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401

NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 401

Fisheries and Fishery Resources
of New York Bight

J. L McHugh
March 1977

U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

National Oceanic and Atnnospheric Adnninistration

National Marine Fisheries Service

NOAA TECHNICAL REPORTS
National Marine Fisheries Service, Circulars

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Continued on inside bacit cover

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DATA LIBRARY

Woods Hole OceanographiclnstiMion

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'''V^f^T of

NOAA Technical Report NMFS Circular 401

Fisheries and Fishery Resources of
New York Bight

J. L McHugh
March 1977

WHOI

Coasta! Researc'i Center

ReLreii^:aC' ieci' on

' ease : . not j CFcL-201

IN.
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U.S. DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Juanita M. Kreps, Secretary

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

Robert M. White, Administrator

National Marine Fisheries Service

Robert W. Schoning, Director

PURCHASE ORDfil ^' l%li

For Sale by the Superintendent of Documents. U.S. Government Printing Office
Washington. D.C. 30402 Stock No. 003-020-00129-7

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) does not approve, rec-
ommend or endorse any proprietary product or proprietary material
mentioned in this publication. No reference shall be made to NMFS, or
to this publication furnished by NMFS, in any advertising or sales pro-
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publication.

CONTENTS

Introduction 1

Sources of information 3

Total landings in New Jersey 4

Industrial fisheries 6

Atlantic menhaden 6

Industrial trawl fishery 7

Horseshoe crab 7

Alewives 8

Atlantic herring 8

Shrimps 9

Semi-industrial fisheries 9

Red hake and white hake 9

Silver hake U

Squids 12

Food Fisheries 13

American oyster 14

Bluefish 18

Atlantic sturgeon 18

Sea mussels 19

Tautog 20

American shad 20

Weakfish 21

Eels 22

White perch 23

Haddock 24

Atlantic cod 24

Atlantic croaker 25

Spot 26

Butterfish 27

Blue crab 28

Atlantic bonito 29

Spanish mackerel 29

Northern kingfish 30

Atlantic mackerel 30

Hard clam 31

Soft clam 32

Chub mackerel 33

Frigate mackerel 33

Scup 33

Black sea bass 34

Flounders 35

Summer flounder 35

Winter flounder 35

Yellowtail flounder 36

Little tunny 37

Surf clam 37

Bluefin tuna 38

Atlantic sea scallop 39

Atlantic bay scallop 40

American lobster 41

Swordfish 42

Striped bass 43

Conch 43

Northern puffer 44

Tilefish ; 45

Summary and conclusions 45

Acknowledgments 48

Literature cited 48

Figures

1 Middle Atlantic Bight showing New York Bight 2

2 New York Bight 3

Annual commercial landings of:

3 Fishes and shellfishes in New Jersey 1880-1975 4

4 Industrial fishes and shellfishes in New Jersey 1880-1975 4

5 Fishes and shellfishes used as human food in New Jersey 1880-1975 5

6 Red hake and white hake in New Jersey 1887-1975 10

7 Red hake and white hake in New York 1897-1975 10

8 Silver hake in New Jersey 1897-1975 11

9 Squids in New York and New Jersey 1888-1975 12

10 American oyster in New Jersey 1880-1975 17

11 Bluefish in New Jersey 1880-1975 18

12 Atlantic sturgeon in New York and New Jersey 1880-1975 19

13 Sea mussels, probably mostly blue mussel, in New Jersey 1891-1975 19

14 Tautog in New York and New Jersey 1887-1975 20

15 American shad in New Jersey 1880-1975 21

16 Weakfish in New Jersey 1880-1975 22

17 American and conger eel in New York 1887-1975 22

18 American and conger eel in New Jersey 1887-1975 23

19 White perch in New York and New Jersey 1887-1975 24

20 Haddock in New Jersey 1889-1975 24

21 Atlantic cod in New Jersey 1880-1975 25

22 Atlantic croaker and spot in New Jersey 1889-1975 25

23 Atlantic croaker and spot in New York 1888-1975 26

24 Butterfish in New Jersey 1889-1975 27

25 Blue crab in New Jersey 1880-1975 28

26 Atlantic bonito in New York and New Jersey 1880-1975 29

27 Northern kingfish in New York and New Jersey 1908-1975 30

28 Atlantic mackerel in New Jersey 1889-1975 31

29 Hard clam in New Jersey 1880-1975 31

30 Soft clam in New Jersey 1880-1975 32

31 Scup in New Jersey 1889-1975 34

32 Black sea bass in New Jersey 1887-1975 34

33 Flounders in New Jersey 1887-1975 35

34 Little tunny in New York and New Jersey 1889-1975 37

35 Surf clam in New Jersey 1901-1975 38

36 Bluefin tuna in New York and New Jersey 1901-1975 39

37 Scallops in New Jersey 1897-1975 39

38 American lobster in New Jersey 1880-1975 41

39 Swordfish in New York and New Jersey 1901-1975 42

40 Striped bass in New Jersey 1887-1975 43

41 Conch in New York and New Jersey 1926-1975 44

42 Tilefish in New Jersey 1933-1975 45

43 Historic landings of major species in the New York Bight area (New York and New Jersey). ... 47

Tables

Historic domestic commercial, recreational, and foreign marine fishery landings in the north and middle
Atlantic regions including New York Bight.

1 Industrial fisheries. New Jersey 6

2 Searobins 8

3 Alewives 8

4 Atlantic herring .' 9

5 White hake 10

6 Red hake 11

7 Silver hake 12

8 Squids 13

9 Food shellfishes. New Jersey 13

10 Food finfishes, New Jersey 14

11 All fish and shellfish species. New Jersey 15

12 All fish and shellfish species, New York 16

13 American oyster 17

14 Bluefish 18

15 Atlantic sturgeon 19

16 Sea mussels 19

17 Tautog 20

18 American shad 21

19 Weakfish 22

20 American eel 23

21 White perch 23

22 Haddock 24

23 Atlantic cod 25

24 Atlantic croaker 26

25 Spot 27

26 Butterfish 27

27 Blue crab 28

28 Atlantic bonito 29

29 Northern kingfish 30

30 Atlantic mackerel 31

31 Hard clam 32

32 Soft clam 33

33 Scup 34

34 Black sea bass 35

35 Summer flounder 36

36 Winter flounder 36

37 Yellowtail flounder, New Jersey and New York 37

38 Yellowtail flounder, north and middle Atlantic region of the United State 37

39 Surf clam 38

40 Atlantic bluefin tuna 39

41 Atlantic sea scallop 40

42 Atlantic bay scallop 40

43 American lobster 41

44 Swordfish 42

45 Striped bass 43

46 Conch 44

47 Northern puffer 44

48 Tilefish 45

49 Historic trends in domestic landings of major commercial fishery resources 46

FISHERIES AND FISHERY RESOURCES
OF NEW YORK BIGHT^ '

J. L. McHUGH'

ABSTRACT

The history of total fish and shellfish landings in the two states (New York and New Jersey) that
form the landward boundaries of New York Bight is a history of change. Resource after resource has
produced maximum landings, then declined. Total landings dropped from about 315,000 metric tons in
1956 to about 23,000 in 1967 and have risen only moderately since that time. The rise and fall of the in-
dustrial fisheries, mostly menhaden, was responsible for most of this decline, and this has masked
trends in the food fisheries.

Altogether about 132 species or groups of species of fishes and invertebrates have been reported as
landed in New Jersey or New York since 1880. Fifty of these are discussed and illustrated with figures
and tables of landings.

Edible finfish species as a group reached peak landings in 1939 and declined fairly steadily to
about one-third that level in the 19708. Molluscan and crustacean shellfish production reached two
peaks, in 1950 and 1966, the second considerably higher than the first. This recovery of shellfish land-
ings in 1966 would not have occurred were it not for the rapid development of the surf clam fishery in
the 1950s.

The timing of the declines makes it clear that foreign fishing was not the cause, for foreign fishing
probably could not have affected the fisheries of New York Bight before the mid-1960s. Actually, total
catches of resources taken only by domestic fishermen have declined more sharply than total domes-
tic catches of species shared with foreign fleets. Foreign fishing is but a symptom of the troubles of the
domestic fisheries, some of which are imagined. The ills of the domestic fisheries are economic and
sociopolitical, and they will not yield easily to scientific solutions.

INTRODUCTION

The coasts of New Jersey and New York form the
western and northern boundaries of what is commonly
known as New York Bight. The Bight has been defined as
those coastal waters extending from Montauk Point,
Long Island, N.Y. to Cape May, N.J. and out to the edge
of the continental shelf (Figs. 1, 2). These waters have
been an important fishing ground since the early days of
the settlement of North America, and they still produce
important quantities of fish and shellfish. In 1975
(National Marine Fisheries Service 1976) the two states
produced a total marine commercial catch of about
82,000 metric tons with a landed value of $48.0 million.
As will be evident later, this is considerably less than
maximum historic landings but it is still substantial. To

'Parts of the analysis on which this paper is based were made under
support of a fellowship with the Woodrow Wilson International Center for
Scholars. Washington, D.C., .July-August 1971. The work was completed
and the paper written under support from the Marine Ecosystems Analy-
sis Program (MESA) of the National Marine Fisheries Service, National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Com-
merce.

The historical review of marine fisheries in New York State is a re,sult
of research sponsored by the New York Sea Grant Institute under a grant
from the Office of Sea Grant, Nati<mal Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration, U.S. Department of Commerce.

•Contribution 000 of the Marine Sciences Research Center of the State
University of New York. Stony Brook. N.Y.

'Marine Sciences Research Center, State University of New York,
Stony Brook, NY 11794.

some extent the decline in commercial landings has been
offset by an increase in the catch by saltwater sport
fishermen. New Jersey ranked ninth by weight and
fifteenth by value among the coastal states in commer-
cial marine fishery landings in 1975, the latest year for
which such figures are available; New York ranked
seventeenth by weight but eleventh by value. Together,
the two states accounted for about A% of total U.S. com-
mercial landings by weight and about A.l'^c in landed
value. There is also considerable foreign fishing and some
domestic fishing in the area outside the 12-mile zone of
domestic fishery jurisdiction. The foreign catch in sub-
areas 5 and 6 of the International Commission for the
Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF) was nearly
800,000 metric tons in 1974, but in 1972 was more than a
million metric tons. The recreational catch in the New
York Bight area cannot be determined exactly, but it is
probably about 90,000 metric tons, not including inver-
tebrates. Reported recreational catches of finfishes in
1970, the latest year for which estimates are available,
were about 121, .300 metric tons for the north Atlantic
region (Maine to New York inclusive) and 111,700 met-
ric tons for the middle Atlantic region (New Jersey to
North Carolina inclusive).

The international fisheries are now under a reasonable
degree of control. For example, ICNAF established
quotas for subareas 5 and 6 in 1976 totalling 815,000 met-
ric tons for 12 species or groups of species, but also placed
a stringent additional constraint by setting a total
allowable catch, all species combined, of 650,000 metric

Figure 1.— Middle Atlantic Bight (Cape Cod to Cape Hatteras) showing location of the area known as New York Bight and subareas 5 and 6 of the
International Commission for the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries (ICNAF). Only part of division 5Y, which includes all of the Gulf of Maine, is
shown. For all practical purposes it can be assumed that the fishing grounds end at the 200 m isobath, thus it is not important that the northern
and eastern boundaries of subarea 5 and the eastern boundary of subarea 6 are not shown. The southern boundary of subarea 6 is just off the chart,
at lat. 35°00T<.

tons. Domestic fisheries in the area, as will be illustrated
in the species discussions to follow, are by no means un-
der such rigid control. This applies particularly to the
recreational fisheries, which essentially are uncon-
trolled.

New York Bight is flanked on two sides by the greatest
concentration of human population in North America.
Some 17 million people live in the New York met-
ropolitan region alone. Shipping in and out of the area is
heavy, the waters and beaches are used extensively for
recreation, including sport fishing, and the inner part of
the Bight receives large quantities of domestic and in-
dustrial wastes. The Bight also has been considered
seriously as a site for deep-draft supertanker ports, off-
shore air terminals, and offshore nuclear power plants.
Exploratory drilling for petroleum in Baltimore Canyon
Trough, off the New .Jersey coast, is under serious con-
sideration. These issues, and recent intensified public

and official interest in environmental quality, have
marked the Bight for special attention. As background
for environmental studies and environmental manage-
ment in the area, it is important to understand the his-
tory of its marine fisheries and the present condition of
the living resources on which these fisheries are based.
An historical review of the marine fisheries of New
York State has already been published (McHugh 1972a).
The principal conclusions of that study were that the
record of landings since 1880 provided a classic example
of ineffective management and that the principal causes
of the decline of commercial fishing in New York were
sociopolitical and domestic, not directly related to
foreign fishing. This report deals primarily with New Jer-
sey fisheries. The opportunity has been taken, however,
to bring the New York study up to date by considering
landings and trends in the period 1971-75. The New Jer-
sey study was part of the intensive investigation of New

7500

74 30

T'Cod

73 30

7300

72 30

72 00

Figure 2. — New York Bight showing most place names mentioned in the text. Other place names are in Figure 1.

York Bight presently being carried out by the Marine
Ecosystems Analysis program (MESA) of the National
Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Depart-
ment of Commerce.

SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Commercial fishery landings in the New York Bight
area are available back to 1880. An almost unbroken
series of annual commercial landings is available for New
Jersey and New York since 1929, but records prior to that
time were intermittent. These have been published,
usually about 2 yr in arrears, by the National Marine
Fisheries Service and its predecessor agencies. New Jer-
sey landings include catches from Delaware Bay and
other coastal bays and lagoons. New York landings in-

clude catches from Long Island Sound and the impor-
tant bays of the eastern end and south shore of Long Is-
land. These waters are not included within the definition
of New York Bight as far as the present MESA studies
are concerned, but they do not now account for a very
large part of total commercial landings in either state.
New York landings from 1954 to 1969 inclusive were
reported by statistical areas which apparently allow
separation of ocean catches from those made in shel-
tered inshore waters, but it is not clear whether landings
reported from a statistical area represent catches made
exclusively in those waters or landings at ports within the
area. Although documentary proof does not exist, it is
commonly believed that commercial fishery landings are
larger than official records show. This is not unique to
the New York Bight area. It probably is a common

phenomenon in most coastal areas, and arises from the
practice prevalent in the commercial fisheries, es-
pecially at smaller, less well-organized points of landing,
to pay off in cash and keep no accurate records of the
transaction.

No satisfactory historical record of marine sport fish
catches exists for the area. Biologists of the two states
have made various partial studies of saltwater sport
fishing and these are useful in providing intuitive es-
timates of the saltwater sport fisheries of the area as a
whole. The national surveys of 1960, 1965, and 1970, con-
ducted by the Bureau of the Census (Clark [1962]; Deuel
and Clark 1968; Deuel 1973) included New Jersey and
New York, but the estimates were for larger areas and
catches for individual states were not reported. New Jer-
sey is included in the estimate for the middle Atlantic
area. New Jersey to Cape Hatteras inclusive. New York
is included with the New England coastal states. Further
subdivision would not provide useful estimates state by
state because the national sample was too small (David
G. Deuel, pers. commun.). Mohr' recently made es-
timates of recreational finfish catches in New York
waters from available data and McHugh (in press a)
made rough estimates of recreational shellfish catches.

Foreign catches in the sector of New York Bight
beyond 12 miles have been reported by ICNAF since
1966, when a new statistical subarea was established by
that body, subarea 6, extending from Block Island Sound
to Cape Hatteras. This subarea is further subdivided,
and division 6A includes essentially the New York Bight
area as it has been defined for MESA purposes (Fig. 1).

These statistics — domestic commercial and
recreational, and foreign — have been collected from
various sources and have been published in a compen-
dium of available information (McHugh and Williams
1976). That publication contains an extensive
bibliography, and the references are not repeated here.

Some species discussed in the present paper were not
included in the New York study (McHugh 1972a).' To
bring the two studies into agreement as a treatment of
the fisheries of New York Bight as a whole, additional in-
formation on the marine fisheries of New York State has
been included where appropriate.

TOTAL LANDINGS IN NEW JERSEY

As in New York, commercial marine landings in New
Jersey have been dominated most of the time by indus-
trial fisheries, especially for menhaden. Therefore, the
history of total landings in New Jersey is largely a his-
tory of the menhaden fishery (Fig. 3). To analyze the
record thoroughly, landings must be examined by

'Mohr, Peter Thomas. 1976. Marine Sport fisheries of New York
State. A thesis presented in partial fulfillment of the requirements for
the degree of Master of Science in Marine Environmental Sciences, State
University of New York at Stony Brook.

An error in the introduction to that paper should be noted. On page
586 it was stated that surf clam landings dominate the New York catch.
This is true for New York and New .Jersey combined, but the dominant
species in New York landings is hard clam.

90 1900 to 20 30 40 SO €0

Figure .3.— Total annual commercial landings of fishes and shellfishes
in New Jersey 1880-1975. The lower line shows menhaden landings.
In this, as in other figures, broken lines have been used to connect
years between which one or more years data are missing.

species. It is useful to examine total landings, but to do
this intelligently the di^ta must be divided into two sub-
sets, industrial fisheries and food fisheries (Fig. 4, 5).
Trends in the food fisheries are easier to understand if
finfisheries and shellfisheries are separated (Fig. 5).

The food shellfisheries as a whole show two principal
periods of development. The early period, ending about
1953, was dominated by the oyster industry (Crassostrea
LHrginica), although the trend in oyster production has
been downward since the 19th century. The sharp rise in
total shellfish production that began in the late 1950s
came about mainly through the phenomenal develop-

HORSESHOE
1 ".v

CRflS

UNSORTED WDUSTRIAl PiSHES

.-.-^^

ATLANTIC MEflRING

.-~/^-

,A-A'

- ' - - -^

Figure 4.— Annual commercial landings of industrial fishes and shell-
fishes in New Jersey 1880-1975.

FOOD SHELLFISH

■v _.-A-

FOOD FINFISH

Figure 5. —Annual commercial landings of fishes and shellfishes used
as human food in New Jersey 1880-1975. The isolated points in the up-
per panel represent shellfish landings minus surf clam meats, to il-
lustrate the point that if it had not been for development of the surf
clam fishery shellfish landings would have shown a downward trend
also.

ment of the surf clam industry {Spisula solidissima). The
history of the shellfisheries in New Jersey is typical of the
development of coastal fisheries everywhere, charac-
terized by an early concentration on resources close to
shore, followed by an extension of the fishery to ad-
ditional species and to more distant waters.

The history of the finfisheries shows different trends:
an apparent rise to peak production in the last two
decades of the 19th century; apparently a drop of about
25^^ from 1904 to 1926, although records are not available
for most years in this early period; a period of relatively
high total landings from 1929 to 1949, as shorebound
fisheries like the pound net fishery were superseded by
the mobile and more efficient trawl fishery (Perlmutter
1959; Knapp in press); followed by a steady drop as the
stocks of many species began to decline. The numbers of
species in the catch also reflect these changes. In the first
period 52 species or species groups' were listed, in the se-
cond period 60, third period 80, and fourth period 67.

If the surf clam catch is omitted, the history of total
food fish and food shellfish landings in New Jersey is
similar to the history of food fishery landings in New
York. Catches increased until early in the 20th century,
dropped during the first 25 yr of the 20th century, rose
again, and remained relatively high in the period 1930-
50, and then began a steady decline which apparently is
still in progress. In New Jersey, as already mentioned

•^Some species were grouped in official statistics, e.g., drums, searobins,
and some other categories like flounders, eels, and hakes were grouped in
early statistics but separated later. For consistency it has been assumed
that all species later listed separately were represented in early catches.

and as illustrated in Figure 5, the postwar decline in total
food fish and shellfish production is masked by the rapid-
ly increasing catch of surf clam, produced by a new in-
dustry which began off the coast of Long Island after the
second world war and soon shifted to the much more
abundant surf clam resource off New Jersey. Except for
the sea scallop industry, which is now much less produc-
tive than it was 15 yr ago, this is the only important off-
shore fishery for molluscan shellfish.

If total landings of food finfishes and food shellfishes in
New York are separated (McHugh 1974), the similarity
of trends in landings in the two states is even more ap-
parent (Fig. 5). Postwar development of the surf clam in-
dustry did not distort the trend of shellfish landings so
much in New York State because the resource is ap-
parently much less abundant off Long Island than it is
off the New Jersey coast. Shellfish landings other than
surf clam, represented by the unconnected points in the
1950s to 1970s in Figure 5, have declined irregularly but
steadily since the 19th century in both states.

Food finfish landings in both states fall into four or five
fairly distinct periods. Trends in New Jersey landings
(Fig. 5) are not dissimilar to those in New York (McHugh
1974). The first two decades were characterized by rising
catches, probably because the demand for fish was rising
as the population grew, and fishing intensity increased in
response. The causes of the decline in the second period
probably were complex, partly economic and partly
biological, a combination of maximum availability and
fluctuation in abundance offish stocks and perhaps some
local overfishing. The third period, extending from 1929
to about 1950, was a period of relative prosperity for the
food fisheries generally in both states, which began with
the development of the trawl fisheries (Pearson 1932),
and was extended by the special circumstances of the sec-
ond world war.

The coastal trawl fisheries, which began in the late
1920s, made available a much larger resource than could
be exploited by shorebound fisheries like the pound net
and haul seine industries. Domestic trawlers were able to
follow migratory resources from Cape Hatteras, N.C. to
Cape Cod, Mass. in all seasons. The growth of this
fishery was one important cause, although not the only
cause, of the decline of pound net fisheries along the
coast (Knapp in press). The fourth period in the history
of the food finfisheries covers the last two decades up to
the present. The causes of the downward trend were com-
plex, including lower prices for fish and rising costs of
fishing in the postwar era, and declining abundance and
probably overfishing of some species, although Reintjes
and Roithmayr (1960) believed that, with the possible
exception of black sea bass, most species in the Middle
Atlantic Bight area were underutilized. In the last 10 yr,
additional complications have been added by the growth
of foreign fisheries off the northeastern coast of the
United States. This development has completed a chain
of events characteristic of the evolution of all fisheries.
For reasons of efficiency and economics, the domestic
trawl fisheries partially broke the bonds that tied the ear-
ly fisheries so firmly to the shore (Knapp in press). But

the more efficient coastal trawlers still had constraints
that linked them to the land. They had no means of
processing their catch other than to ice it or freeze it, and
since their carrying capacity was limited, they had to
return to port at frequent intervals to unload. The large,
highly flexible, self-contained fishing fleets of the dis-
tant-water fishing nations, centrally controlled and
capable of catching and processing any resource, edible
or industrial, have reduced the possibilities for survival
of some segments of the domestic fishing fleet, es-
pecially if domestic fisheries continue to operate on the
assumption that they can survive by holding to
traditional methods of operation.

Despite the additional and serious problems that
foreign fishing poses for domestic fisheries in the Middle
Atlantic Bight, it is a dangerous oversimplification to
blame all the troubles of the domestic fishing industry on
"the Russians" (McHugh 1974; Williams 1975). This has
been confirmed by Gates and Norton (1974), who viewed
foreign fishing, along with other issues, primarily as
symptoms rather than causes of the problems of the
domestic fisheries. Smith (1975) reached essentially the
same conclusion in a study of the otter trawl fishery of
Oregon. The basic problems of our coastal fisheries are
domestic, but most people tend to forget that the decline
of many fisheries of New Jersey and New York, as in
most other coastal states, began long before the postwar
expansion of foreign distant-water fisheries began (Fig.
5). The basic problems are sociopolitical and economic,
and these problems have made it virtually impossible for
the United States to manage its coastal fisheries effec-
tively. Almost without exception, we have been unable to
establish viable management regimes for coastal fishery
resources over which the United States has complete
control. These include most of the shellfisheries, which
with few exceptions harvest resources endemic to ter-
ritorial waters, and even some migratory fishes like men-
haden and striped bass, which apparently seldom, if
ever, move beyond the 12-mile zone of fishery jurisdic-
tion during their seasonal migrations. These matters
have been discussed in detail by Knapp (in press) and
Williams (1975).

INDUSTRIAL FISHERIES

As in the State of New York (McHugh 1972a), indus-
trial fisheries, mostly for menhaden, have dominated the
marine fisheries of New Jersey for most of recorded his-
tory (Figs 3, 4). The principal difference is that, whereas
menhaden landings in New York apparently were sub-
stantial at times in the period prior to 1940, the men-
haden industry in New Jersey was relatively minor before
the second world war. The menhaden industry in the ear-
ly days was traditionally based in New England, and this
probably explains why it developed earlier in New York
than in New Jersey.

Examination of Figure 4 suggests that the industrial
fisheries of New Jersey can be divided into five fairly dis-
tinct periods each dominated by a different species or

Table 1. — Average annual landings of industrial fishes and
industrial shellfishes, including bait, in New Jersey for five major
periods in the history of the industrial fisheries of the State.
Weights in metric tons.

Species 1880-

-1926

1929-

-1952

1953-

-1962

1963-

■1970

1971-1975

Henhaden

10,

,165

.811

161,

,069

28.

,838

47.788

Horseshoe crab

,014

920

167

•

Alewives

862

Sharks, sXates.
and rays

Atlantic herring

630

244

116

Searobins

Round herring

•

Shrimp

Misc. industrial
fishes

•

442

,246

Hujiunichog

Sandwoms

Bloodworms

Minnows

•

Miscellaneous bait

•

less than 0.5 metric ton.

group of species. Average annual landings of these and
other industrial species are given in Table 1.

