LIFE HISTORY OF THE STRIPED BASS 
847 
release. The high rate of recapture is indicative of a severe strain on the local stock 
of fish. 
It is surprising to note that after an extended period of lean years the catch of 
striped bass in Maryland waters increased from 332,000 pounds in 1934 to 928,000 
pounds in 1935. This increase of nearly threefold cannot be definitely explained in 
the absence of field observations but a likely cause for the greater abundance of fish 
is suggested. In 1932 the use of the purse seine was forbidden in Maryland. This type 
of net had accounted for about 25 percent of the annual catch for several years prior 
to 1931. Although the catch remained low from 1932 to 1934, it is significant that 
the striped bass do not generally attain commercial size until their third summer. 
Hence, fish which were spawned in 1933 did not appear in the catch until 1935. It 
might be assumed that enough adult striped bass 3 years old or older were spared by 
the abolition of the purse-seine fishery in 1932 to aid greatly in spawning production 
Figure 26. — Commercial catch of striped bass in the Middle Atlantic States, Maryland, Virginia, and North Carolina, compiled by 
Bureau of Fisheries for various years since 1887. 
in the spring of 1933. Many fish spawned in 1933 undoubtedly reached the com- 
mercial catch during 1935. If such a condition actually occurred then a heavy 
production of young also occurred in 1934, making possible a large commercial catch 
in 1936. Field reports again indicate that the striped bass was as abundant in 1936 
as in 1935, and that most catches were composed of small fish. 
Another indication of the recent increase in the stock of striped bass along the 
Atlantic seaboard is shown by the incursion of many 2-year-old fish to the coast of 
southern New England in 1936 as noted by Merriman (1937). This movement of fish 
into southern New England is perhaps definitely correlated with the increase of 
striped bass shown by the commercial catch in 1935 in upper Chesapeake Bay. A 
movement of fish out of Chesapeake Bay and into northern areas may therefore 
occur at times when the local stock of fish becomes so abundant as to seriously reduce 
its food supply. Whether depleted northern waters will be permanently restocked as 
a result of this recent influx of striped bass from apparently overstocked southern 
areas is unknown. 
