marshes (Vadis; 21 Topinka 22 ). Two precautionary measures are fol- 

 lowed in the packing process for sandworms; pack life may be 

 extended by the use of seaweed that is rather dry (compared with 

 the wetter weed used in packing bloodworms) and the use of excep- 

 tionally fine seaweed is avoided because the sandworms cannot 

 burrow down through it and consequently clump together on top. 

 Many dealers prefer to use light-colored packing weed when it is 

 available. The reason for this may be simply that the product looks 

 better packed in light weed (Curtis 23 ). Some dealers believe that 

 dark weed is a better packing medium for bloodworms and light 

 week is better for sandworms (Hammond 24 ). In the past, sea let- 

 tuce. Viva, has also been successfully used as a packing medium in 

 those areas (such as Prince Edward Island) where conventional 

 packing weeds are absent (MacPhail 1954). 



The seaweed is placed in shallow newspaper-lined cardboard car- 

 tons with lids. In the recent past, shallow tomato boxes were used 

 for this purpose. Canned milk cartons have also been used success- 

 fully for shipping bloodworms (Ganaros footnote 4). Each carton 

 contains 250 bloodworms or 125 sandworms. 



The worms are shipped to their destination by refrigerated truck. 

 bus, or air freight. In the past, they were also shipped by railway 

 express and parcel post (Sandrof 1946). 



PRESENT MARINE WORM MARKETS 



Marine worm dealers presently categorize their U.S. marine 

 worm markets into four general areas of delivery: New York, Bos- 

 ton, the southern market, and California (Peaslee; 25 Wanser; 2 " 

 Wright; 27 Crowley; 28 Fairservice 2 '). The approximate extent of the 

 season and the worm species associated with each of these markets 

 is described as follows. 



The onset of the "New York market," including Connecticut, 

 generally occurs some time between the end of February and the 

 middle of March. This market is concluded between the middle and 

 end of November. Both bloodworms and sandworms are marketed 

 in New York but sandworms prevail in the "Connecticut market." 



The "Boston market" is comprised of two divisions: a Boston 

 proper market, including the area just east of Boston, and a market 

 on the Cape Cod peninsula. The onset of the former occurs between 

 the end of February and the end of March and it is concluded 

 between the end of October and the end of November. The onset of 

 the market on the Cape occurs in May, demand is high during June. 

 July, and August, and the market is concluded by the first of Sep- 

 tember. Both divisions of the Boston market deal primarily with 

 sandworms. 



21 R. L. Vadis, Professor. University of Maine. Orono. ME 04473. pers. commun. 

 July 1979. 



—J. Topinka. Principal investigator, Bigelow Laboratory for Ocean Sciences. 

 West Boothbay Harbor, ME 04575. pers. commun. July 1979. 



;, C. Curtis, marine worm digger. Wiscasset. ME 04578. pers. commun. July 

 1979. 



:j F H. Hammond, marine worm dealer. Wiscasset. ME 04578. pers. commun. 

 1979. 



:5 F E. Peaslee. marine worm dealer, Wiscasset, ME 04578, pers. commun. 

 August 1979. 



: *R. Wanser. marine worm dealer. Wiscasset. ME 04578. pers. commun. August 

 1979. 



: ~W- A Wright, marine worm dealer. Addison. ME 04604. pers. commun. 

 August 1979. 



: *k A. Crowley, marine worm dealer. Addison. ME 04604. pers. commun. 

 August 1979. 



2 "S. H. Fairservice. Sr., marine worm dealer. Wiscasset. ME 04578, pers. com- 

 mun. August 1979. 



The "southern market" includes New Jersey; Delaware; Mary- 

 land; Washington, D.C.; Virginia; and North and South Carolina. 

 The onset of this market occurs between the first of April and the 

 end of May. It is concluded between the first of September and the 

 end of October. Both bloodworms and sandworms are marketed in 

 the northern New Jersey market. Bloodworms prevail in southern 

 New Jersey and the remainder of the southern market. 



Several previous references to marine worm markets are avail- 

 able in the literature. Ganaros (footnote 4) reported that blood- 

 worms and sandworms were marketed in New York, New Jersey, 

 Pennsylvania, and Connecticut. MacPhail (1954) and Pettibone 

 ( 1963) reported on the use of marine worms in a sport fishery that 

 was concentrated about Long Island and extended from Connecti- 

 cut to Maryland. Dow (1969) stated that both species of marine 

 annelids were marketed from Long Island Sound to Chesapeake 

 Bay. 



The "California market" is a relatively new market. Although 

 marine worms are shipped to this market throughout the year, the 

 greatest quantities are shipped during two specific periods. The 

 first period begins in February and lasts through May or June. Few 

 worms are shipped during the summer because of mortalities asso- 

 ciated with overheating during delayed air transport. Market 

 demand increases again during September. October, and Novem- 

 ber. Both bloodworms and sandworms are desired by the northern 

 California market, whereas a preference for bloodworms prevails 

 in the southern California market. 



The most recent market to develop is the French market. The 

 demand for worms increases around the end of May, remains good 

 during the summer, and slows down during November. A small but 

 continuous demand exists throughout the winter. Although both 

 species are desired by the French market. 90% of the shipments 

 consist of bloodworms (Flye footnote 20). 



According to many of the dealers interviewed during the course 

 of this research, the weather plays an important role in determining 

 the extent of a given markets season; good weather will result in a 

 markets beginning earlier and ending later than normal. 



MATERIAL AND METHODS 



Marine Worm Sampling Program 



We developed a multistage sampling plan with monthly stratifi- 

 cation that would yield information on: 1) Size and length fre- 

 quency of the catch. 2) probability sampling expansions for total 

 catch in numbers, total number of digger hours dug, total value of 

 catch, total number of digger tides dug, total catch in pounds, and 

 3) ratio estimates (catch/effort data) for catch in numbers/hour. 

 catch in numbers/tide, catch in pounds/hour, and catch in pounds/ 

 tide. 



Selection of Commercial Sampling Period 



A survey of the marine worm industry conducted in 1972 showed 

 that the initial increased demand for marine worms occurred during 

 March, peak demand occurred during June, July, and August, and 

 by the end of November the demand had substantially subsided. 

 This trend is also evident from the monthly bloodworm and sand- 

 worm landings obtained from U.S. Department of Commerce 

 (1946-80). converted from pounds into numbers of worms, and 

 presented in Figure 2. On the basis of the information above, we 

 initially sampled commercial marine worm landings between 1 

 April and 31 October. However, the sampling period was shortened 

 to 1 April -30 September after the first year's sampling (1973) when 