Atlantic Menhaden

In 1880 (Earll 1887) the menhaden, Brevoortia tyran-
nus (Latrobe), industry dominated the fisheries of Sandy
Hook Bay; five large factories for production of oil and
meal were operating as compared with only one in New
Jersey today. The fish were caught in pound nets and
fykes, whereas today most of the menhaden catch is
taken by purse seines. An important menhaden fishery
operated also in the vicinity of Atlantic City, delivering
catches to factories at Tuckerton and Great Egg Harbor.
Large quantities of menhaden taken in haul seines and
pound nets in this area were used directly as fertilizer for
farm lands.

In 1880 (Mather 1887) menhaden applied directly to
the soil provided fertilizer for extensive farm lands on
Long Island. At the eastern end of Long Island, at least
16 menhaden factories were operating, some of them for-
merly whaling bases. The menhaden resource was
responsible for development of a rich agricultural in-
dustry in the sterile, sandy soil.

One cause of the great postwar development of the At-
lantic coast menhaden fishery was the decline of the sar-
dine industry on the Pacific coast (McHugh 1969a). De-
mand for fish meal as an ingredient of poultry rations
was stimulated by rapid postwar growth of the poultry
industry. Landings of menhaden in New Jersey and New
York rose rapidly in the 1940s and 1950s, and in both
states the catch remained high for about a decade. In
New York landings fluctuated about a level of 40,000
metric tons, more or less, during this period of greatest
development of the fishery. In New Jersey (Figs 3, 4) it
was considerably greater. The peak postwar catch was
about four times as great in New Jersey as in New York,
but the period of relatively high catches began somewhat

earlier and therefore lasted longer in New York, probably
because the industry was already established. Landings
in both states dropped substantially in 1958. This was
caused by a decline in abundance of the living resource,
but catches rose again as the strongly dominant year
class of menhaden hatched in 1958 (Henry 1971) reached
an age at which it was most available to the fishery in the
New York Bight area. The two peaks and the low point of
landings in this period of greatest prosperity of the men-
haden industry came in the same years, the peaks in
1956-57 and 1962 and the low in 1958, but maximum land-
ings in New Jersey were recorded in 1956 and in New
York in 1962.

The decline of the menhaden fishery in the New York
Bight area (McHugh 1972a) was caused principally by
intensive fishing in Chesapeake Bay. The Virginia purse-
seine fishery, which once took mostly 2- and 3-yr-olds, by
the late 1960s was taking mostly fish 1 and 2 yr of age,
and few survived to migrate north at greater ages as
many menhaden formerly did. The recent increase in
menhaden catches north of Chesapeake Bay is reflected
in New Jersey landings (Fig. 3), which have increased
more than fourfold from the low point in 1970. The last
menhaden factory in New York has not operated since
1969, and recent large catches in Long Island Sound were
delivered to the single remaining New Jersey factory at
Port Monmouth, or to New England, for processing.

At one time it was believed that the stocks of men-
haden in the New York Bight area were distinct from
those exploited in Chespeake Bay (June 1958; Suther-
land 1963). If this is so, then the recent sharp increase in
landings in the New York Bight area might have been
made possible by release of energy formerly utilized by
the southern stock when it was less heavily exploited and
thus could migrate into the Bight in substantial num-
bers. Recently, however, it has been concluded that At-
lantic menhaden from Florida to New England belong to
a single population (Dryfoos et al. 1973). This means that
the recent local increase in abundance must have been
related to the strong 1969 year class. Fishing effort drop-
ped by 54'^f during the period of declining abundance of
menhaden (Schaaf 1975), and this probably allowed in-
creasing numbers of fish to survive to reach northern
waters. The temporary increase in abundance, however,
stimulated more intensive fishing. The prospect for the
menhaden fishery is not bright, although Boone (1976)
has reported that abundance of young menhaden in
Maryland waters in 1975 was the second highest on
record.

No significant harvest of menhaden has been reported
by other nations fishing in the area. Grosslein et al.
(1973)' have pointed out that the only serious possibility
of major foreign catches would be in winter when the
resource is concentrated off the Carolinas. They recom-

mended that the area be closed to foreign fishing at that
time.

Industrial Trawl Fishery

In New York the rapid decline of menhaden catches
after 1962 stimulated a search for alternate resources,
and for a few years (1962-66) a substantial industrial
trawl fishery developed (McHugh 1972a). At its peak in
1964 this fishery produced about 53,500 metric tons of
unsorted and unidentified industrial fishes, which was
almost as large as the greatest annual postwar landing of
menhaden in New York, recorded in 1962. This catch un-
doubtedly included substantial quantities of food fishes,
although red hake, Urophycis chuss (Walbaum),
probably was the major species by weight (Edwards and
Lux 1958).

In New Jersey a similar industrial trawl fishery
developed (Fig. 4), beginning in 1964 and ending in 1968,
but landings were relatively small. The maximum
reported catch was about 6,613 metric tons in 1966. The
species composition of these landings has not been
reported in detail (LoVerde 1969), but the greatest part
of the industrial trawl catch (Table 2)» was searobins,
Prionotus carolinus (Linnaeus) and P. evolans (Lin-
naeus). These landings were not identified by species.
Only 86 metric tons of searobins were reported as such in
1966 (Table 2).

Horseshoe Crab

The horseshoe crab, Limulus polyphemus (Linnaeus),
industry at its recorded peak in 1929 produced about
2,600 metric tons of industrial raw material. Landings of
horseshoe crab (or king crab, as it was called in early
statistical publications) in New York were very small
and infrequent, and minor catches were recorded only for
1887, 1888, and 1921. With this exception, horseshoe crab
has been a unique commercial fishery resource of New
Jersey and Delaware. The geographic range of the species
is from Maine to Yucatan.

In New Jersey considerable quantities of horseshoe
crab once were landed (Fig. 4). Cook (1857— in Shuster
1957) reported "immense numbers" taken in Delaware
Bay for fertilizer. Shuster (1957) concluded that exten-
sive use for fertilizer had much reduced the abundance of
these animals. Maximum landings reported in the State
of Delaware were 476 metric tons in 1892. Substantial
landings were reported in New Jersey until the early
1940s. The subsequent decline of the fishery was caused
mainly by forced closure of processing plants through
public reactions to offensive odors (Eugene LoVerde
pers. commun.). Shuster (1960) said that meal produced
from horseshoe crabs has a protein content of 46%.
Limulus also has been used as bait for eels and as food for
poultry and hogs. The horseshoe crab is an estuarine

"Grosslein, M. D.. E. G. Heyerdahl, and H. Stern, .Jr. 1973. Status of
the international fisheries off the middle Atlantic coast. Northeast
Fish. Cent., Natl. Mar. Fish. Serv., Lab. Ref. No. 73-4, 117 p. [A
technical reference document prepared for the bilateral negotiations of
USA with USSR and Poland. |

in this, and most other tables, foreign catches are given only for those
ICNAF statistical areas in which fishing might be expected to affect the
domestic coastal fisheries of New York Bight (Fig. 1).

Table 2. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of
searobins in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United
States coast for the period in which recreational or foreign
catch estimates are available. Weights in metric tons.

Domestic

Recreational

ICNAF

conimercial catch
Me-NY NJ-NC

catch

Foreign catch

Me-mr NJ-SC

Year

incl.

incl. incl.

5Ze 6

1960

100

180 2,068

1961

1962

•

1963

1964

261

147

1965

153

1,841 1,727

1S66

127

299

98 1,279

1967

153

124 370

1968

173

1,110 7,872

1969

1.758

145

1970

2,341 6,735

1971

137

812

1972

173 3,520

1973

106

147

1,419 1,263

1974

124

•

783 1,296

1975

( 73)

♦

323

232 4B2

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. This species is
included with the second tier quota for 1976.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn,, and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

Less than 0.5

Btric ton.

animal, and thus not strictly a resource of the open
waters of New York Bight.

Alewives

hook and line. In other New Jersey streams lesser num-
bers are taken by anglers (Paul Hamer pers. commun.).
For some reason, this sport fishery has been ignored in
the national surveys of saltwater sport fishing, perhaps
because it takes place in fresh water. No estimates of the
magnitude of this sport catch exist.

Relatively large catches of alewives have been taken
recently by foreign fleets operating in the Middle Atlan-
tic Bight (Table 3). This has been a matter of serious
concern, especially to the fishing industry in Virginia,
where the resource is still of major importance. Gross-
lein et al. (1973, see footnote 7) confirmed that abun-
dance inshore has been declining. Edwards (1975)'°
stated that the biomass of alewives in the area from the
Gulf of Maine to Cape Hatteras inclusive was about 8
million pounds (3,630 metric tons) in the period 1972-74,
down from 87 million pounds (39,5(X) metric tons) in
1963-65. The fishery now is controlled under bilateral
agreements with the major fishing nations.

Atlantic Herring

Maximum recorded landings of Atlantic herring,
Clupea h. harengus Linnaeus, in New Jersey were in 1947
(Fig. 4). Landings have been declining irregularly since
that time. One use for this resource was as animal food,
but local markets have declined (LoVerde 1972). Most of

"Edwards. R. L. 197.5. Middle Atlantic fisheries: Recent changes in
populations and the outlook. A paper presented at New York Bight
meeting. New York City, November 1975, 20 ms p.

Table 3, — Estimated commercial catches of alewives in the north
and middle Atlantic regions of the united States coast 1960-1975.
weights in metric tons.

Alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson), and
blueback herring, A. aestivalis (Mitchill), were impor-
tant species in the early fisheries along the Atlantic
coast, but their importance in New Jersey in total weight
landed declined fairly early in the 20th century (Fig. 4).'
Alewives have been used as food fishes and as industrial
fishes, but the demand as human food has been declin-
ing, although less sharply in the area from Chesapeake
Bay southward. There was apparently no attempt in
New Jersey to use alewives as a substitute for menhaden
in the 1960s as there was in 1966 in New York. Relatively
large landings of alewives in New York in 1966 were
caught by menhaden purse seiners (Lyles 1968) at-
tempting to compensate for the declining menhaden
resource.

Alewives are a popular recreational resource in certain
areas during the spawning migration in spring. Where
the species are abundant, as in certain Virginia rivers
and in the Potomac, large quantities are taken by dip net
as they migrate up rivers and streams. In the Delaware
River at Trenton, considerable numbers are taken by

ICNAF

Domestic

commercial
Me-SY

catch
NJ-NC

Foreign catch

Year

incl.

=^w

I960

8,716

14,429

1961

10,272

13,580

1962

4,600

19,051

1963

6,137

19,348

1964

3,300

16,116

1965

4,728

23,198

1966

1,901

5,843

19,278

1967

3,323

22,198

5,531

981

1968

1,202

23,503

,805

B,430

1,075

1969

926

24,343

,132

541

10,476

1970

1,400

14,802

,628

4,222

6,053

1971

1,034

11,711

,489

2,825

9.414

1972

1,815

10,595

,762

4,761

4,975

1973

1,494

8,724

,561

1,554

2,234

1974

•

1,578

9,639

962

1,213

2,8ie

1975

•

(2,462)

( 8,172)

632

1,801

1.342

The two species are similar in appearance and have not been listed
separately in the statistics, but under the collective term alewives.

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965. and 1970
did not include recreational catches of alewives.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable l.tndinqs
in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

the catch is taken in spring in pound nets, as herring are
returning toward Georges Bank from wintering grounds
south of New Jersey. In 1967 fishermen in New Jersey
were experimenting with midwater trawls to catch this
species (Lo Verde 1968), and it was anticipated that short-
ages of menhaden and searobins would stimulate
development of a herring fishery. Apparently these at-
tempts were not successful. There was no sharp increase
in herring landings in New Jersey in the late 1960s, as
there was in New York in 1966.

Except for the large 1966 landings in New York, which
reached nearly 3,000 metric tons, the Atlantic herring
fishery there was much smaller than in New Jersey. At-
lantic herring have been used in New York to make
pickled herring for human consumption, but the local
processor has had difficulty recently in obtaining raw
material.

According to Grosslein et al. (1973, see footnote 7) the
Soviet Union began the offshore herring fishery in 1961,
attracted by two strong year classes produced in 1960 and
1961. Poland and other countries entered the fishery in
1966 and later, and landings reached a peak of 373,000
tons in 1968, then declined (Table 4). The stock declined
sharply from 1964 to 1969. Catch quotas were first im-
posed in 1972. The total allowable catch for 1976 is 69,000
metric tons. Total biomass in ICNAF subareas 5 and 6
combined in 1975 was estimated at 374,000 metric tons
(Hennemuth 1975)," a considerable drop from the es-
timate of 4 billion pounds (1.8 million metric tons) in the
period 1963-65 (Edwards 1975, see footnote 10).

Table 4. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of Atlantic
herring in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States
coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch estimates
are available. Weights in metric tons.

Domestic comniercial

catch

Recreational
catch

ICNAP
Foreiqn catch

Year

He-NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

He-NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

52„ 5Z^

1960

147

70,246

152

1961

26,318

101

67,550

1962

71,813

151.421

1963

70,126

97,102

544

1964

137

28,739

148

130,758

191

1965

126

113

34,152

208

136

39,778

1,913

1966

2,906

136

32,618

177

135,629

2,767

1967

31,165

524

213,449

4,104

1968

41,716

122

39,505 231,835

29,000

1969

168

31,170

197

46,375 206,366

52,166

1970

182

30,064

187

9,223 196.407

39,653

1971

33,944

1,150

10,403 207.796

40,530

1972

39,743

409

6,591 149,697

15,120

1973

26,009

233

14,309 169.673

13,726

1974

157

32,402

200

4,894 128.865

12,381

1975

100

(36,060)

(117)

1.179 135,624

4,701

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did not
give data by individual states. New YorX was included with the New
England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

Foreign fleets caught an additional 72,330 metric tons of Atlantic
herring in 196S from Division 5Z which cannot be assigned to 5Ze
or 5Zw.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 1976
quota for Atlantic herring in subareas 5 and 6 was 67,000 metric tons.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn,, and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

Shrimps

New York and New Jersey have had small shrimp
fisheries, but both appear to have collapsed. In New
York, landings of shrimp were reported for the period
1921 to 1940 inclusive, with a maximum of about 72 met-
ric tons in 1931. In New Jersey the peak year on record
was 1929, with a reported catch of about 203 metric tons.
No landings were reported in New Jersey from 1966 to
1971 inclusive, but small amounts were recorded in 1972
and 1973. In New York no landings were listed from 1942
to 1971 inclusive, but in 1972 a total catch of about 11
metric tons was reported. According to LoVerde (pers.
commun.) these landings were grass shrimp,
Palaemonetes pugio Holthuis or P. vulgaris (Say), which
are used as bait by sport fishermen. Recorded commer-
cial landings probably do not reflect the total catch.

New York Bight lies outside the commercially viable
ranges of the two important Atlantic coast shrimp
resources used as human food. The commercial shrimp of
the Gulf of Maine, Pandalus borealis KrcSyer, apparently
does not come south of Marthas Vineyard. Two of the
three commercial species of Penaeus, P. aztecus Ives,
brown shrimp, and P. setiferus (Linnaeus), white

shrimp, have been recorded as far north as
Massachusetts and Fire Island, N.Y. respectively (Wil-
liams 1974), but have not supported commercial fisheries
north of North Carolina. Another shrimp of potential
commercial importance off New York and New Jersey is
Dichelopandalus leptoceras (Smith), which occurs in
Long Island Sound as well as on the outer continental
shelf (Wigley 1960).

SEMI-INDUSTRIAL FISHERIES

Some species are used as industrial and human food
resources, as alewives and Atlantic herring sometimes
have been. Quantities allocated to either purpose vary
considerably, depending upon the market, availability of
other food and industrial species, and other con-
siderations. Red hake and silver hake are examples.
Among the invertebrates, squids are used partially for in-
dustrial purposes, although industrial use of squids is for
bait rather than fish meal or animal food. Clams often
are used as bait also, but the sport fisherman sometimes
harvests his own, and this part of the catch does not enter
commercial channels.

"Hennemuth. R. C. 1975. Fisheries and renewable resources of the
northwest Atlantic shelf. Paper presented at .Symposium on Effects of
Enerjjy-Related Activities on the Atlantic Continental Shelf, Brook-
haven National Laboratory, November 197.5. 10 ms p.

Red Hake and White Hake

Red hake (also called squirrel hake or ling), Urophycis
chuss (Walbaum), is somewhat similar in its dis-

tribution, migrations, and life history to silver hake. It is
used to some extent as human food, but in New England
usually over 90'^'r of the catch is used for industrial pur-
poses (Grosslein et al. 1973, see footnote 7). In New Jer-
sey only about I0'"c of the catch is used as animal food,
the remainder as human food (Eugene Lo Verde pers.
common.). Limited markets sometimes force buyers to
limit the amounts they will purchase. A single stock of
red hake occupies the Middle Atlantic Bight, most abun-
dantly between Cape Cod and Hudson Canyon. Red
hake on Georges Bank belong to a distinct and separate
stock (Grosslein et al. 1973, see footnote 7). Red hake and
white hake, Urophycis tenuis (Mitchill), (Table 5) vir-
tually were unutilized until the early 1940s, when war-
time shortages of animal protein created a strong de-
mand (U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service 1945). Greatest
landings in New Jersey, as in New York, were made dur-
ing and just following the second world war (Figs. 6, 7).
Landings dropped abruptly after 1947, rose somewhat in
the middle 1950s, and have fluctuated about a level less
than 500 metric tons for the last 20 yr. Landings in New
York followed a somewhat similar pattern, but at lower
levels than in New Jersey (Fig. 7). This increase may
have been stimulated by increased demand for fish dur-
ing and immediately after the war. Landings probably
were considerably higher in the middle 1960s than statis-
tics indicate, for the brief upsurge in landings of un-
sorted and unidentified industrial species in New York
(McHugh 1972a) probably was composed mainly of red
hake, as was the industrial trawl catch in New England

Table 5 .--Estimated cotnmercial catches of white hake in the north
and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast 1960-1975.
weights in metric tons.

Domestic

commercial

catch

ICNAP
reiqn catch

Year

Me-NY

incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

"e ^

1960

2,591

1961

2,316

1962

2,546

1963

2,781

1964

3.111

1965

2,704

1966

1,603

1967

1.255

1968

1,261

1969

1.158

1970

1,844

177

1971

2,619

187 105

1972

2,999

191

1973

2.471

101 4

1974

3.780

196

1975

(3,520)

(22)

129

Recreational catches were included with red halce (squirrel hake)
if any taken.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. This species is
included with the second tier quota for 1976.

figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in H.H. , Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

(Edwards and Lux 1958). As already noted, the indus-
trial trawl fishery off New Jersey took mainly searobins,
but small quantities of red hake may have been included.

The fishery for white hake is relatively minor (Figs. 6,
7). The two species were not separated in statistics prior
to 1933 in New Jersey and 1937 in New York. Recently,
white hake landings in both states have been very small
(Table 5) as are foreign catches. It is probable that some
white hake are included in red hake landings.

Foreign fleets began to take red hake in the middle At-
lantic region in 1963 (Table 6). In 1966 they caught over
60,000 metric tons, which was almost double the greatest
total U.S. catch of this species. Domestic landings drop-
ped sharply in 1966, but although foreign catches have

WHrTE HAKE

«80 90 t900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 6.— Annual commercial landings of red hake and white hake
in New Jersey 1887-1975.

WHITE HAKE

z
5

RED AND WHITE HAKE

90 1900 10 20 90 40 90 60 70

Figure 7.— Annual commercial landings of red hake and while hake
in New York 1897-1975.

Tible 6 —estimated commercial and recreational catches of red
hake in'the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united States
cc.-\st for the period in which recreational or foreign catch
estimates are available, weights in metric tons.

Domestic

Recreational

ICNSF

OTTunercial ca

tch

catch

Foreiqn ca

tch

Me-NY

NJ-NC

He-SY

NJ-NC

Year

incl.

=^v,

^^e

1960

190

464

3,609

474

159

1961

207

482

3,486

494

1962

207

349

2,678

374

1963

294

349

2,670

375

205

770

1964

302

285

1,692

298

588

372

1965

303

307

1,509

326

400

235

572

745

1966

180

396

671

409

900

722

1967

236

331

395

342

422

884

1968

158

185

158

192

6,833

4,536

865

1969

115

178

520

182

40,928

4,237

099

1970

128

276

721

282

410

4,881

1,815

850

1971

117

323

629

336

11,578

5,858

510

1972

182

345

938

366

19,148

39,206

328

1973

153

507

699

523

22,257

24,592

626

1974

405

775

418

9,766

9,423

603

1975

113

403

(978) (406)

1,077

14,948

137

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did
not give data by individual states. New York was included with the
New England states and Hew Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 1976
quota for red hake in subareas 5 and 6 was 42,000 metric tons.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

been greatly reduced, domestic commercial landings
have not improved because markets are limited.

Red hake and some other species spend winter and ear-
ly spring offshore at the outer edge of the continental
shelf. There they have been subject to foreign fishing. Ac-
cording to Edwards (1968) the fishing fleet of the USSR
had been taking the available surplus prior to the spring
inshore migration, and this had serious effects on domes-
tic fisheries for the species. This led to bilateral
agreements with the Soviet Union and Poland under
which, among other things, these nations agreed not to
fish for red hake and other species in zones at the edge of
the shelf between 1 January and 15 April (U.S. Depart-
ment of State 1970a, 1970b, 1973a, 1973b). These zones
(Fig. 1) include the entire offshore boundary of New York
Bight. Later, a somewhat similar agreement was con-
cluded with Romania (U.S. Department of State 1973c).
The total allowable catch of red hake for 1976 in ICNAF
subareas 5 and 6 combined has been set at 42,000 metric
tons. The estimated standing crop in 1975 is 117,000 met-
ric tons (Hennemuth 1975, see footnote 11) down sharply
from the period 1963-65 when the standing crop was
about 694 million pounds or 315,000 metric tons ac-
cording to Edwards (1975, see footnote 10).

Red hake also is of growing importance as a saltwater
sport fish in the area. Reintjes and Roithmayr (1960)
reported that the species ranked fifth in numbers caught
in the party and charter boat fisheries of New Jersey in
1954, exceeded only by scup, black sea bass, weakfish,
and bluefish. The national saltwater angling surveys es-

timated that in the area from New Jersey to Cape Hat-
teras inclusive the sport catch of red hake almost tripled
from 1960 to 1970, from 350,000 to 900,000 pounds (159 to
408 metric tons).

Silver Hake

Silver hake or whiting, Merluccius bilinearis (Mit-
chill), has been an important commercial species in the
New Jersey area since the 1920s (Fig. 8). Most of the
catch is taken in otter trawls. Landings in New Jersey, as
in New York (McHugh 1972a), were high in the 1940s,
dropped sharply in the late 1940s, and stayed relatively
low for several years. Landings in both states have risen
since the early 1950s, but have fluctuated widely, per-
haps partly from differences in recruitment (ICNAF
1973), but also because markets are limited and variable.
The 1971 year class was strong and stock size was ex-
pected to increase in all divisions of ICNAF subareas 5
and 6. New York landings of silver hake have been
somewhat less than in New Jersey, but the major trends
have been similar.

Graham (1968) pointed out that although silver hake
was the most abundant groundfish on New England
Banks, the U.S. market could absorb only a small part of
the potential harvest at that time. He stated that total
domestic landings had decreased since the peak in 1957
and concluded that the catch was controlled by economic
forces. This is reflected in widely variable prices paid to
fishermen in New York and New Jersey as well (McHugh
1976)," and in limits placed by buyers on the amount of
hake they would accept.

From Nantucket Shoals through the middle Atlantic
area, there is a single stock of silver hake which migrates
to deep offshore waters at about 150 fathoms (273 m) in
winter and moves inshore to depths less than 50 fathoms
(91 m) from spring to fall (Grosslein et al. 1973, see foot-
note 7). Relative abundance of this stock declined rapid-
ly after 1965, but strong year classes in 1971 and 1972
were expected to increase abundance in 1973-74.
Estimated maximum sustainable yield of this stock is
69,000 metric tons. The U.S. share of the quota for 1973

'■McHugh. J. L. 1976. Trends in fish prices in the New York Bight
area. Manuscript in preparation.

Figure 8.— Annual commercial landings of silver hake in New Jersey
1897-1975.

was 25,000 tons, of which New Jersey landed 2,928 and
New York 876 metric tons.

Estimated total maximum sustainable yield for
ICNAF subareas 5 and 6 combined is about 150,000 met-
ric tons. Total allowable catch for 1976 has been set at
103,000 metric tons. The estimated standing crop in 1975
was about 43% below the level required to produce the
maximum sustainable yield (Hennemuth 1975, see foot-
note 11).

Silver hake and other species important to domestic
fishermen concentrate at the edge of the continental
shelf in winter and early spring. Bilateral agreements
with the USSR and Poland (U.S. Department of State
1970a, 1970b) provide protection for the species from 1
January to 15 April, when they are particularly vul-
nerable to fishing (Fig. 1).

