in 1973. None 
was observed in coastal waters. 
fisheries. Of the oyster fishing effort 85.7% was in East 
Bay, 13.9% in North and West Bays, 0.4% in St. Andrew 
Bay, and 0% in coastal waters (Table 11). 
The observed oyster fishing effort was essentially 
limited to subareas 88, 90, 91, and 92 in East Bay, sub- 
area 12 in North Bay, subarea 29 and 30 in West Bay, 
and subarea 59 in St. Andrew Bay. Both public and 
private beds were harvested by the commercial fisher- 
men. 
17 
The seasonal pattern and level of oyster fishing effort 
are shown in Figure 25 and transit boats in Figure 26. In 
Florida the taking of oysters is prohibited by law during 
June, July, and August. A small effort during the closed 
season was revealed in North and West Bays by the sur- 
vey, however. The level of effort in season probably 
resulted from several factors including, but not limited 
to, the price of oysters, their condition (size, quality), 
and competing opportunities for the fishermen. The 
availability of scallops in September and October 
provides the fishermen with an optional fishery. The 
specially built flat-bottom, wooden boats used in the oys- 
ter fishery are also adaptable to the scallop fishery. 
The fishermen in the St. Andrew Bay system relied on 
individually operated oyster tongs as the method of har- 
vesting oysters commercially. The only observed ex- 
ception was a single commercial fisherman using a dip 
net to reach oysters in shallow water. 
Finfish Fishing Effort 
The finfish fishery of the St. Andrew Bay system and 
adjacent coastal waters was third in importance to com- 
mercial fishermen as measured by the estimated fishing 
effort. That effort amounted to 22.0% of the sum of the 
estimated effort for all fisheries. By area 44.1% of the ef- 
fort was in coastal waters, 25.5% in North and West 
Bays, 20.5% in St. Andrew Bay, and 9.9% in East Bay 
(Table 11). The daily and monthly estimated number of 
fishermen and boats engaged in commercial finfish 
fishing is shown in Figure 27; transit finfish fishermen 
and boats are shown in Figure 28. 
Of the finfish fishing effort, 68.9% was classified as 
seine fishing for bait and 31.1% as gill net fishing for 
food fish. Since circumstances did not permit personal 
interviews or inspection of the catch, the percentage 
figures may be in error. Most seine boats that operated 
along the coastal beaches and in the passes carried nets 
of various mesh sizes for fishing for both bait and food 
fishes. The target species of that fishery generally were 
the round scad, Decapterus punctatus; scaled sardine, 
Harengula pensacolae; and ladyfish, Elops saurus. These 
species are used extensively as bait by recreational and 
commercial fishermen. Food fishes, however, were 
sought when seasonally available; mixed catches of bait 
and food fishes were common to that fishery. 
In the bay system, beach seines were used primarily to 
catch food fish and secondarily to capture bait fishes. 
The shallow draft boats especially built to operate along 
the ocean beaches serve equally well in shallow bay, 
bayou, and lagoon waters. 
All observed gill net fishing was judged to be for food 
fish, although low-quality food fishes that were caught by 
gill netters undoubtedly entered the bait fish market. 
The preferred fishes were chiefly mullet, Mugil sp.; 
spotted seatrout, Cynoscion nebulosus; and pompano, 
Trachinotus carolinus. The mullet and seatrout fisheries 
were essentially limited to late fall and winter, when they 
become relatively abundant in marketable size. The 
pompano is generally available from spring to late fall. 