The decline in silver hake landings in the New York
Bight area after World War 11 probably had economic
causes. New Jersey fishermen apparently were unable to
compete with the much larger New England fishery
(LoVerde 1966), especially in Massachusetts and Maine.
Most of the New Jersey catch is made in winter and
spring, when higher priced species are scarce in the area.
Taylor et al. (1957) suggested that general warming of
coastal waters from the 1920s into the 1950s might have
been responsible for the drop in silver hake landings in
New York and New Jersey, which was especially
noticeable in pound net catches. Low prices for silver
hake have been a recurrent problem. Another com-
plication has been that silver hake are used for indus-
trial purposes as well as for human food. Since 1949
(Grosslein et al. 1973, see footnote 7) the proportion of
the total U.S. catch of silver hake used as industrial fish
has varied from 22 to 78%, the greatest percentages as-
sociated with the largest catches.

Silver hake apparently is not a major recreational
species in the Middle Atlantic Bight (Table 7), but in
1970 it ranked among the first 10 species taken by party
boats in New York Bight (Buchanan 1972).

Squids

Squids have never been of major importance in coastal
fisheries of the United States. Rathjen (1973) identified
the two most abundant species in this area as long-fin-
ned squid, Loligo pealei (Lesueur), and short-finned
squid, Illex illecebrosus (Lesueur). Both are taken by
domestic commercial fisheries in the New York Bight
area, although most of the catch probably is Loligo. In
New Jersey and New York most of the catch is taken by
otter trawls.

Maximum landings reported in New Jersey were about
750 metric tons in 1939 (Fig. 9). Landings have been ir-
regularly downward since that time (Table 8). Two major
peaks occurred in New York landings, at about 750 met-
ric tons in 19.39 and about 660 metric tons in 1962. In the
United States squids are used mostly as bait, but cer-
tain ethnic groups, especially in large cities like New
York, value them as food. The highly variable landings.
like those of silver hake, probably are related more to

Table 7, — Estimated conmercial and recreational catches of silver
hake in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States
coast for the period in vihich recreational or foreign catch
estimates are available. Weights in metric tons.

Dooiestic
commercial catch

Recreational

catch

ICNAF

Foreign ca

tch

Year

He-1«
incl.

NJ-HC
incl.

He-Wf

incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

1960

630

1.733

48.639

1.983

821

980

1961

192

1.670

43.805

1.883

1962

235

1,774

45.569

2,099

41.900

1963

074

1.547

40.336

1.686

103.697

4.191

1954

417

1.484

41.185

1.560

167.308

16.889

1965

514

1.692

35.706

1.750

1.902

814

281,431

17.728

1966

911

2.050

38.941

2.068

121.373

92.924

1967

762

2.565

28.934

2.610

70.005

18,626

1968

502

1.834

34.040

1.861

881 28.914

15.082

1969

949

1.735

18.650

1.765

428 16.478

7.184

1970

463

1.489

18.667

1.518

299

651

857 20.667

3.414

1971

480

1.790

13.267

1.958

577 54,143

7.785

1972

193

2.468

9.440

2.478

345 76.633

8.148

1973

876

2.925

16.387

2.933

936 56.509

12.081

1974

887

3.185

10.185

3.202

535 64.081

7.693

1975

179

2.933

(16.240X2.945)

181 58.427

22.211

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICHAF

1976 quota for silver hake in subareas 5 and 6 was 103,000 metric

tons.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H.t Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

O 7
S 6

90 BOO O 20 30 40 50

Figure 9. — Annual commercial landings of squids in New York and
New Jersey 18S8-1975.

variable demand and price than to fluctuating abun-
dance.

Japanese trawlers began fishing long-finned squid in
the Middle Atlantic Bight about 1969 and started ex-
perimental trawling for the short-finned species in 1972
(Rathjen 1973). Fleets of several other nations now take
considerable quantities.

Edwards (1968) estimated that the standing crop of

Table 8. --Estimated commercial catch of squids in the north and
middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast 1960-1975.
Weights in metric tons.

Table 9. — Average annual commercial landings of food
shellfishes in New Jersey for five major periods in the history of
the commercial food shellf isheries of the State. Weights in
metric tons.

Domestic
commercial catc>

ICNAF
Foreiqn catch

Species

lBBO-1901

1904-1926

1929-1949

1950-1970

1971-1975

He-NY

NJ-NC

Year

incl.

5Z„

52e

American
oyster

Hard clam

5,
1,

,300
,712

,292
654

,513

1, 317

539

1960

470

1.417

223

,129

1,214

898

1961

538

263

1,092

434

Blue crab

413

102

423

411

996

1962

660

247

1,784

373

Soft clam

268

166

444

1963

396

361

1.613

507

Mussels

146

2B6

•

1964
1965

457
442

171
206

709
823

296
334

American
lobster

147

202

423

544

1966

562

190

798

396

Scallops

107

283

172

1967

350

282

1.175

565

Sea scallop

241

165

1968

442

184

1,277

405

112

619

Bay scallop

1969

241

170

1.116

358

,724

398

Squids

187

391

199

311

1970

184

160

680

365

,000

Surf clam

151

10,651

,786

1971

141

943

289

,921

,769

10,

,371

conch

1972

347

187

1,000

315

,116

21,

,456

21,

,841

Rock crab

1973

244
437

265
584

1.398
1,725

356
723

11,

,123
,459

23
22

.804
,295

20,

25,

,139
,289

Red crab

1974

* Less than 0,

,5 metric tons.

1975

258

427

(1,140)

(520)

,454

,291

28,

,900

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970
did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF

1976 quota for squids in subareas 5 and 6 was 74,000 metric tons

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in K.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

Loligo was 700 million pounds (about 318,000 metric
tons). Grosslein et al. (1973, see footnote 7) estimated
conservatively that the average biomass in the Middle
Atlantic Bight is 50,000 to 100,000 tons. The greatest
catch on record, domestic and foreign, was about 57,000
metric tons in 1973. Grosslein et al. also concluded that
the current rate of exploitation probably is below max-
imum sustainable yield (although the 1973 catch of over
57,000 metric tons was near the lower limit of their es-
timate and about 50% of their upper limit). These
authors were more concerned about the effects of in-
cidental catches of species like silver hake, scup, butter-
fish, summer flounder, sea bass, and red hake, which are
important to U.S. coastal fishermen. If the conservative
estimates of squid standing crop are reasonably ac-
curate, concern about the squid resource might also be
warranted. The 1976 quota placed on the squid catch in
ICNAF subareas 5 and 6 combined by international
agreement is 74,000 tons.

FOOD FISHERIES

Trends in landings illustrated in Figure 5 have led to
the assumption that the history of New Jersey's com-
mercial fisheries can be divided into five relatively dis-
tinct periods. Tables 9 and 10 have been based on this as-
sumption. These five periods were: 1) an initial period in
which catches of major species were high, or were rising
to a peak (1880-1901); 2) a period (1904-26) in which
catches of most species apparently were reduced, and in
which only 4 yr of landings were collected; 3) a period of
relative prosperity (1929-49), characterized by develop-
ment of the trawl fisheries, and in the middle and late

1940s by the stimulating effects of wartime shortages of
animal protein; 4) a decade of rapidly declining catches
of almost all species except surf clam and striped bass
(1950-70); and 5) a recent 5-yr period of increasing abun-
dance and increased catches of several formerly impor-
tant species. Consideration of the following discussions
by species will make it clear that this division into five
periods, although it is a useful generality, oversimplifies
the dynamic aspects of the fisheries of New Jersey, as it
did for New York (McHugh 1972a). In each period, land-
ings of individual species rose and fell, as the resources
upon which the fisheries were based varied in abun-
dance from natural causes or from fishing, or were more
or less available to the fishing fleets for a variety of
reasons. Nevertheless, the five periods recognized ap-
pear to provide a simplified view of the evolution of the
fisheries by gears, fishing grounds, and the economics of
the industry, as has been explained already.

The illustrations are based entirely on reported domes-
tic commercial fishery landings. This is because es-
timates of domestic recreational catches of marine
resources are available only for 3 yr: 1960, 1965, and 1970
and because sport catches and foreign catches have not
been reported by waters of individual states. In discus-
sions of individual species, however, available infor-
mation on recreational and foreign fisheries has been
given due consideration.

The food fisheries of New Jersey have been dominated
by American oyster and hard clam until recently. Since
the late 1940s surf clam has been the major species
(Tables 9, 10). Important finfishes in the 19th century
were American shad, bluefish, weakfish, black sea bass,
Atlantic sturgeon, and Atlantic cod. More recently, food
fish landings have been dominated by scup, summer
flounder, silver hake, and butterfish. But commercial
catches of some important species have increased and
decreased from time to time for various reasons and some
species have become important to sport fishermen, so

Table 10. --Average annual commercial landings of major food fishes
in New Jersey for five major periods in the history of the commercial
food finfisheries of the State, weights in metric tons.

Species

1860-1901

1904-1926

1929-1949

1950-1970

1971-1975

American shad

4.073

914

919

323

Bluefish

2,733

844

598

388

451

Weak fish

2,653

5.822

3,091

528

1,440

Black sea bass

979

1,044

1,217

147

306

Atlantic

sturgeon

676

Atlantic cod

614

899

1,246

405

Flounders

388

749

1,356

2,204

1,708

Sunnner

1,173

2,072

1,325

Winter

Yellowtail

324

Witch

American

plaice

♦

•

Eels

309

135

111

American

Conger

Butterfish

217

1.060

1,489

755

418

White perch

209

Striped bass

159

147

225

American bonito

121

362

212

Scup

1,000

2,711

4,155

1,899

Croaker and

spot

1,032

1,462

Croaker

839

1,306

Spot

193

156

Carp

147

Hakes

209

429

316

420

Red hake

289

397

White hake

Silver hake

1.656

2,309

1,430

2,661

Atlantic

mackerel

382

1,631

234

537

Atlantic bluefin

tuna

337

799

Tilefish

252

individual flounder catches do not agree with total flounder catch
in the period 1929-1949 because flounders were not recorded by
species prior to 1937. In the period 1971-1975 some unclassified
flounder catches are included in the total flounder catch.

* Less than 0.5 metric ton.

that commercial landings as an index of total catch exag-
gerate declines. Growth of saltwater sport fishing also
has introduced difficult sociopolitical complications.

Some of the changes in abundance or availability of
food fishes as indicated by trends in commercial landings
can be explained with some confidence, but much of the
interpretation is speculative at best. Scientists generally
are much more aware of the complications and uncer-
tainties than laymen are, and less likely to be sure about
the causes of variations in the catch. When they are
reasonably certain, scientists are likely to view the situa-
tion differently than laymen do, and when scientists are
uncertain, they are less likely to take sides or to make
simplified assertions. This tends to exacerbate, rather
than alleviate, objective appraisal of the situation and
rational interpretation and solution of problems. One
way of putting it is to say that, for the most part, in fish-
ery management the democratic process leads to identifi-

cation of the wrong problems and the wrong solutions
(McHugh 1972b).

Recreational fisheries in marine coastal waters of the
United States have clearly increased in importance, es-
pecially as growing prosperity and leisure time have
provided opportunities for recreation. However, sport
fishing was a popular pastime in certain areas in the
1880s also (Earll 1887; Mather 1887). On the New Jersey
coast Barnegat Bay and Atlantic City were favorite sport
fishing centers, and it was reported that recreational
fishermen gave so much of their catch to local residents
that markets for commercial catches were poor. Sport
fishing was also popular at many points on Long Island.
Mather (1887) in fact included recreational and subsis-
tence catches in his estimates of the New York catch,
which means that his figures are not comparable with
later statistics.

Recreational fishing without a doubt has competed
significantly with commercial fishing for the available
stocks of some species in coastal waters. Declines in com-
mercial catches of some resources may have been balanc-
ed by increased catches by recreational fishermen. Ex-
istence of substantial sport fisheries for some species
greatly complicates the problem of obtaining adequate
information for management, and for establishing effec-
tive management measures if a scientific basis for
management is available. Gathering reasonably ac-
curate statistics on recreational catch and effort, and en-
forcement of regulations on saltwater sport fishing, will
be extremely difficult and costly. But, even in the ab-
sence of sport fishing, e.g., as in the Pacific sardine and
Atlantic menhaden fisheries, it has not been possible to
prevent overfishing. Moreover, in many domestic marine
commercial fisheries it is questionable whether
reasonably accurate statistics have been gathered, or
ever will be possible, under our permissive democratic
system of government.

Because it illustrates rather nicely the evolution of
coastal fisheries and the inability of government to
manage harvesting of common-property or open-access
fishery resources, the ensuing discussion by species has
been arranged chronologically in terms of the decade in
which New Jersey landings of each resource reached a
maximum. Within each decade the resources are ar-
ranged in descending order of importance by maximum
weight landed. The order of discussion follows the order
of arrangement of species in Table 11, but the table also
includes all species or groups of species that have been
reported at any time as landed in New Jersey. Only
about one-third of these species have been selected for
discussion. For comparison, a similar table by decades is
given for New York (Table 12).

American Oyster

Historically. American oyster, Crassostrea virginica
(Gmelin), has been one of the most important fishery
resources of the Middle Atlantic Bight, whether its im-
portance is reckoned by weight or by value. Value ex-
pressed in dollars is not a good criterion because the real

Table 11 . --Maximum historic conmercial landings of all fish and shellfish species reported for New Jersey. Species are arranged chronologically
by the decade in which maximum landings were reported, and in descending order by weight within each decade. This is the order in which species
discussions have been arranged.

Maximum

landings

in metric tons

McUCimum

landings

in metric tons

American oyster

318

1887

Bluefish

214

1890

Atlantic sturgeon

670

1888

Sheepshead

1887

Pike or pickerel

1888

Mussels

143

1897

Carp

356

1897

Yellow Derch

227

1891

Taotog

131

1897

Suckers

1897

Black bass

1892

American shad

364

1901

Weak fish

431

1901

Alewives

688

1901

Unclassified eels
(probably mostly
American eel)

618

1901

White perch

577

1901

Atlantic tomcod

120

1901

catfish and bullheads

117

1901

Haddock

103

1901

Drums

103

1904

Round herring

1904

Striped mullet

1901

Rainbow smelt

1904

Available records show no
peak catch in this period.

1921-1930

Atlantic cod

3,529

1930

Horseshoe crab

2.589

1929

Shrimp

203

1929

Unclassified sharks

1930

Black drxim

1921

Hickory shad

1921

Minnows

1930

Cusk

1929

Haqfish-^

1930

1931-1940

Atlantic croaker

3,342

1935

Butter fish

2,613

1939

Blue crab

2,200

1939

Squids

751

1939

Atlantic bonito

682

1940

American eel

123

1937

Spanish mackerel

107

1931

Northern kingfish

1939

King mackerel

1937

Crayfish

1938

Pollock

1938

Red snapper

1937

Cero

1937

Sandworms

1935

Mummichog

1933

B loodworms

1935

Grouper

1937

Crevalle

1933

Atlantic silverside

1931-32

Pig fish

1931

Pompano

1935

Atlantic mackerel

8.648

1949

Silver hake

4,189

1945

Bed hake

2,536

1947

Atlantic herring

2,446

1947

Hard clam

2,307

1950

Soft clam

1,474

1948

Chub mackerel

1,474

1948

Spot

595

1943

Harvestfish

162

1943

Skates and rays

146

1942

White hake

143

1943

Atlantic wolffish

1948

Frigate mackerel

1944

American plaice

1943

Gizzard shad

1948

Ocean pout

194 3

Pilotfish

1949

Pinfish

1944

Red drum

1942

Silver perch

1945

Grunts

1150

Atlantic menhaden

220.552

1956

Scup

7,080

1953

Black sea bass

4,176

1952

Summer flounder

3.678

1958

Little tunny

328

1952

Unclassified food fishes

287

1951

Searobins

124

1959

Goose fish

1951

Conger eel

1953

Amber jack

1957

Surf clam

19,584

1966

Unclassified industrial
fishes

6.607

1967

Bluefin tuna

1,3 98

1970

Sea scallop

860

1965

American lobster

832

1970

Sword fish

454

1965

Striped bass

452

1964

Conch

238

1963

Winter flounder

199

1966

Bay scallop

171

1964

Northern puffer

1963

Rock crab

1969

Witch flounder

1967

Yellowtail flounder

588

1971

Tilefish

434

1975

In addition, the following species produced maximum landing;
(1929). dolphin (1930). periwinkles (1932). cunner (1935), Amei
1942). razor clam (1947). tarpon (1962. 1968). redfish (1963).

of I metric ton or less: Atlantic salmon (1901. 1904)1''. jewfish (1929). wahoo
ican sand lance (1935). banded rudderfish (1937). angelfish (1940). cobia (1940,
and white marlin (1965).

1^/ This may have been a misprint for hogfish.

2/ Atlantic salmon was virtually eliminated by 1800. The maximum catch obviously predates the statistical series from which these figures
were drawn

Table 12."Maxi[Dum historic coinnerclal landings of all fish and shellfish species reported for New York State, Species are arranged chronologically
by the decade in which maximum landings were reported, and In descending order by weight within each decade.

Maxiinunt
landings
in metric tons Year

Species

Maximum

landings

in metric tons

Atlantic menhaden

American shad

-'131,059
( 98,159)

1880
(1904)

1921-1930
(cont.)

Soft clam

i'1.546

1860

t 716)

(1890)

Unspecified eels
(probably mostly
American eel)

791

1889

Blue crab

Minnows

256

1888

Searoblns

227

1888

Atlantic toncod

140

1890

White perch

114

1887

Striped mullet

1889

King mackerel

1890

Tautog

1889

Spanish maclterel

1690

Sheepshead

1890

Horseshoe crab

1887

Atlantic sturgeon

194

1897

Pike or pickerel

1891

American oyster

9,108

1904

Bluefish

5.177

1904

Weakfish

5.059

190B

Mussels

3,708

1908

Suckers

1901

Tidewater silverside

1908

Catfish and bullheads

1901

Skates and rays

1918

Striped killifiah

1901

Miscellaneous bait

1908

Sunf ish

1901

Available records show no
peak catch in this period.

Haddock
Tilefish
Spot
Carp

Sword fish
Bloodworms
Sandworms
Hickory shad
Rainbow smelt

Atlantic cod
Winter flounder
Butterf ish
Squids
Pollock

7.720

1926

1.199

1929

198

1926

192

1921

147

1929

1929, 1930

1921

1929

3.974

1938

3.067

1938

2,380

1939

745

1939

350

1933

1951-1960

Red fish

Atlsmtic croaker

Chub mackerel

Shrimp

Sand shrimp

Bluefin tuna

Cusk

Witch flounder

Horthem kingfish

Atlantic halibut

American sand lance

Banded rudderfish

Yellow perch

Red snapper

Grouper

Yellowtail flounder
Hard clam
Surf clant
Silver hake
Sea scallop
Atlantic mackerel
Northern puffer
Red hake
White hake

Unclaaalf led food fishes
Atlantic bonlto
Conch

Conger eel
Atlantic sllvereide
Ocean pout
American plaice
Frigate mackerel
Striped anchovy
Little tunny
Gooeef ish

Unclassified sharks
Atlantic wolffish

Scup

Sunoner flounder

Black sea bass

American eel

Catfish and bullheads

184

1939

183

1940

135

1940

1931

1940

1938

1932

1937

1940

1933

1932

1940

1937

1938

391

1942

686

1947

940

1946

686

1943

180

1950

663

1947

065

1945

576

1946

369

I'M 3

240

1949

227

1941

173

1943

138

1944

136

19''.r)

131

194 3

1944

1943

1950

1949

1944

1943

1946

495

1958

932

1956

267

1951

16S

1951

1961-1970

Unclassified industri
fishes

486

1964

Atlantic herring

905

1966

Alewives

899

1966

Bay scallop

449

1962

crayfish

1967

Razor clan

1967

1971-1975

American lobster

812

1971

Striped bass

75<»

1973

In addition, Che following species produced maximum landings of I metric ton or
1926). pllotfish (1926), drums (1926, 1932. 1933), rock crab (1929. 1930). pigfish
(1943). white marlin (1945), dolphin (1948. 1949). and crappie (1952. 1956).

less; Atlantic salmon (IWliK cero (1901). pompano (1921
(1932). red drum (1937), black drum (1939. 1942). blue runn

U Estimated landings in New York In 1880 included figures on recreational and ^uhsistence catches, and thus probably are exaggerated in
comparison with figures for later years, and possibly also for New Jersey. When peak landings of a specie.'^ fell In 1880 the next highest year
is given in parentheses.

2/ Atlantic salmon was virtually eliminated by 1800 The maximum catch ohuiouslv i>rcdaies the stfltisiical series from which these figures
were drawn.

value of the dollar changes with time. A study based on
standard dollars is in progress (McHugh 1976, see foot-
note 12) but for purposes of this discussion the relative
importance of oyster and other species will be expressed
in weight landed. By this criterion, maximum oyster
production in New Jersey has been exceeded only by At-
lantic menhaden, surf clam, and Atlantic mackerel
(Table 11). This comparison is not completely parallel,
however, because oyster landings have been expressed in
weights of meats, shells excluded (Table 13), whereas
menhaden and mackerel have been reported as weight in
the round (live weight).

In the 1880s (Earll 1887) a fairly important oyster in-
dustry operated as far up Plaritan Bay as Keyport and
Perth Amboy. Oyster fisheries also were important in
Newark Bay. Along the ocean coast of New Jersey,
Shrewsbury was a well-known oyster producing area, us-
ing seed transplanted from Keyport. The center of oyster
production in New Jersey at that time, however, was in
Delaware Bay at Maurice Cove. Oysters were abundant
in all suitable places in Delaware Bay and the estuary to
at least 50 miles up the Bay from Cape May, even in deep
water, and in various bays along the ocean coast of New
Jersey.

In New York waters in the 1880s (Mather 1887) the
oyster industry was concentrated at the western end of
Long Island, especially in Little Neck and Oyster bays on
the Long Island Sound side and Jamaica, Sheepshead,
and Great South bays on the south shore. Bluepoints and
Rockaway oysters were already well-established trade
names. At the eastern end of Long Island oyster produc-
tion was small, although some experimental plantings
were being tried. Most seed oysters came from bays along
the Connecticut shore, but some local sets were ob-
tained. Generally, however, setting was unreliable in
New York waters. Seed planted in Hempstead Harbor
was imported from the south. The relatively important
oyster industry of Little Neck Bay obtained its seed from
the East River, which is now badly polluted. In most
bays along the north shore of Long Island, planting
grounds were leased to oystermen by the towns, but in
Little Neck Bay there was no such arrangement. There,
planters staked out grounds although they had no legal
claim, but according to Mather these appropriated rights
were respected. In contrast, in Oyster Bay, where the
Town leased grounds to private planters, some refused to
pay rental fees and defended their claims by force.

Oyster production in New Jersey, as in New York, has
been dropping irregularly but steadily since records have
been kept (Fig. 10). Landings were variable, but ap-
parently highest, in the period up to 1931. Some of the
short-term fluctuations in oyster production during this
period undoubtedly were in response to economic con-
ditions, for in the absence of unusual and catastrophic
environmental conditions the crop can be held on the
bottom for sale when prices are favorable. This could ac-
count for the rather wide fluctuations in reported land-
ings in the period 1880-1936. In New Jersey, as in New
York (McHugh 1972a), the oyster industry prospered
from the early 1930s to the early 1950s. The similarity is

T.ible 13. --Estimated commercial landings of American oyster
in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States
coast 1960-1975. Weights of meats in metric tons.

North

Atlantic reqton

Middle Atlantic region

Year

He-NY

incl.

NY only

NJ-NC incl.

NJ only

1960

594(5

826)

368(3

603)

13,005(127.455)

76 ( 744)

1961

563(5

512)

358(3

505)

13.536(132.653)

499(4.886)

1962

464(4

543)

331(3

241)

10.222(100.176)

705(6.913)

1963

384(3

760)

179(1

752)

8.856( 86.790)

234(2.291)

1964

185(1

all)

97 (

950)

10.872(106.550)

498(4.876)

1965

245(2

399)

91 (

891)

10.255(100.498)

237(2.321)

1966

266(2

605)

80 (

783)

10.295(100.890)

316(3.094)

1967

193(1

889)

46(

451)

12,430(121,815)

466(4.563)

1968

169(1

645)

79 (

773)

11.088(108.664)

598(5.865)

1969

166(1

626)

97 (

950)

10.722(105.071)

481(4.710)

1970

322(3

153)

236(2

311)

11.769(115.332)

303(3.006)

1971

439(4

298)

353(3

4 56)

12.312(120.659)

385(3.770)

1972

541(5

297)

505(4

945)

12.137(118.945)

777(7.617)

197 3

671(6

580)

631(6

139)

11.922(116.840)

633(6.208)

1974

976(9

.565)

705(6

.909)

12.141(118.982)

458(4.496)

1975

996(9

.761)

956(9

.369)

10.385(101.774)

441(4.322)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960. 1965. and 1970
did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Live weights are given in parentheses for comparability with
ICNAF statistics.

S 5

°4k

1880 90 1900 10

Figure 10.— Annual commercial landings of American oyster in New
Jerse.v 1880-1975.

interesting, because in New York the oyster industry is
privately controlled, either on leased bottom or on
grounds owned outright, whereas in New Jersey the State
controls seed production. In New Jersey, production of
oyster meats remained fairly steady for nearly 20 yr, from
about 1932 to 1953. The rather sharp collapse in the late
1950s was caused by disease, Minchinia nelsoni (Haskin
et al. 1966), formerly known as MSX. This organism also
is believed to be present on some Long Island oyster beds
(Merrill and Tubiash 1970). Mjst oyster production in
New Jersey now comes from Delaware Bay, hence can-
not be attributed to the region defined here as New York
Bight. Recently (Harold Haskin, pers. commun.), suc-
cessful setting has increased the supply of seed oysters,
and there is some hope that production will improve.
Whether the industry has learned any lessons that will
allow it to improve oystering practices and avoid the con-
ditions that led to the decline remains to be seen.
Recovery from the low point in 1960, when only about 76
metric tons of meats were produced in New Jersey, has
been hampered by periodic closure of the Delaware River

seed beds by the State, poor quality of oysters, con-
tinued heavy mortality, and competition from other
states (LoVerde 1965-72).

In New York also, production of oyster meats dropped
sharply in the early depression years of the 1930s, but
soon recovered, and remained fairly steady until 1950.
Subsequently, weights of meats produced dropped
sharply to an historic low, as happened in New Jersey in
the late 1950s. Most of the decline of the oyster industry
in New York has been attributed not to disease, but to a
massive invasion of sea stars, Asterias forbesi (Desor), a
serious shellfish predator. Through application of scien-
tific culture techniques the industry in New York has
shown substantial recovery, from an all-time low of 46
metric tons of meats in 1967 to almost 1,000 tons in 1975
(Table 13).

Bluefish

Landings of bluefish, Pomatomus saltatrix (Lin-
naeus), in New Jersey have followed a pattern similar to
that in New York. Reported commercial catches were
highest at about the turn of the century and the trend
has been fairly steadily downward, with resurgences in
the early 1930s and recently (Fig. 11). Bluefish is notably
variable in abundance, but the reasons for these fluc-
tuations are not known. It is probable that, in common
with other highly migratory pelagic oceanic fishes,
bluefish respond to changes in oceanographic conditions
and are not always available on their inshore summer
feeding grounds in constant proportion to their total
abundance.

Bluefish was an abundant species in the 1880s in the
New York Bight area, Mather (1887) said that it was in-
creasing in abundance at that time. The species also was
important recreationally.

Bluefish is a popular sport fish in New York Bight and
estimated catches are much greater than commercial
catches. Thus, the decline in abundance suggested by
commercial landings may be more apparent than real.
Table 14 shows that recreational and commercial catches
of bluefish have been increasing since 1960. Although
sport catch estimates are not available by states, the
recreational catch is apparently much larger than the
commercial catch. This is probably true despite the
general view that sport catches may be exaggerated and

Table 14 .--Estunated commercial and recreational catches of
bluefish in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the
United states coast for the period in which recreational or
foreign catch estimates are available. Weights in metric tons.

Recreational

ICNRF

Domestic ccnmercia
«e-OT

1 catch
NJ-NC

catch

Foreign catch

Me-NY NJ-NC

Year

incl.

incl. incl.

5Z^ 5Z^ 6

1960

188

201

212

544

5,040 11,726

1961

229

210

265

692

1962

344

496

424

1,199

1963

316

374

399

1,057

1964

306

246

394

660

1965

470

395

611

810

28,715 7,219

1966

424

458

539

947

1967

250

228

345

693

1968

262

347

366

916

1969

508

309

670

829

1970

726

483

988

1,032

22,753 22,553

1971

550

444

834

1.046

6 17

1972

455

368

684

1,477

2 16

1973

640

403

868

2,722

196 6

1974

484

455

728

3,132

14 68 17

1975

404

581

(639)

(3,090)

leeo 90

Figure II.— Annual commprcial landings of bluefish in New Jersey

I8S0-I97.'5.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. This species is
included with the second tier quota for 1976.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

commercial catches underestimated. Bluefish is the most
important saltwater sport fish in the Bight, in total num-
bers and weight of the catch.

Bluefish have not been reported in foreign catches in
the area until recently. In 1972 it was reported that
foreign fleets took 18 metric tons in ICNAF subarea 5. In
1973, in division 5Z, 196 metric tons were reported as
caught by foreign fleets, and 6 tons in subarea 6; in 1974
the total catch in subareas 5 and 6 was 99 metric tons.
Bluefish are sometimes taken in domestic commercial
trawl catches off southern New England in winter, and
unusual numbers were taken in the Chesapeake winter
trawl fishery in the winters of 1970 and 1971 (Grosslein et
al. 1973, see footnote 7). They also are occasionally, al-
though rarely, taken in scientific groundfish surveys at
depths to about 275 m (Grosslein et al. 1973, see foot-
note 7). There is little doubt that bluefish have been un-
usually abundant recently and it is not surprising that
they have been caught in places and by gears that usual-
ly do not take significant numbers, if any. It seems un-
likely that the domestic bluefish fisheries are sig-
nificantly affected by foreign fishing.

Atlantic Sturgeon

The history of sturgeon fisheries around the world is a
history of early great abundance, followed very soon by
virtual collapse of the fishery. In New Jersey average an-
nua! landings of Atlantic sturgeon, Acipenser oxyrhyn-
chus Mitchill, were about 1,600 metric tons for the 3 yr
1887 to 1889 inclusive. The succeeding 7 yr of record from

1890 to 1908 inclusive produced an average catch of only
about 175 metric tons per year, and although small
catches have been reported up to the present time, they
have not exceeded 12 metric tons since 1908 (Fig.
12). Shortnose sturgeon, A. brevirostrum Lesueur, also
may appear in the catch.

New York landings of sturgeon apparently have never
been as large as in New Jersey, probably because the
State has only one major coastal river, whereas New Jer-
sey borders on two. The greatest New York catch on
record was 1897, about 194 metric tons. Subsequent land-
ings have been small, about the same magnitude as in
New Jersey. The rapid early decline in abundance may
have had the same cause as in the Great Lakes (Hark-
ness and Dymond 1961), where destruction of the
resource was deliberate, as many fishermen killed stur-
geon to avoid damage to gill nets set for other species. In

■ ,/]

o
10

N. J

S B

z
2

V - •■ - ,_^

New Jersey the decline occurred before 1890 (Fig. 12). It
testifies to the remarkable resilience of fishery resources
that sturgeon has been able to avoid extinction from at-
trition by incidental and probably some illegal catches,
water pollution, and other effects of man's activities, and
that small catches continue to this day (Table 15). Short-
nose sturgeon is fairly abundant in the Hudson River (W.
L. Dovel pers. commun.).

Sea Mussels

At least two species of sea mussel, belonging to the
genera Mytilus and Modiolus, have been harvested com-
mercially in the New York Bight region. The major
species is the blue or edible mussel, Mytilus edulis Lin-
naeus. Landings in New Jersey have never been very
large (Fig. 13), nor have they been in New York, except
/or a catch of almost 4,000 metric tons of meats reported
in 1908. The maximum catch in New Jersey was about
1,144 metric tons in 1897 (Fig. 13), but in most years land-
ings have been much smaller than this. During the sec-

Figure 13.— Annual commercial landings of sea mussels, probably
mostly blue mussel, in New Jersey 1891-1975.

Figure 12.— Annual commercial landings of Atlantic sturgeon in New
York and New Jersey 1880-1975.

Table 16. --Estimated cewmercial landings of sea mussels,
probably mostly blue mnssel. in the north and middle
Atlantic regions of the United states coast 1960-1975.
Weights of meats in metric tons.

Table 15 .--Estimated commercial landings of Atlantic sturgeon
in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States
coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

North Atlantic

region

Middle

Atlant

ic region

Year

-NY incl.

NY or

-NC incl.

NJ only

1960

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

(4)

(32)

North Atlantic region

Middle Atlant

ic region

Year

Me-HY incl

NY only

NJ-NC incl.

NJ only

1960

231( 807)

22)

1961

287(1,006)

29)

1962

269( 941)

12(

43)

1963

364(1,273)

34 (

lie)

1964

145( 507)

57(

199)

•( 1)

•( I)

1965

217( 761)

134 (

469)

•( 1)

*( 1)

1966

247 ( 866)

52(

183)

8(29)

1967

365(1,276)

13(

44)

1968

317(1,111)

94 (

329)

1969

505(1,769)

306(1

,071)

1970

303(1,060)

91(

318)

1971

307(1,074)

144 (

505)

1972

352(1.232)

225(

788)

1973

511(1,788)

311(1

088)

1974

359fl,256)

219(

766)

3(10)

1975

427(1.496)

48 (

168)

7(24)

No recreational or foreiqn catches of sturgeon were reported.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965. and
1970 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Live weights are given in parentheses for comparabilitv with
ICNAF statistics,

- An unrecorded catch is possible.

* Less than 0.5 metric ton.

ond world war, landings in both states rose, especially in
New York, as mussels were sought as a source of Vitamin
A, but this use was soon ended by development of syn-
thetic vitamins. There is a small but steady demand by
certain ethnic groups which appreciate the fine flavor of
mussels, and these landings have increased somewhat
recently (Table 16). If demand were greater, it is almost
certain that by wise management of harvesting the
natural resource, or by mariculture, the yield could be in-
creased considerably.

Tautog

100
75
50
25

i 0

u ISO
a:

i '"

100
76
50
25

J^-

.--^

./•x^'VWs'V^^.

Tautoga onitis (Linnaeus), tautog, is of minor com-
mercial importance in the New York Bight region, but of
considerable recreational importance (Table 17), es-
pecially in the region from New York north. Earll (1887)
did not mention tautog as an important species in New
Jersey in the 1880s, but Mather (1887) listed it among
important species in Long Island Sound. The species is
listed by ICNAF under the category "Other ground-
fish," but this probably is to accommodate the U.S.
catch, for the species is not known to move in significant
numbers beyond 12 miles from the coast (Bigelow and
Schroeder 1953). Commercial catches in New York and
New Jersey apparently have been declining in the long
run (Fig. 14). New Jersey commercial landings have
almost always been larger than in New York except
recently.

Tautog is a relatively nonmigratory coastal species
with specialized habitat preferences. Commercial
catches are taken mostly by pots and traps in New Jer-

Table 17. — Estljnated conunercial and recreational catches of
tautog in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united
States coast 1960-1975. weights in metric tons.

North Atlantic

region

Middl

e Atlantic reaion

Year

Commercial Bee
Me-ffY NY
incl. only

reational
Me-NY
incl.

Commercial Recreational
NJ-NC NJ NJ-NC
incl. only incl.

1960

4,790

4,454

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

5,014

1966

1967

1966

1969

1970

7,090

735

1971

1972

1973

1974

1975

(95)

(16)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965. and 1970
did not give data by individual states. New York was included
with the Now England states and New Jersey with the other middle
Atlantic states.

Figures for L97S in parentheses assume that un.ivailable landings
in N.H., conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

Figure 14. — Annual commercial landings of tautog in New York and
New Jersey 1887-1975.

sey, pound nets in New York, incidental to catches of
other species. There is no evidence that the resource is in
poor condition. Catches in the middle Atlantic area
appear to be extremely variable, as might be expected
with a species near the southern limit of its range.

American Shad

Once one of the most popular food fishes of the Atlan-
tic coast, American shad, Alosa sapidissima (Wilson),
has declined to relatively minor importance in the New
York Bight area.

In upper New York Bay and Newark Bay as well as in
the Hudson, one of the most important fisheries in the
1880s was for American shad. Demand for shad in this
area, and prices, were said to have declined because the
fish had oily flavors (Mather 1887), but shad also were
said to be less abundant than formerly. A few shad were
caught even in some bays along the south shore of Long
Island.

The history of commercial landings in New Jersey is
similar to the trend in New York, although landings in
New Jersey have been considerably higher. This is un-
derstandable, because most shad taken in New York
waters come from the Hudson River, while New Jersey
fishermen can fish in two major rivers, the Hudson and
the Delaware. Most of the time more than half the weight
of shad landed in New Jersey comes from the Hudson. In
New Jersey, as in New York, commercial shad landings
have shown two major peaks, one at the turn of the cen-
tury and one in the 1940s (Fig. 15). The decline from
about 1900 to the 1920s was caused by overfishing, water
pollution, and construction of dams, but overfishing was
believed to be the principal cause (U.S. Fish and Wild-
life Service 1945). The increase which began about 1935
and reached a peak in the 1940s, in New York as well as
in New Jersey, was caused by the management program
in the Hudson River, which, by reducing fishing effort,
allowed more fish to reach the spawning grounds. In part,
the second peak was generated by the second world war,
when regulations were relaxed to increase the supply of
protein. A similar maximum in the 1940s shows in Con-
necticut shad landings also. The subsequent drop in

,•1

- /' ''

fe5

- --^

:/' ^-..^^ vX

Figure 15.— Annual commercial landings of American shad in New
Jersey 1880-1975.

catches probably was the result of overfishing during the
war, as had been concluded for the New York fishery
(Burdick 1954). But continued declines in catches of
shad in New York waters apparently had economic
rather than biological causes and this probably also was
true for New Jersey. The condition of the shad resource of
the Hudson River and the circumstances leading to the
continued decline of the fishery in New York have been
examined in detail by Medeiros (1975). In the Delaware
Bay area, as in the Hudson River, fishermen say that
shad prices reach their peak in the Philadelphia market
before the Delaware River run begins. Low prices often
force fishermen to stop fishing before the run hits its peak
(Eugene LoVerde pers. commun.).

American shad has become a popular sport fish.
Reported catches are about as large as commercial

Table 18. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of American
shad in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united States
coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

North Atlantic

reqion

Middle Atlant

Commercial
NJ-NC NJ
incl. only

-ic reqion

Year

Commercial
Me-NY NY
incl. only

Recreational
Me-NY
incl.

Recreational
NJ-NC
incl.

1960

386

190

i.aia

355

1961

386

138

2.059

287

1962

324

110

2,340

218

1963

239

1,984

201

1964

209

2,159

195

1965

233

656

2,663

178

1,476

1966

163

2,070

110

1967

394

1,839

113

1966

156

2,088

109

1969

153

2,025

1970

133

284

2,863

1,919

1971

1,480

1972

119

1,701

119

1973

(40)

1,601

1974

(135)

(40)

1,038

1975

(55)

(40)

( 763)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did
not give data by individual states. New Yorlt was included with the
New England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states

Recreational catches of shad were not recorded in 1960.

In 1973 a foreign catch of 308 metric tons of American shad was
reported in subdivision 5ze. No other foreign catches have been
reported, but incidental catches are probable.

Shad landings for N.Y. are incomplete after 1972. It was assumed
that about 40 metric tons were landed in each of the last three years.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H,, Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

catches (Table 18). Commercial catches show substan-
tial declines since 1960, but sport catch estimates are less
revealing. Estimates for shad were not given in the 1960
sport fishing survey. Estimates for 1965 and 1970 show an
increase in shad catches in the middle Atlantic region
and a drop in the North Atlantic. But the combined fig-
ures suggest a relatively stable sport catch, which may
mean that recreational fishermen are taking an increas-
ing share of the total shad catch. Present concern about
PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls) in the Hudson River
will affect recreational and commercial fisheries.

A foreign shad catch of 308 metric tons was reported in
division 5Ze in 1973. Incidental catches are occasionally
made by domestic trawlers operating close to shore.

Weakfish

Cynoscion regalis (Bloch and Schneider) was a popular
food fish in the early fishery. In the 1880s weakfish was
taken in Upper New York Bay in fykes and gill nets, and
was one of the principal species from May to November
along the northern New Jersey seacoast and in Delaware
Bay (Earll 1887). In New York waters weakfish was an
important recreational as well as a commercial species in
Long Island Sound (Mather 1887). At the eastern end of
Long Island weakfish was said to be more abundant in
the 1880s than the 1870s. It also was an important sport
and commercial species along the south shore and at the
western end of Long Island. Commercial landings in New
Jersey apparently remained relatively high for more than
30 yr, beginrting about 1897. The trend in commercial
catches has been downward since about 1921 (Fig. 16),
but the catch has been highly variable, as is characteris-
tic of most fishes of coastal waters, and the three major
dips in New Jersey landings, in 1926, 1933, and 1940,
were followed rather quickly by major recoveries, al-
though the general trend was downward. Perlmutter
(1959) found that in the period 1930-49 weakfish on the
average was the second most important food fish in com-
mercial catches in the area from New York to Virginia.
McHugh and Bailey (1957) showed that, over the period
1929 to 1946 inclusive, weakfish was more than three
times as abundant in Virginia waters in 1936 as in 1933
and 1940, and that by 1946 abundance was less than one-
seventh of the peak year 1936.

For nearly two decades no substantial recovery in
abundance followed the low year 1950. In 1964 (LoVerde
1965) large numbers of young weakfish appeared off the
southern New -lersey coast, and small weakfish, mostly
too small to market, were abundant for the next few
years. In 1969, this strong year class or year classes began
to appear in the fishery, and commercial and
recreational catches have been increasing more or less
steadily in New Jersey and New York waters, as they
have been in the Middle Atlantic Bight generally. Weak-
fish are said to have returned in abundance to Delaware
Bay about 3 yr before abundance increased along the
ocean coast of New Jersey (Paul Hamer pers. commun.),
but this is reflected neither in commercial landings in

I-
S3

Figure 16. — Annual commercial landings of weakfish in New Jersey

1880-1975.

and that declining catches in the 1950s and 1960s
represented a real decline in abundance. Two things
suggest, this and lack of effective management measures
suggest that the present period of abundance probably
will be temporary.

Weakfish, a coastal species, migrates north and south
but does not move far offshore. There is no record of
foreign catches.

Eels

that State nor in landings for the entire middle Atlantic
region (Table 19). According to Boone (1976) the recent
increase in abundance of weakfish along the coast was
caused by a strong year class born in 1969. He reported
another dominant year class in 1975. As might be ex-
pected of a species of southern origin, weakfish landings
in New York almost always have been substantially less
than in New Jersey. Young weakfish recently have been
taken in the Hudson River (W. L. Dovel pers. commun.).
Recreational catches of weakfish in the two statistical
regions that meet at New York Bight have been es-
timated to exceed the commercial catch and the in-
crease in sport catches has been relatively greater (Table
19). It is reasonable to conclude that recreational fisher-
men probably are taking an increasing share of the total
catch and that the resource has increased in abundance
recently from natural causes. Thus, the apparent down-
ward trend in total abundance may not be real, and the
decline in commercial catches probably has been offset
by increased recreational catches. Nevertheless, it is
clear that this resource fluctuates widely in abundance,

Table 19. --Estmated conmercial and recreational catches of
weakfish in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united
States coast 1960-1975. weights in metric tons.

North Atlantic region

Middle

Atlantic

region

Came
He-NY
incl.

rcial
WY
only

Recreational
Me-NY
incl.

Conmerci

Rec

reational

Year

NJ-NC
incl.

NJ
only

NJ-NC
incl.

I960

241

1,748

239

1,502

1961

1.965

190

1962

2.102

295

1963

1.558

151

1964

1.997

247

1965

205

2,282

271

S22

1966

1,597

156

1967

1,324

207

1968

1.858

242

1969

2.026

84 5

1970

144

134

746

3,181

889

6,368

1971

671

580

4,390

398

1972

868

830

6,298

442

1973

657

575

6,685

162

1974

884

647

5.669

218

1975

(620)

620

(7.293)

982

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970
did not give data by Individual states. New YorX was included
with the New England states and New Jersey with the other middle
Atlantic states.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H.. Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

Two species of eel have been taken in the commercial
fisheries of New York and New Jersey, American eel,
Anguilla rostrata (Lesueur), caught mostly in pots or
traps in estuaries, and conger eel. Conger oceanicus
(Mitchill). Conger eel is taken incidentally in otter trawls
fishing for other species, and a few are caught in pots.

American eel was not mentioned by Earll ( 1887) as im-
portant along the northern New Jersey coast, but in the
southern region of New Jersey the species was caught in
pots, and also in winter with spears. In New York
(Mather 1887) American eel was one of the most impor-
tant commercial species in bays along the south shore
and western end of Long Island, and in New York Har-
bor. American eel also was taken along the north shore of
Long Island. It is obvious that American eel was much
more important in the fisheries of the 1880s than it is to-
day.

American eel is the more important species in weight
landed. Catches of this species in New York have fluc-
tuated considerably and the trend has been slightly
downward since landings by species were first recorded in
1935 (Fig. 17). However, recorded catches of eels,
probably mostly American eel, were considerably higher
in the period 1887 to 1891 inclusive, with an average an-
nual reported catch of about 677 metric tons. Trends and
levels of catch have been about the same in New Jersey,
but landings in that State increased in the 1960s (Fig.
18). Landings of conger eel in both states have dropped to
insignificant levels since the 1940s.

CONGER EEL

AMERICAN EEL

'■/.i\/Ayv>..A_A.

7
u
°6

1880 90 1900 O 20 30 40 SO 60 70

Kigure 17. — Annual commercial landings of American and conger eel
in New York 1887-1975.

Except with certain ethnic groups, eel is not a popular
seafood in the United States. The resource in the New
York Bight area probably is underexploited. Some enter-
prising fishermen have discovered markets for eel in
Europe (Anon. 1972) and this probably accounts for re-
cent rises in landings in both states. Potential markets
also exist in Japan (Folsom 1973).

Substantial catches of American eel have been
reported in the saltwater sport fisheries (Table 20). The
estimated catch is substantially larger in the north At-
lantic region than the middle Atlantic. Recently, con-
siderable quantities of small American eel have been sold
as live bait in New Jersey (Paul Hamer pers. commun.).

American eel has not been reported in foreign catches
in the Middle Atlantic Bight, but conger eel is taken.

CONGER EEL

AMERICAN EEL

t 7

3
6

v.-

..,-A.,

90 1900 O 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 18.— Annual commercial landings of American and conger eel
in New Jersey 1887-1975.

Table 20. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of
American eel in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the
United States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

North Atlantic req

ion

Middle

Atlantic reqion

Year

Conmercial
He -NY NY
incl. only

Recreational
Me-NY
incl.

Commercial
BJ-NC NJ
incl. only

Recreational
NJ-NC
incl.

1960

164

104

675

227

232

1961

149

217

1962

108

182

1963

145

295

1964

122

292

122

1965

170

120

494

501

354

1966

129

418

1967

131

543

196B

169

523

1969

149

628

113

1970

148

436

806

336

1971

173

B28

1972

126

502

119

1973

391

105

1974

101

1,057

1975

(132)

(909)

100

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landinas
in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

White Perch

White perch, Morone americana (Gmelin), a close
relative of striped bass, is anadromous. Unlike striped
bass, which makes extensive coastal migrations after it
has reached an age of about 2 yr, white perch does not
migrate far from its home stream. The species was men-
tioned by Mather (1887) as being caught in bays along
the south shore of Long Island. It apparently was not an
important commercial species in the New York Bight
area in the 1880s, but white perch undoubtedly was
taken by recreational fishermen. Commercial landings
apparently were greatest about the turn of the century
(Fig. 19), but the catch then fell off to much lower levels.
Since the middle 1930s, however, the catch has fluc-
tuated between 20 and 110 metric tons, interrupted
periodically by declines of short duration, as can be ex-
pected of an estuarine species. In the 1960s most of the
catch in New Jersey was taken in haul seines, gill nets,
fykes, and hoop nets; and most of it was landed, and
presumably caught, in counties bordering on the ocean
coast.

Commercial landings of white perch in New York were
apparently considerably smaller than in New Jersey un-
til about the middle 19.30s (Fig. 19). Since that time land-
ings in both states have been relatively small. New Jer-
sey landings on the average exceeding those in New York
somewhat, as would be expected of a species which has
its center of distribution to the south (Table 21).

Recreational catches of white perch have been much
larger in the middle Atlantic than the north Atlantic

Table 21. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of
white perch in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the
United States coast 1960-1975. weights ih metric tons.

North Atlantic region
Commercial Recreational
Me-NY NY Me-NY
incl. only incl.

Middle

Atlantic region

Year

Commercial
NJ-NC NJ
incl . only

Recreational
NJ-NC
incl.

1960

386

826

2,984

1961

996

1962

1,310

1963

933

1964

614

1965

970

4,652

1966

1,355

1967

1,006

1968

1.211

1969

1,366

1970

1.011

5,712

1971

1,079

1972

783

1973

596

1974

500

1975

(44)

(528)

In 1970 recreational catches of white perch were included in the
general category "perches."

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H., Conn., and Del, equal the average of recent years.

leSO 90 1900 10 aD 30 40 so 60 70

Figure 19.— Annual commercial landings of white perch in New York
and New Jersey 1887-1975.

area. The northern limit of the species range is about
Cape Cod. In the middle Atlantic area, sport catches,
like commercial catches, apparently have been in-
creasing since 1960 (Table 21).

No foreign catches of white perch have been reported,
although occasional small catches have been reported in
the domestic trawl fishery. These catches almost cer-
tainly were made close to shore.

Haddock

sociated with warming of northwest Atlantic waters in
the first half of the present century (Taylor et al. 1957). It
is possible that early landings in New Jersey represented
an extreme southward extension of the range of the
species when coastal waters were on the average cooler.
The brief peak of landings at the turn of the century
probably was taken in a handline or setline fishery off-
shore in winter, primarily directed at Atlantic cod. Most,
if not all, of New York landings probably came from
Nantucket Shoals and South Channel.

Haddock has been a relatively important sport fish in
the north Atlantic region, especially in the middle 1960s
when the species was particularly abundant (Table 22).
It was not sufficiently important from New Jersey south
to warrant separate listing in the national surveys of salt-
water sport fishing.

Haddock has been one of the most important species in
the New England trawl fishery and ICNAF has paid
special attention to this species. Strong year classes of
1962 and 1963 on Georges Bank provided initial impetus
for movement of foreign fleets to Georges Bank and
southward. This quickly led to overfishing of the had-
dock resource, and the catch is now stringently regulated
by quota. The total allowable catch in ICNAF subareas 5
and 6 for 1976 has been set at 6,000 metric tons.

New Jersey and New York are south of the normal
region of major abundance of haddock, Melanogrammus
aeglefinus (Linnaeus), although the species does strag-
gle as far south as Cape Hatteras in deep water and can
be taken off New York and New Jersey in winter. Had-
dock was not mentioned by Earll (1887) or Mather (1887)
as a component of the fisheries in the 1880s. Maximum
landings reported in New Jersey were about 100 metric
tons in 1901 and landings have been very small or zero for
the last 65 yr (Fig. 20). Landings of haddock have never
been high in New York relative to New England land-
ings, but have been much higher than New Jersey. The
maximum recorded for New York was 7,727 metric tons
in 1926. New York landings were relatively high in the
1920s, low in the early 1930s, and high from 1938 to 1946
(McHugh 1972a). Smith (1915) mentioned South Chan-
nel (between Georges Bank and Nantucket Shoals) as an
important fishing ground for haddock early in the 20th
century. Royce et al. (1959) posulated an abundance of
haddock on Nantucket Shoals in the late 1920s, and this
coincides with peak haddock landings in New York
State. In the early 1930s haddock on Nantucket Shoals
retreated to Georges Bank, and this was thought to be as-

. - .\«,

Table 22 .--Estimated commercial and recreational catches of haddock
in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast
for the period in which recreational or foreign catch estimates are
available, weights in metric tons.

Domestic
commercial catch

Recreational
catch

ICNSP
Foreign catch

year

Me-HY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

Me-SY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

5^v, "e

1960

53,841

•

766

1961

60.600

133

1962

60,895

4.595

1963

56,232

10.696

1964

60,555

•

17.574

1965

60,733

694

97.539

1966

60,005

68.3S6

107

1967

44,664

16.730

1968

32,043

•

430 14.619

1969

20,788

14 5.707

1970

12,196

147

5 2.880

1971

9.779

•

123 3.404

1972

5.328

11 1.853

1973

•

3,768

28 2.526

1974

3,731

•

145 1.749

1975

•

(7.330)

1.424

Figure 20.— Annual commercial landings of haddock in New Jersey
1889-197,5.

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did
not give data by individual states. New York was Included with the
New England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic staCes.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 1976
quota for haddock in subareas S and 6 was 6,000 metric tons.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.ll., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

Atlantic Cod

New -Jersey, like New York, is near the southern limit

of the range of Atlantic cod, Gadus morhua Linnaeus,
and domestic commercial catches have been relatively
small and variable (Fig. 21).

■./ V\-^^

90 1900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 21.— Annual commercial landings of Atlantic cod in New Jer-
sey 1880-1975.

In the 1880s in New Jersey a small winter cod fishery
operated within 6 miles of shore, using handlines and
longlines (Earll 1887). This fishery probably was respon-
sible for the brief peak in haddock landings in the late
1800s and early 1900s. New York also had an offshore
winter cod fishery in the 1800s (Mather 1887). At this
time New York City was already a major point of landing
for fish and shellfish from as far away as New England.
Atlantic cod was the major species at 9.25 million pounds
(about 4,000 metric tons).

Most of the Atlantic cod catch is taken from Novem-
ber to March inclusive, and little or nothing the rest of
the year. The trend of landings has been down since 1930,

Table 23, --Estimated commercial and recreational catches of Atlantic
cod in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States
coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch estimates
are available. Weights in metric tons.

Domestic
commercial catch

Recreational
catch

ICNAF
Foreign ca

tch

Year

He- NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

Me-NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

52w

^^e

1960

453

1.613

444

1,872

426

590

1961

529

1,091

657

1,477

278

1962

467

673

400

878

849

1963

400

502

499

632

049

1964

234

128

405

171

840

196S

166

253

144

421

923

1966

112

027

069

1967

207

106

592

1968

165

209

116

454

27,334

1969

204

009

627

20,296

248

1970

172

054

188

104

235

10,439

179

1971

194

517

1,148

10,600

103

1972

107

956

1,146

10,344

163

1973

151

717

1,715

10,892

114

1974

210

153

272

156

673

8,149

132

1975

195

140

(24

500)

(147)

151

8,610

222

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 1976
quota for Atlantic cod in subareas 5 and 6 was 43,000 metric tons.

Figures for 197 5 m parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

although there was a brief upsurge in the late 1950s and
early 1960s as cod showed up in greater abundance in
local waters. Landings in New York are made throughout
the year, although most of the catch is taken in winter.
An extensive review of the cod fisheries and life history of
the species has been published by Jensen (1972).

Estimates of recreational catches of cod have been of
the same order of magnitude as domestic commercial
catches (Table 23) in the north Atlantic and the middle
Atlantic regions. In New York Bight the sport fishery for
cod is largely a winter fishery (Buchanan 1972; Jensen
19741, although catches also are made in spring and fall.

Foreign catches of cod reached a ma.ximum in ICNAF
division 5Z in 1966 and subsequently have fallen off to
about 25''f of the 1966 level (Table 23). Catches in sub-
area 6, like domestic commercial and recreational
catches, have been relatively small. In the New York
Bight area, the cod catch appears to be shared about
equally by domestic commercial fishermen, sport fisher-
men, and foreign fishermen. The total allowable catch in
ICNAF subareas 5 and 6 for 1976 has been set at 43,000
metric tons.

Atlantic Croaker

In the New York Bight area croaker, Micropogon un-
dulatus (Linnaeus), is near the northern limit of its
geographic range. In New Jersey (Fig. 22) the species was
recorded in commercial catches from 1897 to 1975, but
the period of major landings was from the middle 1930s
to mid-1940s. The annual weight landed during this
period was more than 10 times the New York catch.
Commercial landings have been reported in New York
only for the period 1926-46 inclusive (Fig. 23) plus a
small catch in 1973, with peaks at about 150 metric tons
in 1929 and 1930 and 183 metric tons in 1940. In Vir-

-' 'v\/. A V. ■„>

ATLANTIC CROAKER

"v. -^ .. J

< 3
5

ATLANTIC CROAKER
AND SPOT COMBINED

. V..-A^ .. .. ■/

1880 90 1900 K) 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 22.— Annual commercial landings of Atlantic croaker and
spot in New Jersey 1889-1975.

K
»-

S!s

(o 0

-^Z^

ATLANTIC CROAKER

ATLANTIC CROAK£R
AND SPOT COMBINEO

IS80 90 1900

20 30 40 50

60 ?D

Figure 23. — Annual commercial landings of Atlantic croaker and
spot in New York 1888-1975.

ginia, where croaker once was extremely abundant,
relative abundance was lowest in 1931, highest in 1939
and 1943, and had dropped virtually to zero by 1945
(McHugh and Bailey 1957). This undoubtedly was a
period of unusual abundance of croaker, and a period of
heavy exploitation also (Perlmutter 1959), which may ac-
count at least partially for the sharp drop in landings
after World War II. Croaker also are notoriously variable
in abundance, and the magnitude of such fluctuations
would be expected to be greatest at the extremes of the
geographic range. Recent rising commercial catches in
New Jersey and an isolated landing in 1973 in New York,
the first reported since 1946, are suggestive of local in-
creases in abundance. In Maryland phenomenally suc-
cessful croaker spawnings have been reported in 1974 and
1975 (Boone 1976), after two decades of virtual spawning
failures. This may presage continued improvement in
local catches of croaker.

Atlantic croaker was mentioned neither by Earll (1887)
nor by Mather (1887) as a species taken in New Jersey
and New York fisheries in the 1880s. The desirability of
croaker as a food fish was not recognized widely at that
time. Either circumstance, temporary low abundance, or
lack of demand could account for the apparent absence
of Atlantic croaker from the New York Bight area at that
time.

According to the national saltwater angling surveys
the recreational catch of Atlantic croaker now is con-
siderably larger than the commercial (Table 24). This
catch plus attrition from incidental catches in various
commercial gears may be responsible for continued small
commercial landings.

Croaker is essentially a species of shallow coastal
waters. June and Reintjes (1957) found that it was the
fifth most important species in weight landed in the in-
shore otter trawl fishery off Delaware Bay in the period
1946-53, but it ranked only 11th in the offshore fishery.
The inshore fishery operates within the 15-fathom (28 m)
curve, the offshore fishery out to the edge of the con-
tinental shelf. The species has not been recorded in

foreign catches but it is possible that small incidental
catches could be made.

Table 24. — Estimated coimercial and recreational catches
of Atlantic croaker in the middle Atlantic region of the
United States coast 1960-1975. weights in metric tone.

Cocnnercial

Recreational

NJ-MC

Nj-nc

Year

incl.

only

incl.

1960

3,002

3,352

1961

2.242

1962

1,348

1963

1.089

1964

1.026

1965

1,491

2,152

1966

1,239

1967

729

1968

548

1969

649

1970

424

•

1,737

1971

551

1972

2,084

•

1973

2,611

1974

3,510

1975

(7,483)

401

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965,
and 1970 did not give data by individual states. New
Yorlt was included with the New E^ngland states and New
Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

The only catch of Atlantic croaker reported in New York
in this period was a commercial catch of less than one
metric ton in 1973,

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable
landings in N.H., Conn., and Del, equal the average of
recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

• Leas than 0.5 metric ton.

Spot

Spot, Leiostomus xanthurus Lacepede, does not
extend as far south as Atlantic croaker. Earll (1887) men-
tioned spot as important off the southern part of New
Jersey in the 1880s, but not in the north. The species was
not mentioned in Mather's (1887) account of New York
fisheries. In New Jersey spot went by the quaint name
"Cape May Goodies."

Landings of spot in New Jersey have been much
smaller than croaker landings. The maximum recorded
catch was about 600 metric tons in 1943 (Fig. 22). The
species also is variable in abundance, but the magnitude
of fluctuations in landings has been somewhat less than
for croaker, and fewer years of no landings have been
recorded. A slight increase in commercial landings in
New Jersey in 1975 is suggestive of increased abun-
dance.

In New York spot have appeared in commercial land-
ings for more years than croaker and maximum land-
ings have been somewhat greater, 198 metric tons in
1926 and 190 in 1943 (Fig. 23). Spot have not been
reported in commercial landings in New York since 1957.
Boone (1976) reported that abundance of young-of-the-
year spot in Chesapeake Bay in 1975 was the greatest on

record, but that a massive winter kill may have reduced
this dominant year class drastically.

This is an important recreational species in the mid-
dle Atlantic region (Table 25). The reported catch in
1970 was nearly 10,000 metric tons, considerably greater
than any commercial catch on record.

Table 25.— Estunated commercial and recreational catches
of spot in the middle stlantic region of the United States
coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

Commercial

Recreational

Year

NJ-NC
incl.

NJ
only

incl.

1960

3,190

3,225

1961

1.474

1962

1,631

•

1963

1,091

1964

2,033

1965

1,209

2,214

1966

1,020

1967

3,402

196B

1,242

1969

1,163

1970

3,618

9,785

1971

778

1972

3,139

•

1973

7,989

1974

3,586

1975

(4,703)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965,
and 1970 did not give data by individual states. New
York was included with the New Eaigland states and New
Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

No domestic commercial or recreational catches of spot
were reported north of New Jersey from 1960 to 1975
inclusive. Unreported catches are possible.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable
landings in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of
recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

* Less than 0.5 metric ton.

Spot favor even shallower waters than croaker. The
species was a minor component of inshore otter trawl
catches off Delaware Bay from 1946 to 1953 inclusive
(June and Reintjes 1957) but was not reported in off-
shore catches. It is not likely to be taken by foreign
fishermen.

Although it is subject to much the same environmen-
tal stresses and fishing pressures as croaker, spot has
shown no downward trend in abundance in the Middle
Atlantic Bight as a whole, as croaker and many other
coastal species have. Commercial landings have declined
in New Jersey and New York and this apparently has not
been balanced by increased sport catches, although in
the middle Atlantic region the recreational catch was up
sharply in 1970 (Table 24). Why spot has survived
stresses in some areas that have driven many other
species with similar habits to historically low levels of
abundance is unknown.

Butterfish

The pattern of butterfish, Peprilus triacanthus (Peck)

f leeo 90

Figure 24.— Annual commercial landings of butterfish inTJew Jersey
1889-1975.

landings in New Jersey (Fig. 24) has been similar to that
for New York (McHugh 1972a). Neither Earll (1887) nor
Mather ( 1887) mentioned the species as occurring in New
York Bight catches in the 1880s. A maximum was reach-
ed about 1940 in both states at levels of about 2,500 met-
ric tons each. Landings dropped to a minimum about
1950, rose sharply immediately thereafter, and have
trended downward ever since. Peaks in 1951 in New Jer-
sey and in 1952 in New York were produced almost en-
tirely by increased catches in otter trawls. This suggests
that a relatively strong year class moved up the coast
farther offshore than usual and that it reached New York
waters a year later than New Jersey. This might have
been a wave of older fish from a strong southern contin-
gent. Colton (1972) reported that coastal water tem-
peratures were higher than average at that time. He also
concluded that butterfish respond to temperature change
by shifting their range north or south.

Most butterfish landed in New Jersey are caught in
otter trawls. In the period 1946 to 1953 inclusive June

Table 26. — Estimated commercial catches of butterfish in the north
and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast 1960-1975.
Weights in metric tons.

Domestic commercial

catch

ICNAF
Foreign catch

Year

Me-NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

5Z„ 5Z^

1960

834

1,063

3,315

1,671

1961

764

1,070

2,652

1,987

1962

730

958

3,533

1,794

1963

523

626

3,248

1,366

1,779

111

1964

484

539

1,785

1,164

169

316

1965

348

536

1,013

2,097

732

1966

269

669

806

1,882

3,865

1967

508

595

1,125

1,293

1,407

908

1968

442

330

930

703

948

648

3,513

1969

346

754

924

1,332

8,813

702

3,623

1970

237

441

563

1,229

1,203

916

6,906

1971

160

565

694

898

655

612

4,906

1972

187

224

365

380

556 1

298

3,720

1973

303

468

956

578

3,027 3

576

11,213

1974

362

444

1,243

1,453

3,192 3

006

4,087

1975

562

388

(1,438)

(521)

1,854 1

514

4,968

The national saltwater angling surveys
did not include recreational catches of

for 1960, 1965, and
butterfish.

1970

Foreign catch
included with

es for 1975 are provisiona
the second tier quota for

1. This species
1976.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

and Reintjes (1957) found that the species was more im-
portant in the offshore trawl fishery off Delaware Bay
than inshore. Although butterfish will bite on small
hooks, there is no significant recreational catch.

Butterfish is a semipelagic species not readily
available to conventional gears like otter trawls, pound
nets, or other gears traditionally used by U.S. fisher-
men. Edwards (1968) estimated that only about 3% of
the standing crop was being harvested in the period 1963-
65. Thus, declines in landings in New Jersey and New
York up to that time could not have been caused by over-
fishing. From 1964 on, however, foreign catches in
ICNAF subareas 5 and 6 have increased (Table 26), and
it is possible that the resource is now fully utilized (R. L.
Edwards pers. commun). Foreign catches in the early
and middle 1960s probably were substantially larger
than reported, for it is known that butterfish were dis-
carded in some quantities by some vessels. Foreign fleets
now take substantially larger quantities than the domes-
tic fishery. Like scup, red and silver hake, and other
species, butterfish is particularly vulnerable to fishing in
winter and early spring at the edge of the continental
shelf.

Blue Crab

Blue crab, Callinectes sapidus Rathbun, was abun-
dant in coastal waters of the New York Bight area in the
1880s (Earll 1887; Mather 1887). The species supported
commercial, subsistence, and recreational fisheries in
most bays along the coasts of New Jersey and New York.
It apparently was scarce at that time in some bays along
the north shore of Long Island, but abundant in others,
such as Huntington Bay. Blue crab also was abundant in
New York harbor, but even in those days, nearly a cen-
tury ago, fishermen described a coating of "coal tar" on
the water and complained of oily flavors of blue crab and
some fishes. Possibly for this reason, no commercial blue
crab fishing was conducted in that area (Mather 1887).

Blue crab ranges along the east coast of North America
from Nova Scotia to Texas in the Gulf of Mexico, and
supports or has supported fisheries from southern New
England to Texas. Chesapeake Bay has traditionally
been the center of commercial production and landings
north of Maryland have been relatively small and
variable. Maximum commercial landings reported for
New Jersey were slightly over 2,000 metric tons in 19.39,
but this was unusual, and since 1940 New Jersey land-
ings have fluctuated about a level less than 500 metric
tons and dropped to a low of less than 100 metric tons
in 1968 (Fig. 25). Recently, however, various observers
have noted increased abundance of blue crab from
Delaware to Connecticut inclusive. This has been
reflected in a sharp increase in commercial landings in
New Jersey, from a low point of 61 metric tons in 1968 to
1,319 metric tons in 1975 (Table 27); this is the second
largest commercial catch on record for the State.

Although it is eagerly sought by recreational crabbers
wherever it is abundant, and sport catches probably are
substantial, blue crab usually has been ignored in salt-

Figure 25.

-Annual commercial landings of blue crab in New Jersey

1880-1975.

Table 27. — Estunated commercial landings of blue crab in the
north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast
1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

Horth Atlantic

region

Middle Atlantic

region

Year

Me-

NY incl.

NY only

NJ-NC incl.

only

1960

40,571

703

1961

41,909

319

1962

46,476

753

1963

•

39,221

406

1964

•

47,022

263

196S

50,078

426

1966

53,214

313

1967

44,421

213

1968

34,296

1969

38,225

286

1970

41,810

253

1971

42,095

530

1972

41,734

658

1973

33,145

,177

1974

39,252

,302

1975

(34,450)

,319

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and
1970 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Unrecorded convnercial catches of blue crab were made in New
YorX in 1975 (see text).

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable
landings in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of
recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.
• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

water sport fishing surveys. Levenson (1971) found that
blue crab was important in recreational fisheries of
Hempstead Bay, Long Island. In numbers caught, blue
crab ranked fifth in importance from 1966 to 1968 in-
clusive, exceeded only by winter and summer flounder,
bluefish, and northern puffer. This was a period of low
abundance in the New York Bight area, if commercial
landings are a valid criterion (Table 27).

As already mentioned, Earll (1887) noted the
recreational importance of blue crab in New Jersey coEtstal
bays. Some idea of the intensive effort directed toward
catching this resource is given by the statement that
some 600,000 to 700,000 recreational crabbers over 18 yr
operate in New Jersey tidal waters (Paul Hamer pets.
commun.). Lane and Carlson (1968) observed that blue
crab had not been of commercial importance in Connecti-
cut waters since the 1930s, and linked the decline and

recent recovery of crab stocks with the decline and recent
recovery of eelgrass beds.

Blue crab is an estuarine and coastal species, not
caught far from shore north of Cape Hatteras. It is not
reported in foreign catches and is not likely to be taken
by foreign fleets in the Middle Atlantic Bight.

It is interesting to speculate on the reasons for the re-
cent increase in abundance of blue crab in the New York
Bight area. It has increased in abundance in coastal bays
of New York State in the last few years, and in 1974 a
small commercial catch was reported for the first year
since 1961. Commercial catches were made in 1975 also,
although none was recorded in official statistics. In Great
South Bay, for example, clam rakers at times took sub-
stantial incidental blue crab catches, as much as 10-12
bushels per day (John MacNamara pars, commun.). Blue
crab is notoriously variable in abundance in Chesapeake
Bay, which produces most of the Atlantic coast catch,
and it would be expected to be even more variable at the
northern end of its geographic range. In Chesapeake Bay,
despite wide variations in abundance from time to time,
the trend of landings has been upward since 1890 (Mc-
Hugh 1969b). It has been suggested that this has been
the result of a real increase in abundance which might
have been caused by increased nutrient supply in the es-
tuaries. In the Middle Atlantic region, commercial land-
ings showed a similar upward trend from 1931 to the
1950s, with much wider fluctuations, presumably of
natural origin, but this was followed by a sharp and fairly
steady decline from 1957 to a very low level in 1970 (Mc-
Hugh 1972a). It was suggested that if the early rise were
indeed stimulated by nutrient enrichment, the sharp
decline in the late 1950s and the 1960s in this more dense-
ly populated section of the coast could contain a warning.
Under no circumstances could a continued increase in
nutrients be expected to present favorable conditions to
the blue crab resource indefinitely, and the danger is
heightened by the growing loads of industrial wastes, in-
cluding heavy metals and pesticides, that go along with
increased population. Crabs, being much more closely
related morphologically and physiologically to insects
than fishes are, can be expected to respond more readily
to certain insecticides (Butler 1966). The unanswered
question then arises: Is the recent sharp increase in
abundance of blue crab in the New York Bight area a
transitory phenomenon, or has the ban on DDT and
other organophosphates had some effect?

Atlantic Bonito

In New Jersey and New York Atlantic bonito, Sarda
sarda (Bloch), has been taken almost entirely by pound
nets. In common with other highly mobile pelagic fishes
of the high seas it is caught erratically in fixed coastal
gears (Fig. 26). The sharp decline in landings after the
second world war probably was related mainly to the
decline of the ocean pound net fishery. Landings in New
York have shown generally the same pattern of fluc-
tuations but the catch usually has been less than in New
Jersey.

-A-J\.

1880 90 1900

Figure 26.— Annual commercial landings of Atlantic bonito in New
York and New Jersey 1880-1975.

Recreational catches of bonito usually have been larger
than commercial catches, sometimes by an order of mag-
nitude, but sport catches also have been highly variable
(Table 28).

Table 28 .--E<stijnated commercial and recreational catches of
Atlantic bonito in the north and middle Atlemtic regions of
the United States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

North

Atlantic

region

Middle Atlantic reqion

Commerc

ial Recreational

Commercial

Recreational

Me-NY

NJ-NC

Year

incl.

only

incl.

only

incl.

1960

327

468

1961

1962

1963

1964

1965

1966

1967

1968

1969

1970

•

128

1971

•

1972

•

1973

•

1971

1975

(74)

(1)

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

The species has not been reported separately in foreign
catches in the Middle Atlantic Bight, and it can be con-
cluded that it is not an important species in those
fisheries. In the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea,
the average annual catch of bonito in the period 1963 to
1972 inclusive has been about 10,260 metric tons
(Miyake et al. 1973).

Spanish Mackerel

Scomberomorus maculatus (Mitchill), Spanish mack-
erel, is primarily a southern fish. In the 1880s (Mather
1887) it was taken in the ocean off the eastern end and

south shore of Long Island, but although described as
once plentiful, was scarce by 1880. Earll (1887) did not
mention catches off New Jersey. The major commercial
fishery is south of Cape Hatteras. Spanish mackerel, a
schooling fish, makes annual migrations northward in
summer. Modest commercial landings have been re-
ported in New Jersey and New York, and as might be
expected of a species of southern origin these landings
were usually higher in New Jersey. Maximum recorded
landings in New Jersey were about 107 metric tons in
1931, and 35 metric tons in New York in 1890. Since the
middle 1940s catches in both states have been negligible.
Since 1960 maximum landings in the middle Atlantic
region (N.J. to N.C. inclusive) were 120 metric tons in
1970, less than 1 ton of which was reported from New
Jersey.

Spanish mackerel is a popular sport fish where it is
abundant. Reported recreational catches in the middle
Atlantic region were 429 metric tons in 1970 and 76 tons
in 1965. Commercial catches in the same area in the
same years were 120 and 87 metric tons respectively.

This is a coastal species, unlikely to be taken by
foreign fishermen. The life history is not well under-
stood. Fluctuations in landings suggest that the species
varies widely in abundance or availability, or both.

Northern Kingfish

Menticirrhus saxatilis (Bloch and Schneider),
northern kingfish, is more important in the New York
Bight area as a recreational than as a commercial species
(Table 29). Maximum commercial landings in New Jer-
sey were about 70 metric tons in 1939, and in New York
about 35 metric tons in 1940. It is caught mostly by
trawls fishing near shore and by pound nets.

In the sport fishery in the surf along the south shore of
Long Island, Briggs (1962) found that northern kingfish
was the dominant species from 1956 to 1960. According to
later studies (Briggs 1965, 1968), it had become
somewhat less abundant in New York waters. The
species is a seasonal visitor, arriving in New York Bight
in spring and leaving in fall. Like many seasonal mi-

Table 29. — Estimated conanercial and recreational catches of
northern kingfish in the north and middle Atlantic regions of
the united States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

Horth

Atlantic reqion

Hiddle Atlantic

reqion

Coamercial

Recreational

Conanercial

Recreational

He-NY

NJ-NC

Year

incl.

only

incl.

only

incl.

1960

363

470

713

1961

776

1962

670

1963

531

1964

565

1965

108

653

606

1966

379

1967

397

196B

335

1969

405

1970

1.568

306

1,090

1971

233

1972

324

1973

207

1974

153

•

1975

(*)

•

1109)

20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 27.

-Annual commercial landings of northern kingfigh in New
York and New Jersey IMS-IS?.").

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and
1970 did not give data by individual states. Now York was
included with the New England states and New Jersey with the
other middle Atlantic states.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable
landings in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of
recent years.

• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

grants from the south its local abundance is highly
variable (Fig. 27). This variability was noted also by
Mather (1887) who described northern kingfish as less
abundant in New York waters in 1880 than formerly.

In recreational fisheries along the New Jersey coast in
1952 and 1953 (June and Reintjes 1957), northern king-
fish varied in importance. In numbers of fish caught it
ranked about fifth in the surf fishery, fourth in the char-
ter boat fishery, and sixth in the party boat fishery. In
the surf fishery in Delaware in 1952 it ranked third.

No catches have been reported by foreign fleets. It is
not likely that this shallow-water coastal species would
be taken far out on the continental shelf. In the period
1946 to 1953 inclusive it was a minor species in the in-
shore trawl fishery off Delaware Bay but not listed in the
offshore fishery (June and Reintjes 1957).

Atlantic Mackerel

The pattern of commercial mackerel. Scomber scom-
brus Linnaeus, landings in New Jersey (Fig. 28) has been
similar to that in New York, with catches relatively large
in the 1940s, very small in the 1950s and early 1960s, and
increasing moderately in the last 10 yr. In most years.
New Jersey landings have been substantially higher than
New York. The sharp drop in the late 1940s was caused
primarily by a sudden drop in abundance or availability
(Hoy and Clark 1967). In the last few years, most of the
New Jersey catch has been taken in otter trawls, most of
the New York catch in pound nets. Increasing catches in
the last decade, despite substantial declines in numbers

i 3

Figure 28.— Annual commercial landings of Atlantic mackerel in
New Jersey 1889-1975.

of otter trawls and pound nets licensed in both states,
reflect an increase in abundance of mackerel, as pointed
out by Edwards (1968). Taylor et al. (1957) concluded
that temperature was a major factor governing fluc-
tuations in mackerel landings, but their argument is not
very convincing. The domestic commercial fishery for
mackerel is now relatively unimportant (Table 30)
because demand is relatively poor. Despite the greater
popularity of Atlantic mackerel as a food fish a century
ago it was not mentioned by Earll (1887) or Mather
(1887) as taken in the New York Bight area in the 1880s.
New Jersey and New York combined presently receive
10-20'"p of total domestic commercial landings.

As would be expected from the known geographic dis-
tribution of Atlantic mackerel, sport catches are larger in
the north Atlantic region (Table 30). The recent in-
crease in abundance is reflected in recreational catches

Table 30.— Estimated conmiercial and recreational catches of Atlantic
.mackerel in the north and middle Atlantic regions of '»%™i"^."J'"
coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch estimates
are available. Weights in metric tons.

Domestic

Recreational
catch

ICNAF
Foreign catch

Year

Me-NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

HO-NY NJ-NC
incl. incl.

=^e

1960

1,079

317

4,581 377

1961

114

1,068

298

1962

863

111

1963

1,192

843

293

1964

143

1,842

304

533

1965

294

1,475

439

3,168 417

437

1966

132

248

2,090

636

455

1.252

1967

163

182

3,356

509

,691

6,295

1968

368

304

2,927

527

127

26,246

3,268

1969

223

134

3,781

260

742

25,259

43,176

1970

167

593

2,914

721

18,816 13,267

203

66,204

101,030

1971

228

444

1,331

504

592

64,621

231,491

1972

247

685

1,610

713

614

133,859

185,865

1973

147

524

1,276

539

159

201

155,006

65,153

1974

146

351

654

407

076

100,574

142,348

1975

162

679

(738) (1

,049)

998

119,109

82.611

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965^ '"1^''° t.^ ""^
give data by individual states. New Yorli was included with the New
England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total I™AF 1976

quota for Atlantic mackerel in subareas 5 and 6 was 254,000 metric tons.

Figures for 1975 in narentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., conn., and oel. equal the average of recent years.

in 1970, especially in the middle Atlantic region. Atlan-
tic mackerel is important seasonally in certain ocean
sport fisheries in New York Bight (Buchanan 1972). This
increased resource now is being exploited very heavily,
mostly by foreign fleets, and according to Grosslein et al.
(1973, see footnote 7) may be overfished.

Hard Clam

Trends in hard clam, Mercenaria mercenaria (Lin-
naeus), landings in New Jersey have been similar in their
major features to those in New York.

Hard clam was an important resource in most areas
around the coasts of Long Island in the 1880s (Mather
1887) but apparently not in New Jersey, because the
species was not mentioned by Earll (1887). Reported land-
ings in both states were relatively high in the last two
decades of the 19th century, dropped sharply and stayed
relatively low until the 1930s, rose to maxima in the late
1940s and early 1950s, dropped sharply again, and sub-
sequently rose in the 1960s (Fig. 29). In New Jersey the
recent rise in landings reached a peak in 1967 and
catches have been dropping since. In New York, landings
began to drop after 1971, but 1975 was a record year. Ex-
perienced clam diggers on Great South Bay believe that
clam abundance has decreased and that the resource is
already overharvested. Total catches in New York have
been holding up and were slightly higher in 1975 than in
1971, mainly because numbers of clammers have in-
creased substantially (Table 31). In Rhode Island, once a
major producer of hard clam, landings have declined to
less than 20''o of the maximum harvest of about 5 mil-
lion pounds (2,300 metric tons) in 1955.

The sharp decline in New Jersey hard clam landings in
the 1950s was caused at least in part by closing of cer-
tain polluted shellfish areas. The problem culminated in
an outbreak of hepatitis in 1961, which affected the shell-
fish industry seriously through loss of public confidence
(Dewling et al. 1972). The subsequent rise in the middle
and late 1960s has been attributed to an improvement in
public confidence and hence demand, increased abun-
dance in some areas, depuration, and opening of some
grounds previously closed by pollution.
Most hard clam production in New Jersey comes from

" '1 ■'■ '

^ \- '\

'/ \

1 •

\ A

: V

V/1 Aa

o 1

*- - A

^ rX

"■--v

90 1900

20 30 40 50

Figure 29.— Annual commercial landings of hard clam in New Jersey

1880-1975.

Table 31 --Estimated coronercial landings of hard clam in the north
and middle Atlantic regions of the united States coast 1960-1975.
Heights of meats in metric tons.

Year

North Atlantic region
He-NY incl. HY only

Middle Atlantic region

NJ-HC incl.

NJ only

1960
1961
1962
1963
1964
1965
1966
1967
1968
1969
1970
1971
1972
1973
1974
1975

4.052128.773)
4,080(28,970)
3,882(27.559)
4,217(29.943)
4.083(28,992)
4.161(29.545)
4.424(31.411)
4.520(32.092)
4,353(30,908)
4.635(32,908)
4,778(33,922)
5,023(35,661)
4.435(31.489)
3.858(27.389)
4,081 (28,975)
4,450(31,595)

1,763(12,520)
1,946(13,819)
2,194(15,578)
2,409(17,103)
2,451(17,401)
2,698(19,153)
2.985(21.196)
3,205(22,757)
3.169(22,501)
3,409(24,204)
3,586(25,460)
3.878(27.531)
3.856(27.375)
3,287(23.338)
3.642(25,856)
3,932(27,914)

2,405(17,075)
2,303(16,351)
1.831(13.003)
2.160(15.336)
2.428(17.238)
2.394(16.997)
2.361(16.762)
2,510(17,819)
2,391(16,975)
2,426(17,224)
2,188(15,535)
2,262(16,060)
1.852(13,151)
1,699(12.059)
1.641(11.651)
1.384( 9.828)

1.158(8.222)

765(5.434)

607(4.313)

718(5.101)

859(6,101)

849(6,030)

1,213(8,611)

1,306(9,272)

1,158(8,222)

1,027(7,293)

1,169(8,300)

1,112(7,895)

996(7,073)

859(6,101)

790 (5,609)

735(5,218)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did
not include recreational catches of invertebrates. Recreational
catches of hard clam probably are substantial.

Live weights are given in parentheses for comparability with ICNAP
statistics .

the bays of the outer coast. In the early days, Raritan and
Sandy Hook bays were important clamming grounds,
but the entire area is now closed for shellfish harvesting
except in Sandy Hook Bay and adjacent waters, where a
special permit is needed. Since 1900, landings in New
Jersey have been roughly half the volume produced in
New York. In 1975 New Jersey produced only 735 metric
tons of meats compared with 3,932 metric tons in New
York.

Although both states, or local communities in these
states, have sponsored programs to transplant clams
from polluted to clean waters, management of the hard
clam resource has been primarily negative management.
That is, waters over shellfish beds are monitored to
assess water quality, and grounds are closed when fecal
coliform counts reach certain levels. There is reason to
believe that commercial landings are underestimated,
and in both states there are substantial unrecorded
recreational and subsistence clam fisheries. Programs to
assess the magnitude of standing crops, recruitment, and
removals by natural mortality and harvesting are badly
needed. Clams and other nonmigratory resources should
be considered the most valuable living marine resources
of a state because management of such resources does
not require cooperation from adjacent states or other
nations. If the state or local community desires to main-
tain the resource in healthy condition and to manage the
harvest for maximum yield, it has the power to do so.
This is not possible with migratory resources. Therefore,
if management of living marine coastal resources is to
succeed, coastal states like New Jersey and New York
should demonstrate their good intentions, and establish
model fishery management programs, by concentrating
first on their valuable estuarine shellfish resources. The

Town of Islip on Long Island, which shares with the State
of New York control over some 22,000 acres of bottom in
Great South Bay, recently has started such a research
and management program. A cooperative program with
adjacent towns also is under consideration. Several other
towns on Long Island have shellfish management
programs in various stages of development.

In Great South Bay, N.Y., and possibly also in the
coastal bays of New Jersey, recent increases in abun-
dance of blue crab may have reduced the supply of hard
clam. Crabs, especially blue crab, are serious predators
of clams, and this may account for indications of reduced
recruitment of young clams in the past few years.

Soft Clam

In the 1880s soft clam, Mya arenaria Linnaeus, was
abundant in most bays of the New Jersey coast and
around Long Island (Earll 1887; Mather 1887). From past
experience it was recognized that the resource was highly
variable in abundance, as it is today. Except for the
period prior to the beginning of the 20th century, trends
in soft clam landings in New Jersey have been generally
similar to those in New York except for 1947 and 1948,
when landings rose sharply in New Jersey (Fig. 30). From
a level below 100 metric tons of meats per year in the ear-
ly part of the century landings rose in the 1930s and
remained relatively high until the late 1940s, then
dropped abuptly and have fluctuated about a very low
level ever since (Table 32). In the 1930s and 1940s land-
ings in both states rose well above the levels of the
1920s, then fell off in the 1950s to even lower levels.

New England has traditionally been the major producer
of soft clam, but production there fell off after 1940 and
this stimulated production in states farther south.
However, neither in New Jersey nor New York have land-
ings reached levels comparable to Maryland, where the
fishery began in the 1950s, probably because Maryland
has a much greater area of bottom suitable for this
species, and also because Maryland allows more ef-
ficient harvesting methods. In face of the reduced supply
in New England and continued demand for soft clam it is
likely that continued attrition will hold the resouce in the
New York Bight area at a relatively low level of abun-
dance. Although there is no positive evidence one way or
the other, it is possible that the resource has been over-

-\--''

Figure .30.

30 40 50 60 70

-Annual commercial landings of soft clam in New Jeney
1880-1975.

Table 32. --Estimated commercial landings of soft clam in
the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States
coast 1960-1975. Weights of moats in metric tons.

North

I Atlantic reqion

Middle Atlantic

reqion

Year

MB-NY

incl.

NY only

NJ-NC incl.

NJ only

1960

1.345(

5,2441

69(269)

2.547( 9.941]

20 ( 781

1961

1.2011

4.684)

65(253)

2,139( 8.350)

10( 39)

1962

i,ie3(

4.614)

42(164)

3.078(12.016)

8( 31)

1963

1,307(

5 . 097 )

45(175)

3.118(12.172)

7( 27)

1964

1.290(

5,031)

82(320)

3.713(14.492)

10( 39)

1965

1,541(

6,009)

93(363)

3.587(14.001)

15 ( 58)

1966

2,012(

7,848)

128(499)

3.394(13.248)

35(136)

1967

2,028(

7.910)

120(468)

2.427( 9,473)

49(191)

1968

2,130(

8.308)

92(359)

2,574(10,046)

41(160)

1969

2,495(

9.729)

87(339)

3,620(14,130)

32(125)

1970

2.997(11,690)

33(129)

2,853(11,138)

30(117)

1971

3.001(11.706)

70(273)

2,737(10,682)

21( 82)

1972

2.844(11.093)

43(168)

912( 3,561)

26(109)

1973

3.350(13.065)

47(183)

295( 1,150)

8( 31)

1974

2,751(10.729)

46(179)

846( 3,299)

39(152)

1975

3,006(11.722)

28(111)

556( 2,169)

77(299)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960. 1965, and
1970 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Live weights are given in parentheses for comparability with
ICNAF statistics.

harvested in the New York Bight area. Soft clam is
known to be much more susceptible to the effects of
water pollution than hard clam is, thus pollution also
could be a cause. Even if the resource recovers in New
England it may be difficult to compete against the less
costly Maryland industry which permits harvesting with
fiydraulic dredges (Merrill and Tubiash 1970).

Chub Mackerel

Like several other active pelagic fishes of the high seas,
chub mackerel. Scomber japonicus Houttuyn, appears
infrequently and erratically in domestic commercial land-
ings. Most of the catch is taken in pound nets, and land-
ings in New Jersey have been somewhat greater than in
New York. The period of greatest landings in both states
(up to 600 metric tons in New Jersey) was in the early
1940s which appears to lend some credence to the relative
accuracy of statistics for the two states. The actual catch
probably is much larger than the recorded catch, because
this species often is taken with Atlantic mackerel and
reported as such.

In saltwater sport fishing surveys chub mackerel is not
listed separately, but is included with Atlantic mackerel.
It is assumed that the recreational catch of chub
mackerel is not large. The species is not listed in ICNAF
catches.

Frigate Mackerel

Frigate mackerel, Auxis spp.," has never been a major
commercial species in the New York Bight area. It is dis-

"Probably Auxis thazard (Lacepede) and A. rochei (Risso).

cussed here because, according to official statistics, it
was recorded in commercial fishery landings only for a
short period and because the record of landings is
remarkably similar for New Jersey and New York. Max-
imum reported catches were about 75 metric tons in each
state. Almost all the catch was taken in pound nets.

Frigate mackerel was first recorded in New Jersey land-
ings in 1932 and in New York in 1931. The latest catches
recorded were for 1951 in New Jersey and 1949 in New
York. Catches in each state show three peaks, in the mid-
1930s, early 1940s, and late 1940s. The species may have
been included with unclassified food fishes prior to the
1930s.

Two possible explanations of the relatively brief ap-
pearance of frigate mackerel in New York Bight landings
are suggested. Either the species was unusually abun-
dant in the period from about 1932 to 1950, so that it
spread beyond its usual geographic range, or
oceanographic conditions during that period were such
that this pelagic oceanic species came closer to shore
than usual. Frigate mackerel also were recorded briefly
in pound-net landings in Massachusetts and Rhode Is-
land at about the same time. Arnold (1951) reported
large numbers in the vicinity of Point Judith, R.I. in
1949, as well as other warm water species.

Frigate mackerel has not been listed in saltwater sport
fish catches. The species is included in the ICNAF
category "Other fish," but landings have not been
reported separately. It is assumed that the foreign catch
is negligible. The species was not listed by Bigelow and
Schroeder (1953) or by Hildebrand and Schroeder (1928),
which suggests that it is an infrequent visitor.

Soup

Scup, Stenotomus chrysops (Linnaeus), was not men-
tioned by Earll (1887) as an important species in the
fisheries of New Jersey in the 1880s. However, it was
listed by Mather (1887) as important at the two ends and
along the south shore of Long Island. Mather noted that
scup had decreased in abundance, but by 1880 was in-
creasing again. Earll did mention sheepshead, Archosar-
gus probatocephalus (Walbaum), a closely related
species, as being caught off the coast of New Jersey. This
species, once abundant enough off New York to have a
bay named after it, now is scarce north of Cape Hat-
teras.

As in New York (McHugh 1972a), scup was the leading
species by weight in New Jersey food fish landings for a
considerable period. It ranked first by weight from 1948
to 1965 inclusive except for 2 yr: 1949, when an unusually
large catch of Atlantic mackerel was made (Fig. 28) and
mackerel ranked first; and 1956, when scup was less
abundant for a period (Fig. 31). The reduction in abun-
dance in the mid-1950s may not have been as great as the
drop in commercial landings would make it appear.
Fishermen may have turned in that period to the higher
priced summer flounder, which at that time was tem-
porarily abundant. Scup ranked first or second by weight
of all food finfishes landed in New Jersey for 23 con-

§2 -

Figure 31. —Annual commercial landings of scup in New Jersey 1889-
1975.

secutive years, 1948 to 1970 inclusive. In New York scup
was first by weight for 19 yr, from 1948 to 1966 inclusive.

The recreational catch is substantial, especially along
the coasts of New Jersey and Long Island, but the com-
mercial catch is larger (Table 33). In the last few years,
including 1974, sport fishermen have been reporting scup
as abundant in coastal waters, especially off New York.
Reported commercial landings seem to support this view.
There is evidence that the fish off New York and north-
ward belong to a separate stock from those that come
seasonally to the New Jersey coast (Neville and Talbot
[1964]; Paul Hamer pers. commun.).

Wide fluctuations in abundance have been typical of
the scup resource since the early days of the fishery
(Neville and Talbot [1964]). Although no detailed study
of the evidence is available for the period since 1933, it is
assumed that the sharp drop in New Jersey landings

Table 33. — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of scup
in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united States
coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch
estimates are available. Weights in metric tons.

Domestic
commercial catch

Recreational
catch

ICNAF
Foreiqn catch

Year

Me-NY
incl.

MJ-NC

incl.

Me-NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

^==w

"„

1960

5,663

6,201

9,906

12,392

066

443

1961

5,468

6,209

9,635

11,468

1962

4,852

6,749

8,973

12,991

1963

4.222

5,774

8.746

10,224

191

1,231

1964

3,765

3,879

8,269

9,159

459

1965

3,419

4,126

6,620

7,611

604

925

371

718

1966

1,849

1,967

6,154

6,681

257

566

1967

1,492

1,823

4,810

4,146

347

549

1968

1,271

1,552

3,954

2,757

536

1,224

469

1969

742

1,642

1,672

3,074

177

278

1970

552

1,414

2,114

2,454

041

965

132

108

1971

599

917

2,145

1,690

148

773

1972

598

1,655

1,923

2,261

551

205

891

1973

1,317

1,347

3,160

1,734

507

200

1,076

1974

1,648

2,740

3,901

2,986

136

769

1975

1,738

2.843

(1.760)

(3,174)

292

318

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did
not give data by Individual states. Now Yorit was included with the
New England states and Now Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. This species Is
included with the second tier quota for 1976.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H.. Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

from 1953 to 1956 and the subsequent rise to a maximum
in 1962 was caused by a real decline in abundance, al-
though it is possible that variations in oceanographic
conditions could have reduced the availability of the
resource to fishermen. The appendix figure in Neville
and Talbot shows a similar drop in the Chesapeake
region. A similar, but much less pronounced, drop shows
in the record of commercial scup landings in New York.
Foreign catches of scup are relatively small, but the
stocks of scup in this region have recently been so small
that even incidental foreign catches may place sig-
nificant stresses on the resource. The species migrates
close inshore in spring and remains in coastal waters and
bays until fall, then moves southward along the coast
and spends the winter in relatively deep water at the
edge of the continental shelf (Neville and Talbot [1964]).
Bilateral agreements with the USSR and other nations
which prohibit fishing at the edge of the shelf in winter
and early spring were designed to protect the remaining
scup resource as well as other species. Grosslein et al.
(1973, see footnote 7) expressed the view that, since scup
is particularly vulnerable to foreign trawling at the edge
of the shelf in winter and spring, the existing area closed
to fishing in winter and early spring should be main-
tained or even expanded.

Black Sea Bass

The historic pattern of landings of black sea bass,
Centropristis striata (Linnaeus), in New Jersey (Fig. 32)
is remarkably similar to New York landings (McHugh
1972a). Catches were relatively low until the mid-1940s.
reached a peak early in the 1950s, and dropped sharply
and fairly steadily thereafter. On the average. New Jer-
sey landings have been three to four times as great as
New York landings. Most of the domestic commercial
catch is made in pots (inshore) and otter trawls (off-
shore). A brief review of the fishery along the Atlantic
coast of the United States was published by Frame and
Pearce (1973). They concluded that the decline in the
1960s was primarily a drop in trawl catches. They drew
no conclusions about the reasons for the decline. It is sur-
prising that neither Earll (1887) nor Mather (1887) men-
tioned black sea bass as an important species in the
1880s in the New York Bight area.

v-^'V^'

1880 90 1900 K) 20 30 40 50 60 TO

Figure 32.— Annual commercial landings of black sea bass in New
Jersey 1887-1975.

Black sea bass is an important sport fish in the New
York Bight area (Table 34). The estimated recreational
catch usually has exceeded the domestic commercial
catch. Total recreational catches in the north and mid-
dle Atlantic regions have declined since 1960, despite an
increase in numbers of sport fishermen.

Black sea bass has not been recorded in foreign catches
in the area except for about 1,500 metric tons in 1964 in
ICNAF division 5Z, This may have been an error in
recording. It is possible that incidental catches are made,
especially in winter when the species has moved to
deeper water. Grosslein et al. (1973, see footnote 7)
believed that the resource is vulnerable to foreign
trawlers, especially when the water is unusually warm in
winter.

Table 34 .--Estimated commercial and recreational catches of black
sea bass in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united
States coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch
estimates are available, weights in metric tons.

Domestic

Recreational

ICNAF

commercial catch

catch

Foreign catch

Me-NY

NJ-NC

Me-NY NJ-NC

Year

incl.

incl. incl.

5Z„ 5Z^ 6

1960

238

1,001

379

2,781

675 4,722

1961

142

679

262

2,496

1962

238

1,189

340

3.799

1963

262

1,276

334

3,707

1964

227

996

313

3,241

1,494

1965

173

973

233

3,742

957 3,215

1966

100

436

151

1,962

1967

370

1,984

1968

245

1,567

1969

178

1,523

1970

140

1,438

279 3,043

1971

134

849

1972

192

956

1973

315

1,337

1974

353

136

1,490

1975

533

(200) (1,950)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did
not give data by individual states. New Yorlc was included with the
New England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

The one record of a fairly large foreign catch is questionable.
Incidental catches of black sea bass are suspected, but no other
catch has been specifically reported.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H.. Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

Flounders

The major species of flounder in New Jersey landings
has been summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus (Lin-
naeus). Winter flounder, Pseudopleuronectes america-
nus (Walbaum), more abundant to the northward, and
much more important in the New York fishery, has never
contributed much to New Jersey landings (Fig. 33). Yel-
lowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea Storer), was of no
great importance in New Jersey until the 1970s, when
scarcity of other species and better prices encouraged
south New Jersey trawlers to fish heavily for yellowtail
(LoVerde 1971, 1972).

Flounders were among the most important finfishes
taken in coastal bays in the 1880s (Mather 1887) but were

S05
= 0

°05

o
? 0

SUMMER FLOUNDER

WINTER FLOUNDER
_l I 1_

YELLOWTAIL FLOUNDER
— 1 I I

.. .A

FLOUNDERS - ALL SPECIES COMBINED

f^-

1880 90 1900 10 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 33. — Annual commercial landings of flounders in New Jersey

1887-1975.

considered to be much less abundant than formerly. The
species were not listed separately until the 1930s. Floun-
ders apparently were not highly regarded as food fishes in
the early days (Mather 1887).

Summer flounder. — As in New York, flounder land-
ings in New Jersey were not listed separately until 1937.
However, since landings of other species in New Jersey
probably were negligible before that date, historic land-
ings of all species combined (Fig. 33) probably were
predominantly summer flounder landings. The history of
the fishery is similar to that in New York, with peak
catches in the 1950s and a sharp decline thereafter. Peak
landings were higher in New Jersey than in New York,
but the recent decline in New Jersey has been much
sharper. A moderate increase has taken place since 1969
(Fig. 33). Most of the catch is made in otter trawls.

Estimated sport catches of summer flounder have been
about equivalent to the domestic commercial catch in
the mid-Atlantic region, but 5-10 times the domestic
commercial catch in the north Atlantic region (Table
35). Recreational catches dropped 25-30% from 1965 to
1970.

Catches of summer flounder reported by foreign fleets
have been small. The species does, however, migrate off-
shore to deeper waters in winter where it concentrates at
the edge of the continental shelf from Hudson Canyon to
Cape Hatteras (Grosslein et al. 1973, see footnote 7). It
could be vulnerable to offshore trawling at that time.

Winter flounder. — Winter flounder is a minor com-
mercial species south of New York. It usually inhabits
relatively shallow waters near shore, and the ban on

Table 35 —Estimated coroierclal and recreational catches of summer
flounder in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United
States coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch
estimates are available, weights in metric tons.

Doneatic Recreational ICNAF

ccBimercial catch catch Foreign catch

He-NY NJ-HC Me-NY NJ-NC

Year BY NJ incl. incl. incl. incl. 52^ 5z^ 6

1960 1.139 2.882 4,397 5,167 18,285 5,616

1961 1,054 2,736 3,932 4,870

1962 721 2,154 2,806 4,208

1963 592 2,016 1,910 4,266

1964 841 1,665 1,836 3,713

1965 1,112 1,642 1,582 5,025 8,676 4,756 22

1966 1.119 1.737 1,466 4,914 31

1967 691 1,377 1,436 4,429 72

1966 552 970 815 3,291 31 4 -

1969 260 578 428 2,610 245 19 30

1970 409 891 555 3,465 5,266 3,512 21 4 11

1971 495 839 675 3,571 497 346 61

1972 500 640 659 3,920 127 266

1973 628 1,403 1,168 6,432 19 3 -

1974 1,126 1,587 3,032 8,679 - " "

1975 1,466 1,957 (3,1651(9.136) '

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did not
give data for individual states. New York was included with the New
England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.
The 1960 recreational catch was all flounders combined.
Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 1976
quota for all flounders except yellowtail in subareas 5 and 6 was
20,000 metric tons.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recant years.

Landings in N.C. include other flounder species.

- An unreported catch is possible.

trawling within 2 miles of the New Jersey coast may have
helped to keep the catch down.

The reported recreational catch of winter flounder is
much larger than the commercial catch in the mid-At-
lantic region (Table 36), and about equal to the domes-
tic commercial catch in the north Atlantic region. Win-
ter and summer flounders are among the most impor-
tant and sought-after recreational species in the shallow
coastal waters of New York and New Jersey.

Foreign catches of winter flounder, except in 1969,
have been relatively small (Table 36).

Yellowtail flounder.— The yellowtail flounder fishery
of the north and middle Atlantic regions went through a
wide fluctuation in landings, from a peak in the early
1940s to a low in the 1950s, and a subsequent rise to inter-
mediate levels in the 1960s and early 1970s. These fluc-
tuations are similar to variations in New York landings
(McHugh 1972a). The relation between these fluc-
tuations in catch and abundance of yellowtail flounder
on the continental shelf was confirmed by Colton (1972).
The species was particularly abundant off New York and
New Jersey in the late 1960s, but Colton concluded that
this was related to greater abundance and not to a shift
in geographic range. Prior to the middle 1930s, yellow-
tail was regarded as a scrap fish (U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service 1945), and landings were small and prices low.
The fishery began when winter flounder catches off New
York and farther north declined.

According to Lux (1963) there are three stocks of yel-

lowtail, the most southerly of which occupies the
southern New England region. The catch in this region,
which for ICNAF regulatory purposes includes the waters
over the continental shelf west and south of long. 69° W,
has been controlled by quota since 1971. The total
allowable catch in ICNAF subareas 5 and 6 for 1976 has
been set at 20,000 metric tons.

Royce et al. (1959) concluded that the sharp decline in
landings of yellowtail from the southern New England
stock from the early 1940s to the middle 1950s was not
caused by overfishing, but by a shift in the location of the
stock. Landings in New York dropped to very low levels
(McHugh 1972a, fig. 22) then recovered in the 1960s. A
similar cycle occurred in New Jersey, but landings there
were much smaller, and the decline is not clearly evident
in Figure 33. The difference in landings between the two
states is not so much a reflection of differences in the size
of the trawler fleets as an indication that Long Island is
about the southern limit of the range of this species.
Usually, the numbers of vessels in the New Jersey trawl
fleet have not been much different from those in the New
York fleet. The magnitude of landings in the two states
and the remarkable decline and subsequent rise in
catches are illustrated in Table 37. The recent high levels
of landings in New Jersey may indicate another south-
ward shift, although it is possible that a distinct stock in-
habits waters off southern New Jersey. Grosslein et al.
(1973, see footnote 7) suggested that a fourth stock might
exist in the Middle Atlantic Bight. Landings of yellow-
tail flounder dropped abruptly in 1974 and 1975 in both

Table 36 — Estimated commercial and recreational catches of winter
flounder in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united
States coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch
estimates are available, weights in metric tons.

Domestic Recreational ICNAF

commercial catch catch Foreign catch

Year

He-NY NJ-NC Me-NY HJ-NC
NY NJ incl. incl. incl. incl. 5Z^ 5Z^

1960 744 48 9.016 56 16.265 5,616

1961 769 69 6.714 60

1962 737 57 9,086 69

1963 636 84 9,050 106

1964 653 162 10.233 215

1965 1.016 127 11,394 227 9,905 3,145

1966 1,480 199 14,332 363

1967 1,333 166 11,680 618
1969 830 192 8,929 601
1969 734 122 10,940 329

26
139
146

511

320

438

783 431

6,452 350 166

1970 764 53 11.149 136 11,197 5,643 422 104 8

1971 782 29 11,520 59 917 1.094 114

1972 654 43 9,013 55

1973 529 72 8,716 75

1974 253 64 7,185 66

1975 266 46 (7,600) (46)

818 1.707 14

793 707 33

69 94 32

1 528 48

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960. 1965, and 1970 did
not give data by individual states. New York was included with the
New England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.

The 1960 recreational catch was all flounders combined.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional. The total ICNAF 1976
quota for all flounders except yellowtail in subareas 5 and 6 was
20.000 metric tons.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

Table 37. — Estimated commercial landings of yellovrtiail
flounder in Now Jersey and New York 1937-1975. Annual
average for approximately five-year periods in metric
tons .

Years

New Jersey

New York

Total

1937-42

2,555

2,608

1943-47

1,987

2,002

1948-52

583

596

1953-57

1958-62

746

767

1963-67

1,892

1,909

1968-73

363

2,606

2,969

i^l974-75

700

781

1/ Two years

only.

states, suggesting that the effects of foreign fishing are
now being felt in the New York Bight region.

Yellowtail flounder is a species of relatively deep
water, although most of the catch is made in water shal-
lower than 100 m. For this reason the species does not
support an important recreational fishery. Some hardy
sport fishermen do seek the species, however, and a small
winter recreational fishery has developed off Long Is-
land (Ahem 1974).

Grosslein et al. (1973, see footnote 7) concluded that
the equilibrium maximum sustainable yield for the
southern New England stock of yellowtail flounder is
about 15,800 metric tons and that present quotas will
allow the stock to return to equilibrium. The large
foreign catch in 1969 (Table 38) came almost entirely
from Nantucket Shoals, but this heavy exploitation was
not associated with a decline in domestic catches in New

Table 38. --Estimated commercial catches of yellowtail flounder
in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United states
coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

Dcmestic commercial

catch

ICNAF

Year

Me-NY

incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

1960

526

14,151

1961

928

17,793

1962

1,765

27,468

1963

2,118

37,503

262

1964

1,616

37,576

300

1965

1,666

36,396

1,395

1966

1,582

30,340

294

1967

2,479

26.241

2,456

1966

2,547

31.708

261

2,188

1969

2,131

177

31,527

177

722

1.836

683

1970

2,126

495

32,670

495

592

468

lie

1971

3,285

588

27,944

588

339

831

829

1972

3,261

394

32,261

405

269

4.150

117

1973

2,283

4 78

29,261

478

181

260

197

1974

784

121

24,806

121

190

1975

594

(19,4701

( 41)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970
did not include recreational catches of yellowtail flounder.

Foreign catches for 1975 are orovisional. The total ICNAF
1976 quota for yellowtail flounder in subareas 5 and 6 combined
was 20,000 metric tons.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H., Conn,, and Del. equal the average of recent years.

York Bight until 1974. What relation the resource being
harvested by southern New Jersey fishermen bears to the
New England stock is not known. Past experience and
what is known about the life history of the species would
suggest that the allowable catch will be variable and that
this will not become a major New Jersey fishery.

Little Tunny

Euthynnus alletteratus (Rafinesque), little tuna or
tunny, was important in the commercial fisheries of New
Jersey for only about 8 yr, from 1945 to 1952 inclusive.
Maximum landings reported were about 328 metric tons
(722,000 pounds) in 19,52 (Fig. 34). A minor peak in com-
mercial landings was reported in 1921. Landings reported
in New York have been smaller, but two peaks also ap-
pear in the statistical record, from 1921 to 1930 with a
maximum of 27 metric tons (60,000 pounds) in 1930, and
from 1946 to 1949 with a maximum of 45 metric tons
(99,000 pounds) in 1949. Most of the commercial catch in
both states is taken in pound nets, which were a much
more important gear in the 1920s than in the late 40s and
early 50s, although there was a brief postwar increase in
numbers of pound nets licensed (Knapp in press). Little
tunny is primarily a fish of ocean waters, probably highly
erratic in its migrations to shallow waters. The two peaks
in landings, coming at approximately the same time in
both states, with about a decade of zero catches inter-
vening, suggest that the species either was especially
abundant at these times, or that oceanographic con-
ditions were favorable for inshore migrations. Tunas are
grouped in the national saltwater angling survey reports.
Thus, it is not possible to compare sport and commer-
cial catches of little tunny.

No foreign catches of this species have been reported.
It is possible that little tunny is taken by foreign long-
liners, but it may be too small to be caught with longline
hooks.

1880 90 1900 10 20 30 40 50 60

Figure 34,— Annual commercial landings of little tunny in New York
and New Jersey 1889-1975,

Surf Clam

Surf clam, Spisula solidissima (Dillwyn), has been
landed in small quantities in New Jersey and New York
since 1900, but this was a minor fishery until the middle

1940s in New York and until the middle 1950s in New
Jersey. The modern fishery began off the south coast of
Long Island, N.Y. Stocks of surf clam on the original
grounds soon were reduced in abundance, and the fleets
began to range more widely in search of new grounds. A
large area closed to shellfishing in the apex of New York
Bight removed some surf clam stocks from the fishery. A
much larger resource was discovered off the New Jersey
coast, and from 1949 to 1966 landings in New Jersey in-
creased more than hundredfold, from 185 metric tons of
meats to nearly 20,000 (Fig. 35). In weight of meats land-
ed, this has been the most important food fishery in New
Jersey since 1955.

Following the peak year 1966 surf clam landings in
New Jersey have decreased irregularly but sharply. Land-
ings in 1972 and 1973 were about half the maximum
and landings in 1974 only slightly higher, but in 1975
jumped substantially. The evolution of the fishery has
been typical of coastal fisheries everywhere. The fleets
have ranged south, first off Delaware, then to Maryland
and Virginia (Ropes et al. 1972), and have contemplated
extending their operations north to the Canadian coast,
where plentiful surf clam resources have been reported
(Lo Verde 1969). Production was increased by improving
the efficiency of operations at sea and by steady ad-
ditions of vessels to the fleet. The short-lived rise in land-
ings in 1969 and 1970 was attributed to production from
a new ground on the Delaware side of Delaware Bay
(Lo Verde 1970). New Jersey and New York, which
received 99.8^7 of the Atlantic coast catch in 1966 (Table
39), now receive less than 50'^c, and surf clam grounds off
the two states produce only a small part of the total
catch. It appears probable that as new beds are located
and exhausted the total catch may begin to fall. Thus,
the surf clam resource, like many other coastal fishery
resources, eventually could decline to minor impor-
tance. How long it would take to reach this stage in the
evolution of the fishery will depend upon the magnitude
of the total resource, demand for the product, and costs
of harvesting and processing. The recently established
State-Federal Cooperative Surf Clam Study, if success-
ful, may prevent a repetition of the sorry history of so
many other domestic coastal fisheries.

Surf clam is known to occur off the coast from the Gulf
of St. Lawrence to Cape Hatteras. To the north it is
found mostly in shallow waters near shore, although it is
distributed only sparsely over Georges Bank (Merrill and
Ropes 1969). The depth of greatest abundance increases
toward the south. Most surf clam are found at depths
between 12 and 43 m, but they have been reported as
deep as 128 m. From New York northward a possible al-
ternative resource is the smaller Spisula polynyma
(Stimpson). South of Cape Hatteras is an even smaller
species, Spisula raveneli (Conrad), according to Jacob-
son and Old (1966).

Occupying about the same geographic range, but in
deeper water, is another possible alternate, ocean quahog
or mahogany clam. Arctica islandica (Linnaeus). A
limited fishery for ocean quahog has operated for a num-
ber of years off Rhode Island and since 1968 landings

1880 90 1900 10 20 30 «3 50 60 70

Figure 35. — Annual commercial landings of surf clam in New Jersey
1901-1975.

Table 39. — Estimated conmiercial landings of surf clan in the north
and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast 1960-1975.
weights of meats in metric tons.

North Atlantic region
Me-NY incl. NY only

Middle Atlantic region

Year

NJ-NC incl.

MJ only

1960

329( 2,3341

328( 2.327)

11.043( 78.407)

10,636( 75,512)

1961

333t 2,362)

328( 2.327)

12.142( 86,210)

12,109( 85,976)

1962

3e6( 2,739)

381( 2,703)

13.610( 96,631)

13,531( 96,070)

1963

442( 3,135)

17,061(121,133)

17,032(120.927)

1964

5591 3,966)

553( 3,923)

16,744(118,884)

16.726(118.756)

1965

6e3( 4,852)

682( 4.845)

19,315(137.136)

19,190(136.250)

1966

850( 6,037)

834( 5,923)

19,613(139.250)

19.584(139.044)

1967

1,053 ( 7,476)

1,045( 7,420)

19,384(137.626)

18,862(133,923)

1968

1,373( 9,746)

1,365( 9,690)

17,022(120,856)

14,597(103,640)

1969

1,563(11,094)

1,557(11,052)

20,925(148,564)

16.348(116.068)

1970

1.971(13.996)

1,896(13,464)

28,565(202,810)

17,994(127.758)

1971

1,750(12,428)

1,673(11,875)

27,309(193,893)

13,028( 92.495)

1972

1,290( 9,158)

1,231( 8,739)

27,487(195,156)

9.676( 68.702)

1973

1.514(10.747)

1.501(10,691)

35,830(254,396)

9.792( 69.526)

1974

1,796(12,755)

1.792(12,723)

41,785(296.673)

10,277( 72,967)

1975

2.082(14.778)

2,077(14,749)

38,280(271,788)

16,125(114,490)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1950, 1965, and 1970 did
not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Live weights are given in parentheses for comparability with ICNAF
statistics.

have been rising. Landings of this species were first
reported in Massachusetts in 1968 and in Connecticut in
1969. Ocean quahog is abundant from Georges Bank to
the outer continental shelf off Chespeake Bay (Merrill
and Ropes 1969). Surf clam is preferred because it is
larger and produces a greater yield of meats, and is dis-
tributed in somewhat shallower water closer to shore.
There also have been problems with dark color and off-
flavor of meats of ocean quahog.

No foreign fleet has been known to harvest surf clam,
which was declared by the L'nited States a creature of
the continental shelf under the terms of the 1958 Geneva
Convention and now is further protected by the Fishery
Conservation and Management Act of 1976 (LI.S. House
of Representatives 1976),

Bluefin Tuna

Tuna purse seiners began fishing in New Jersey waters
in 1963 (LoVerde 1964). Catches of Atlantic bluefin tuna,

Thunnus thynnus thynnus (Linnaeus), were very erratic
(Fig. 36). Fishing effort has been increasing thoughout
the North Atlantic Ocean, and it is generally conceded
that the resource has been seriously overfished (Stroud
1974; Mather 1974). It has even been proposed that At-
lantic bluefin tuna be placed on the endangered species
list. It is prohibited to take fish less than 14 pounds (6.4
kg) or in excess of 115 pounds (52.2 kg) but less than 300
pounds (136.1 kg) except as incidental catches, also
specified as to amount. The following annual catch
quotas also have been set: bluefin tuna taken by purse
seine, 1,000 short tons (907 metric tons) of fish between
14 and 115 pounds, and 180 short tons (163 metric tons)
of fish over 300 pounds; taken by methods other than
purse seining, 2,000 fish over 300 pounds; anglers, daily
bag limit 4 fish between 14 and 115 pounds, on fish over

300 pounds a bag limit of one fish per day per vessel
through August 13, and a limit of seven fish per vessel
thereafter until the quota of 2,000 fish is reached.

Small quantities of bluefin tuna have been landed in
New Jersey and New York for many years. Most of these
were caught in pound nets or by hook and line. This tuna
is a popular sport fish, although it has not been listed
separately in the national saltwater angling surveys. In
1970 about 1,685 metric tons of tunas were estimated to
have been taken by sport fishermen in the north Atlan-
tic region, and about 400 metric tons in the middle At-
lantic region (Deuel 1973).

In 1970 the foreign catch of bluefin tuna in ICNAF sub-
areas 5 and 6, the sport catch, and the domestic com-
mercial catch were of the same orders of magnitude
(Table 40).

1880 90 1900

Figure 36.— Annual commercial landings of bluefin tuna in New
York and New Jersey 1901-1975.

Table 40.--Estimated cotmnercial and recreational catches of Atlantic
bluefin tuna in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the United
States coast for the period in which recreational or foreign catch
estimates are available, weights in metric tons.

Domestic
commercial catch

Me-HY

HJ-NC

year

incl.

1960

634

1961

1.073

1962

3,207

1963

,283

2,999

1.542

1964

.251

998

1,923

1965

571

1,147

973

1966

237

883

243

1967

323

1,060

1,459

1968

742

1969

1,224

1970

398

1.474

1,398

1971

917

1,409

917

1972

976

698

976

1973

567

771

567

1974

396

632

396

1975

141

(830)

CI. 141)

Recreational
catch

Me-»Y
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

ICNAF
Foreign catch

331
230

1,150
486
166
102
144
295

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did not
give data by individual states. New York was included with the New
England states and New Jersey with the other middle Atlantic states.
Recreational catches were given under the general category "tunas,"
which probably includes other species in addition to bluefin .
Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings in
N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.
- An unreported catch is possible.

Atlantic Sea Scallop

The U,S, Atlantic northern sea scallop, Placopecten
magellanicus (Gmelin), fishery began off New England
in the 19th century and shifted to beds off Long Island,
N.Y. in the 1920s. The fishery did not reach full develop-
ment until after the second world war, when major stocks
on Georges Bank were heavily exploited (Merrill and
Tubiash 1970). The New England fishery reached its
peak in 1961 with total landings of nearly 11,000 metric
tons of meats, mostly in Massachusetts and Maine.
Relatively large catches in 1961 and 1962 were mostly of
survivors of an unusually large recruitment on Georges
Bank in 1959 (Graham 1968).

Scallop landings in New Jersey and New York have

90 1900 O 20 30 40 50 60 70

Figure 37.— Annual commercial landings of scallops in New Jersey

1897-1975.

been relatively small and variable, and do not neces-
sarily reflect catches by vessels based in those states. For
example, in 1962 most scallop draggers from New Jersey
landed their catch in New York (LoVerde 1963). The
sharp increase in New Jersey in 1965 (Fig. 37, Table 41)
came mostly from catches off Cape Henry, Va. (LoVerde
1966). New Jersey draggers returned to waters off Vir-
ginia in 1966 but abundance had dropped substantially.
As in the surf clam fishery, when abundance declined on
traditional grounds the fleets ranged farther from their
home ports in search of new grounds. It probably was in-
evitable that sea scallop landings in New Jersey would
decline (Fig. 37) soon after the New England scallop catch
dropped from a combination of heavy fishing and poor
spawning success.

Canada is the only other country which harvests
scallops off the United States coast. The Canadian
fishery on Georges Bank began with the advent of the
strong 1959 year class. Canadian interests built a new
fleet to work on Georges Bank. When scallop stocks
declined there they extended their area of operations to
the southward where they were competing with
scallopers from New York and New Jersey.

Table 41 .--Estimated commercial catches of Atlantic sea scallop
in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the united states
coast 1960-1975. Weights of meats in metric tons.

Domestic
ccnmercial catch

ICNAP
Foreign catch

Year

Me-NY

incl.

NJ-MC
incl.

5Z,

1960

.266

257

11.454

610

1961

.370

158

12.154

302

4.565(37.999)

1962

.233

11.087

5.715(47,434)

1963

B73

8.944

100

5.898(48.957)

1964

927

7.520

152

5.922(49.156)

1965

.323

860

6.918

2.144

4.434(36.803)

1966

965

182

6.022

1.225

4.878(40.489)

,791(23,

,165)

1967

622

3.809

837

5.019(41.657)

50)

1968

671

226

4,272

1.203

3(22) 4.820(40,

,002)

424 ( 3

.517)

1969

271

143

2.588

774

4.318(35,

.836)

15)

1970

242

2.268

386

4.097(34,

,006)

1971

183

2.154

299

3.908(32,

.434)

1972

101

112

2.107

546

4.161(34,

,535)

16(

135)

1973

187

1.860

538

4.223(35,

.055)

1974

149

2,184

544

6.137(50,

,934)

1975

122

322

(3.334)

(898)

7.414(61,

536)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970 did
not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Foreign catches for 1975 are provisional.

For simplicity the ICNAF statistics, given in live weights (in
parentheses) have been reduced to weights of meats by dividing by
8.3, rather than showing live weights for domestic catches also.

Do»nestic figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable
landings in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is probable.

Atlantic Bay Scallop

Argopectcn irradians (Lamarck), bay scallop, has been
esteemed as a delicacy along the Atlantic coast for a very
long time. It lives in shallow protected waters and at

some stages of its life history is often assocated in-
timately with eelgrass {Zostera). Most Zostera beds
along the Atlantic coast were reduced or eliminated in
1931-32 by disease and the concurrent sharp decline of
the bay scallop fishery has been attributed to destruc-
tion of eelgrass beds. Marshall (1947), however, noted
abundant scallop populations in the absence of eelgrass.
Merrill and Tubiash (1970) reported that a major factor
in decline of bay scallop landings after 1935 was the "ex-
plosive expansion" of the sea scallop industry. The ef-
fect shows very clearly in the record of bay scallop land-
ings in New York State (McHugh 1972a, fig. 11). In
New Jersey commercial landings of bay and sea scallops
were lumped until 1937 (Fig. 37). Some bay scallop may
have been included in the earlier records, but from 1937
to 1955 inclusive apparently no catches were made.
Small and variable catches have been reported for most
years from 1951 to 1973 inclusive (Table 42). The poten-
tial for bay scallop production apparently is much less in
New Jersey than in New York. In the recent period of
abundance maximum reported landings were 171 metric
tons in 1964 in New Jersey and 449 metric tons in 1962 in
New York.

Because it lives its entire life history in shallow waters,
bay scallop is subject to rigorous environmental con-
ditions and it is hardly surprising that it is extremely
variable in abundance. But, because its life span is not
much longer than 1 yr, management strategy is relatively
simple. It is necessary only to protect the young until
they have a chance to spawn, then permit unlimited har-
vesting. This should achieve the maximum sustainable
yield, but it will be a highly variable yield over which
man cannot have much further control under natural en-

Table 42 .--Estimated coomercial landings of Atlantic bay
scallop in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the
united States coast 1960-1975. Weights of meats in
metric tons.

North Atlantic region

Middle Atlantic region

Year

Me-NY Incl.

NY only

NJ-NC

incl.

NJ only

1960

864(7,171)

383(3.176)

31(

257)

1961

678(5,627)

359(2.977)

60 (

663)

32 (

266)

1962

1,095(9.088)

449(3,724)

242(2

.007)

166(1

.377)

1963

315(2.614)

136(1.144)

270(2

.239)

124(1

,028)

1964

523(4.341)

312(2.588)

325(2

.695)

171(1

.418)

1965

610(5.063)

402(3.334)

216(1

.791)

44 (

365)

1966

543(4.507)

144(1.194)

261(2

.164)

79 (

655)

1967

280(2,324)

74( 613)

206(1

.708)

39(

324)

1968

314(2,606)

91 ( 754)

298(2

.471)

66)

1969

644(5.345)

113( 937)

278(2

.305)

1970

665(5.519)

166(1,377)

59 (

490)

1971

1.001(8.308)

65( 539)

27(

224)

1972

42( 349)

42 ( 349)

58 (

481)

1973

77( 639)

77 ( 638)

45(

373)

28 (

2321

1974

308(2,556)

306(2,556)

107 (

667)

58)

1975

201(1,668)

201(1.666)

63 (

525)

-1

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and
1970 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Live weights are given in parentheses for comparability with
XCNAP Statistics.

- An unreported catch is possible.

vironmental conditions provided that he preserves the
quality of the coastal zone.

American Lobster

In the 1880s the southern limit of the North Atlantic
lobster fishery, according to Earll (1887) was at Squan
River (probably the Manasquan), just north of Barnegat
Bay. A few lobster were caught in Long Island Sound,
but lobster landings at the eastern end of Long Island ap-
parently came from Marthas Vineyard (Mather 1887). At
one time lobster was taken in New York harbor, but by
1880 the catch had dropped to zero.

As in New York, the trend in American lobster,
Homarus americanus Edwards, landings in New Jersey
has been upward since the early 1950s (Fig. 38). At first,
most of the increase was caused by conversion of fish
trawlers to lobster trawling, as the existence of a sub-
stantial resource on the continental shelf became com-
monly known. From 1957 to 1961 about 90'^c of lobster
landings in New Jersey were taken by trawlers operating
between Hudson and Veatch canyons on the continental
shelf (LoVerde 1963). By 1964 (LoVerde 1965) about 35
trawlers were taking lobster specifically. Landings
dropped from 1962 to 1967 and many fishermen con-
cluded, from the scarcity of lobster on these grounds and
a substantial decline of lobster size, that the resource had
been overharvested. From this evidence alone, that con-
clusion was not necessarily warranted. The subsequent
rise in catches to even higher levels (Fig. 38) came about
through another change in harvesting strategy, this
time a switch from sea bass to lobster by pot fishermen.
It is possible, although by no means conclusive, that
the decline in size of lobster might have been caused by
an unusually successful year class or classes at this time.

These changes in fishing strategy are typical of coastal
fisheries, illustrated particularly well by the interac-
tions between lobster fishing and other kinds of fishing.
The sequence was, first of all, a shift from fish to lobster
by trawlers, then a shift by trawlers back to finfishing,
especially for summer flounder when lobster catches
dropped (LoVerde 1967), and finally another set of shifts
in the pot fisheries, from sea bass to lobster. Thus, trends
in the catches of all these species are interrelated and not
independent phenomena. These changes are related to

8 -

prices and costs of operation, as well as to relative abun-
dance of the various species. By 1971, about 40% of New
Jersey lobster landings were taken in pots, and the sea
bass pot fishery had declined almost to nothing (LoVerde
1972).

It is reasonably well established that a part of the in-
crease in lobster landings in the New York Bight area
and farther south was caused by a real increase in abun-
dance. It has been suggested that this increase was as-
sociated with falling water temperatures, which caused
the species to shift its geographic range. Table 43 illus-
trates not only that New York landings have been fol-
lowing an upward trend since the early 1960s, but also
that they have been rising more rapidly than in the north
Atlantic region as a whole. Similarly, New Jersey land-
ings of American lobster have been rising, but landings
to the south of New Jersey have been rising more rapidly.
In the 5-yr period, 1961-65, landings in New York made
up less than 2% of the entire north Atlantic region catch,
in the period 1966-70 nearly 4%. In the same two periods
New Jersey landings rose also, but in the first period this
was about 97% of total landings in the middle Atlantic
region, in the second period only 87%. In the last several
years, however, landings in New Jersey and New York
have been dropping. Local lobstermen believe not only
that the resource is less abundant, but also that the
fishery has been overcapitalized.

Taylor et al. (1957) postulated a relationship between
catches or availability of lobster along the Atlantic coast
and water temperatures. In a period of rising air tem-
peratures (presumably correlated with ocean tem-
peratures) from about 1920 to 1950 they found that lob-

Table 43 .--Estimated commercial catches of American lobster in the
north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast
1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

Domestic

coiTUTiercial

catch

ICNSF
Foreign catch

Year

Me -NY
incl.

NJ-NC
incl.

52:„ 5Z^ 6

1960

230

622

13,502

637

1961

22B

703

11,990

710

1962

143

395

12,974

407

1963

173

340

13,364

351

1964

248

482

13.547

496

1965

295

463

13,235

484

1966

331

34 7

13.036

365

1967

399

400

11,633

499

1968

530

550

14,153

615

1969

64 2

650

14,573

753

1970

747

S32

14.542

949

1971

812

582

14,548

714

1 102 25

1972

520

593

10,950

1,014

2 204 17

1973

405

618

10,134

733

2 228 5

1974

332

540

10,549

694

176

1975

304

386

(10,743)

(454)

219

Figure 38.-

- Annual commercial landings of American lobster in New
Jersey 1880-1975.

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970
did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Public Law 93-242, enacted in January 1974, declared American

lobster a creature of the continental shelf. Thereafter, it

became illegal for fishermen of other nations to catch lobster

off U.S. coasts. Foreign catches for 1975 (Canadian) are provisional.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

ster landings in New England rose, while those in the
middle Atlantic states dropped. They inferred a cause-
and-effect relationship but did not explain the mecha-
nisms. Dow (1969) also has maintained that lobster
abundance and distribution along the coast, and hence
catches, are a function of water temperature trends.

Some lobster are taken by recreational fishermen but
this catch has not been recorded in the national surveys.

Lobster is taken incidentally by trawlers fishing
primarily for other species. Catches reported by foreign
fleets have been relatively small (Table 43), and there is
no information at present that fisheries specifically for
lobster have been established by other nations in the
area, except for the Canadian lobster fishery on
southeastern Georges Bank (Grosslein et al. 1973, see
footnote 7). Nevertheless, a good deal of concern has
arisen in some quarters about the possibility of unan-
nounced lobster catches by some nations fishing in the
area, and there have been some difficult gear conflicts.
Effects of foreign fishing on the lobster fisheries of the
New York Bight area probably have been negligible, at
least until very recently. In 1974, by Congressional ac-
tion, American lobster was declared a creature of the
shelf. This action was not consistent with the definition
contained in the 1958 Geneva Convention, because lob-
ster can swim. Nevertheless, foreign fishing vessels with
lobster aboard have been detained and the operators
penalized in U.S. courts. Fines have been paid despite
the questionable legality of the U.S. declaration. When
the United States declared unilateral jurisdistion over
resources out to 200 miles from the coast under the
provisions of The Fishery Conservation and Manage-
ment Act of 1976, this weakness in the regulations was
removed. Edwards (1968) estimated that the standing
crop of lobster in the region from the Gulf of Maine to
Hudson Canyon beyond 12 miles was about 50 million
pounds (23,000 metric tons).

Swordfish

Fishing for swordfish, Xiphias gladius Linnaeus, off
New Jersey was a relatively recent development. Com-
mercial landings were insignificant until the 1960s (Fig.
39), when a longline fishery developed (LoVerde 1964,
1965, 1966, 1967). Landings were made by New Jersey
longliners in other states and some vessels from other
states in New Jersey ports, but apparently the success of
fishing was variable. The decline of this short-lived
fishery undoubtedly was hastened by national hysteria
about residues of mercury in some large pelagic fishes
like swordfish and tunas, and action by the Food and
Drug Administration to prohibit transport of swordfish
in interstate commerce.

A commercial swordfish fishery has been underway in
New York for much longer. Landings were first recorded
in 1904. Except for 1908, landings have been reported for
every year except 1972 (Fig. 39). This was at first a har-
poon fishery, but beginning in 1963 a shift was made to
longlines. By 1967 harpoons were no longer used, and ex-
cept for small catches reported on handlines, this had

-V..K .!\K.

Figure 39.— Annual commercial landings of swordfish in New York
and New Jersey 1901-1975.

become a longline fishery. The advantage was probably
that longlines took other species as well.

Swordfish has been included with billfishes in the
national saltwater sport fish surveys but estimates are
not available prior to 1970. In 1970 the total recorded
catch of billfishes in this area was 326 metric tons in the
middle Atlantic region (Table 44), none in the New
England region. Thus, it appears that the recreational
catch of swordfish is relatively small.

Swordfish has not been reported separately in ICNAF
landings. Some probably are taken by longline and per-
haps other gears by foreign fishermen.

Table 44.— Estimated commercial landings of swordfish in the nortn
and middle Atlantic regions of the united States coast 1960-1975.
weights in metric tens.

North Atlantic

region

Middle Atlantic

region

Year

Me-NY incl.

NY only

-HC incl.

NJ only

1960

450

961

399

1962

412

1963

079

171

1964

73B

646

139

1965

398

828

454

1966

426

190

115

1967

292

183

117

1968

202

1969

153

1970

130

1971

•

1972

1973

275

1974

352

1975

,8561

(120)

Recreational catches were included under the general category
"billfishes." The only recorded catch was 326 metric tons in
1970 in the middle Atlantic region. No foreign catches have
been recorded .

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
In N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch ia possible.

• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

Striped Bass

The history of striped bass, Morone saxatilis (Wal-
baum), landings in New Jersey (Fig. 40) has been similar
to landings in all the coastal states, where the trend has
been irregularly upward since the early 1930s. Landings
in New Jersey have been less than in New York and the
fluctuations have been much greater. Whereas the com-
mercial catch in New York has been primarily in haul
seines, the New Jersey commercial fishery since 1960
has been almost exclusively an otter trawl fishery in
coastal waters in winter. I am informed that the very
wide fluctuations in New Jersey landings of striped bass
may reflect success of law enforcement rather than abun-
dance of fish, especially after the winter trawl fishery for
this species became important. This fishery began when
it was discovered that along the New Jersey coast striped
bass often spend the winter in relatively shallow waters
off the coast rather than in bays and estuaries. It is illegal
in New Jersey to trawl within 2 miles of the coast, but
facilities for enforcement of marine fishery laws in that
State are inadequate, as they are in most Atlantic coastal
states. Activity of enforcement agents may depend on
how the authorities react to public pressures, especially
from sport fishermen.

According to national saltwater sport fishing surveys,
the recreational catch of striped bass is relatively large
(Table 45). In the 3 yr for which estimates are available,
in the north Atlantic and middle Atlantic regions com-
bined, the total sport catch was more than six times the
total commercial catch. Sport catch estimates also sup-
port the hypothesis that abundance of striped bass has
increased over this period, for the sport catch has grown
about twice as much as the number of sport fishermen.
These figures, if they are reasonably accurate, con-
tradict many of the assertions used in the chronic con-
flict between recreational and commercial striped bass
fishermen, and do not support the argument that com-
mercial fishing for this species should be curtailed or
prohibited. In other words, regulations, if they are to be
successful, must be applied to all segments of the fishery.
There is no scientific rationale for termination of com-
mercial fishing (Retzsch 1975).

Striped bass is not recorded in foreign catches, al-
though it is remotely possible that small incidental
catches could be made by trawls beyond 12 miles. This
migratory coastal species, like weakfish and some others,
is not threatened by foreign fishing and should be
amenable to management by the coastal nation-state. In
view of its vulnerability, as an anadromous species, to
damage from domestic overfishing and other human
agencies, and the patent failure generally of domestic ef-
forts to manage coastal fisheries, it is remarkable that
the striped bass resource has survived and flourished. It
has been suggested (Mansueti 1961; McHugh 1972a) that
this species has been able to take advantage of enrich-
ment of its estuarine nursery grounds by man. If so, the
effect must be reversible at some higher level of enrich-
ment. On the other hand, if increased nutrient loads in
the estuaries have been favorable for striped bass

in
§3

- il

J \ 1 !\

Id.

° 1
o

L_..-:

^j' J J

I 1 1

"■"""■■Tw-

, y 1^, ,

Figure 40.— Annual commercial landings of striped bass in New Jer-
sey 1887-1975.

Table 45 . --Estimated commercial and recreational catches of
striped bass in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the
United States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

North

Atlar

tic reqion

Middle Atlai

Commercial
NJ-NC NJ
incl. only

ntic reqion

Year

Commercial
Me-NY NY
incl. only

Recreational
Me-NY
incl.

Recreational
NJ-NC
incl.

1960

428

332

597

3,451

11.254

1961

592

413

3,699

125

1962

607

298

3,298

224

1963

569

306

3.644

342

1964

739

452

3,387

452

1965

576

336

773

2,920

345

3,334

L966

858

477

3,258

143

1967

1,100

739

3,646

148

196S

1,151

675

3,886

208

1969

1,233

661

4,391

141

1970

1,261

536

795

3.790

118

12.366

1971

931

526

2,601

128

1972

587

371

3,505

169

1973

1,107

759

4,747

348

1974

941

626

3,662

324

1975

(685)

516

(2,724)

155

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960. 1965. and 1970
did not give data by individual states. New York was included
with the New England states and New Jersey with the other middle
Atlantic states.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H.. Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

production, then pollution abatement may lead to a
reduction in abundance.

A recent report from Maryland (Boone 1976) states
that the last dominant year class of striped bass was
produced in 1970 and that small fish are becoming
scarce. This may mean reduced catches in the New York
Bight area in the near future.

Conch

Two species of conch, Busycon carica (Gmelin),
knobbed whelk, and B. canaliculatum (Linnaeus), chan-
neled whelk, are used in the New York Bight area as bait
for sport fishing and are canned in limited quantities for
human food. The pattern of landings in New Jersey dif-
fers from that in New York, where the peak came in the
1940s, probably as a result of protein shortages during

the war. In New Jersey (Fig. 41) the increase in landings
came in the 1950s and a peak was reached in the early
1960s. According to LoVerde (1964, 1968) demand for
conch meats increased at this time, but also scarcity of
finfishes encouraged some fishermen to turn to this
resource. Fluctuations in landings (Table 46, Fig. 41)
probably were related more to market demand than to
abundance of conch.

In the New York Bight area conch are taken mostly in
pots, and the catch is to some extent incidental to the sea
bass pot fishery. The recent downward trend in conch
landings may have been caused by the decline of the sea
bass fishery.

-r\^

90 1900

20 30 40 50 60 TO

Figure 41. — Annual commercial landings of conch in New York and
New Jersey 1926-1975.

Table 46. — Estimated commercial landings of conch In the
north and middle Atlantic regions of the United States
coast 1960-1975. Weights of meats in metric tons.

Horth Atlant

ic reqion

Middle Atlant

ic reqion

Year

Me-NY Incl.

NY only

SJ-NC

incl.

NJ only

1960

e3<324)

12 (

47)

224(

873)

142(554)

1961

59(230)

23)

187 (

728)

95(370)

1962

64(326)

31)

262(1

021)

75(292)

1963

93(363)

10(

39)

398(1

551)

238(927)

1964

85(331)

19(

74)

220(

857)

87(339)

1965

60(3121

20 (

78)

199 (

775)

84(328)

1966

126(491)

43)

420(1

637)

169(659)

1967

113(441)

35(136)

249 (

970)

62(242)

1966

92(359)

22{

86)

269(1

048)

68(265)

1969

170(662)

17(

66)

275(1

071)

136(530)

1970

183(713)

18 (

70)

251(

978)

84(328)

1971

195(759)

15(

58)

73 (

285)

36(140)

1972

170(662)

19(

74)

167 (

650)

52(203)

1973

173(674)

20 (

78)

272(1

060)

68(265)

1974

144 (562)

24 (

94)

596(2

324)

49(191)

1975

160(624)

49(193)

609(2

375)

73(286)

The national saltwater anglinq surveys for 1960, 1965, and
1970 did not include recreational catches of invertebrates.

Live weights are given in parentheses for comparability with
ICNAF statistics.

Northern Puffer

Sphocroidcs mnculntus (Rloch and .Schneider) has
never been of great importance as a commercial fish in
New Jersey. Prior to the second world war scarcely any

landings were reported. A peak of about 60 metric tons in

1948 probably was related to the scarcity of meat at the
end of the war. According to LoVerde (1963) the labor of
skinning the fish deterred local fishermen and puffer
were landed only when other species were scarce. He also
said that the increase in landings in the 1960s, to a peak
of about 70 metric tons in 1963, was stimulated by
development of out-of-state markets. These may have
been markets created by the rapidly developing fishery
in Chesapeake Bay, which reached its peak in 1965. The
subsequent decline of the commercial fishery in New Jer-
sey may have been caused by overproduction of puffer in
Chesapeake Bay, which led to a decline in prices. This
was the reason advanced for the parallel decline in puffer
landings in New York (McHugh 1972a). But the decline
to zero landings in the 1970s apparently reflects a real
scarcity of fish in New Jersey (Paul Hamer pers. com-
mun.). In New York, greatest landings were in the mid-
dle and late 1940s, when landings rose to a maximum of
over 1,000 metric tons. The secondary peak in the 1960s
was general in the Middle Atlantic Bight, caused by a
temporary increase in abundance (Table 47). Northern
puffer presently is extremely scarce along the coast.

Although puffer is not a popular sport fish,
recreational fishermen catch large quantities at times of
abundance (Table 47). In the middle Atlantic region the
recreational catch probably comes mostly from
Chesapeake Bay and the North Carolina sounds.

Northern puffer is a coastal fish which never migrates
far from shore. It has not been recorded in foreign catches
and probably is never taken by foreign fleets.

Table 47. --Estimated commercial and recreational catches of
northern puffer in the north and middle Atlantic regions of the
united States coast 1960-1975. Weights in metric tons.

North Atlantic

region

Middle

Atlantic

reqion

Commercial

Recreational

Comnercial

Recreational

He-NY

NJ-NC

NJ-MC

Year

incl.

only

incl.

only

incl.

1960

143

136

461

774

771

1961

223

693

1962

246

244

822

1963

430

1,252

1964

250

2,524

1965

183

870

5,897

4,924

1966

103

3,825

1967

3,687

1968

102

1.850

1969

118

2.176

1970

583

744

7.515

1971

284

1972

1973

1974

1975

(2)

(•)

The national saltwater angling surveys for 1960, 1965, and 1970
did not give data by individual states. Hew YorV was Included
with the New England states and New Jersey with the other middle
Atlantic states.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H.. Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

- An unreported catch is possible.

• Less than 0.5 metric ton.

Tilefish

SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS

The interesting history of the tilefish, LopholatUus
chamaeleonticeps Goode and Bean, fishery has been de-
scribed in detail by Bigelow and Schroeder (1953), and
was reviewed briefly by McHugh (1972a). The species
apparently is distributed in a narrow band of relatively
warm bottom water at the edge of the continental shelf.
It is taken incidentally by trawlers fishing primarily for
other species, but recently in New Jersey a specialized
longline fishery has developed; this accounts for the
sharp increase in landings (Fig. 42, Table 48) in the last 3
yr. No parallel increase occurred in New York landings,
but north of New York landings have increased about as
sharply as in New Jersey. In both states limited deep
water handline sport fisheries have developed recently.

The only foreign catch of tilefish reported by ICNAF
was 1 metric ton in 1972. It is likely that incidental
catches are made fairly regularly by foreign fleets fishing
at the edge of the continental shelf.

Figure 42.— Annual commercial landings of tilefish in New Jersey
1933-1975.

Table 46. --Estimated commercial landings of tilefish in the north
and middle Atlantic regions of the United States coast 1960-1975.
Weights in metric tons.

North fltlanti

r reqion

Middle Atlantic

reqion

Year

He-NY incl.

NY on

-»C incl.

NJ only

1960

1,039

1961

338

1962

115

1963

101

1964

565

1965

604

1966

435

1967

1968

1969

1970

1971

1972

111

1973

323

1974

206

3B0

380

1975

(277)

(434)

434

A specialized recreational fishery for tilefish in deep water
has developed recently.

Probably some incidental foreign catches are taken on the outer
continental shelf. One metric ton was reported in 1972 in subarea 6.

Figures for 1975 in parentheses assume that unavailable landings
in N.H., Conn., and Del. equal the average of recent years.

Study of trends in landings of some 48 species of fishes
and shellfishes in New Jersey has shown that the history
of the marine fisheries of the State closely parallels the
history of the marine fisheries of New York. Maximum
total weight of landings in New Jersey was reached in
1956, followed by a secondary peak in 1962, and a sub-
sequent sharp decline to a low in 1969 at only about 16%
of the 1956 high.

Over most of the recorded history of New Jersey
fisheries, menhaden has dominated the catch, especially
after the 1930s. The recent rise in landings after 1969 has
been caused primarily by a resurgence of the menhaden
fishery. When food finfishes and food shellfishes are con-
sidered separately the patterns are different. The
greatest recorded weight of landings of food finfishes was
in 1901, but the statistics prior to 1929 were for the most
part widely spaced in time and probably were less
reliable. The next greatest was 1945, the peak year of a
period (1929-49) which marked the most prosperous era
of the otter trawl fisheries of New Jersey. Subsequently,
landings of food finfishes declined rather steadily to an
all-time low in 1968 which was about 30% of the 1945
high.

Landings of food shellfishes showed a downward trend
from 1880 to 1944, then rose sharply to a maximum his-
toric high in 1966, and fell off abruptly thereafter. The re-
cent rise is somewhat misleading, for it was caused by
development after the second world war of the surf clam
fishery. If surf clam catches were not included in food
shellfish landings, the downward trend continues, as it
has in New York.

The postwar decline in food finfish landings in New
Jersey, which was similar to the decline in New York, is
significant in the light of the popular belief that foreign
fishing is the cause of all the problems of the domestic
marine fisheries. Foreign fishing did not extend south-
ward of Cape Cod and Georges Bank until the mid-1960s,
when the decline of domestic landings was already well
underway. This suggests that other factors had impor-
tant effects on total landings. Foreign fishing certainly
has reduced recently the abundance of a number of living
resources important to domestic fishermen in New York
Bight, and thus created problems for domestic fisher-
men. But it is a dangerous oversimplification to believe
that all the problems of the domestic fisheries will be
solved by extending national jurisdiction to 200 miles.
Resolution of foreign fishing problems off the U.S. coast
will bring realization that even more difficult unsolved
problems remain. Preoccupation with "the Russians"
has led many people to forget that extremely complex
domestic fishery problems of long standing exist, and
that the United States has made little progress in solving
them. As Gates and Norton (1974) have observed, foreign
fishing is a symptom of what is wrong with the domestic
fishing industry, not a cause. Smith (1975), with
reference to a west coast trawl fishery, noted that the
well-being of domestic fishermen did not change sig-
nificantly as foreign fishing developed in their area, yet

domestic fishermen perceived foreign fishing as a major
threat.

In New Jersey about 25 species of fishes and shell-
fishes produced landings of 1,000 metric tons or more at
one time or another in recorded history. Of these 25
species 13 are estuarine and coastal resources not vul-
nerable to foreign fishing. Landings of an additional
eight species reached peaks between 1930 and 1958.
Thus, the subsequent declines in landings of these eight
species were not caused by foreign fishing. Another two
species have never produced major landings in New Jer-
sey because demand is low. The remaining two, bluefin
tuna and unsorted industrial fishes, reached peak land-
ings in 1970 and 1966 respectively, but the subsequent
declines were caused by domestic overfishing in the one
case and by domestic economic conditions in the other.

In New York also, some 25 species of fishes and shell-
fishes yielded landings of 1,000 metric tons or more in 1
yr or another since 1880. With six exceptions these were
the same species on the New Jersey list. Of these 25
species 10 are estuarine and coastal, not subject to
foreign fishing. Of the remaining 15, all of which have
been taken by foreign fleets recently, two have been in
low demand in the United States.

In both states, landings of species not vulnerable to
foreign fishing have declined more sharply since peak
landings were reached than have domestic landings of
species also taken by foreign fleets (Table 49). This
demonstrates clearly that domestic fishery management
has not been successful in maintaining landings in the
two states bordering on New York Bight, and that al-
though foreign fishing has taken large quantities of some
species important in domestic catches, foreign fishing
has not been the only factor, or even the major factor,
responsible for the decline of domestic fisheries in New
York Bight. This is further substantiated by the history
of marine fisheries in Rhode Island (Olsen and Steven-
son 1975); in that State total landings have been in-
creasing since 1964, and the rise has been attributed to
successful management.

The history of commercial fishery landings in the New
York Bight area is illustrated by comparing combined
landings for New York and New Jersey of 27 major
species in the catch (Fig. 43). The species have been ar-
ranged from bottom to top approximately in
chronological order of years of peak landings. The series
illustrates rather well how the industry shifted from
traditional inshore resources (oyster to weakfish) in the
late 1920s and the 1930s to demersal resources (haddock
to yellowtail flounder) as the offshore trawl fishery
developed. Next came increased landings of a variety of
species, stimulated by meat shortages and high fish
prices during the later years of the second world war and
immediately after (hard clam to Atlantic mackerel). The
final period, continuing to today, was characterized by
concentration on certain resources temporarily abun-
dant (sea scallop, black sea bass, summer flounder, scup,
American lobster, and striped bass), but also including
the period of rapid growth and subsequent decline of the
industrial fisheries (menhaden and unclassified species)
and the surf clam fishery. As in New York (McHugh
1972a), these changes were in response to changing abun-
dance or availability of traditional species and changing
economic conditions. Despite the obvious capacity of the
industry to respond fairly quickly to such changes it was
not possible to maintain maximum historic levels of total
landings (Fig. 3), even of food fishes and edible shell-
fishes (figs. 5 and 2 respectively in McHugh 1972a).

It is obvious that the declining fisheries of the New
York Bight area have some predominantly domestic
causes, not shared by some neighboring states to the
north. In Rhode Island, for example, following a sharp
decline in total landings from the late 1950s to 1964, the
trend in total landings has been up. Most of the decline
up to 1964 can be accounted for by a decline in indus-
trial groundfish landings. Olsen and Stevenson (1975)
described the commercial fishing industry in Rhode Is-
land as thriving, and capable of expansion and diver-
sification.

Even in New England, the epitome of a depressed

Table 49. — Historic trends in dontestic landings of major commercial fishery resources of Ne
York Bight (NY and NJ combined) since 1929. comparing resources not available to foreign
fishermen with those vulnerable to foreign fishing, weights in metric tons.

Maximum

catch

Minimum subsequent catch

Average

catch

)

(veai

■)

since m

inimum

values

New Jersey

N«w Yorlt

New Jersey

New Yorl<

New
Jersey

New
Yor)c

Resources not available
to foreign fleets:

Food finfiahes

,745(1937)

3,362(1945)

552(1967)

347(1967)

1.520

1,033

Pood shellfishes

21,

.468(1966)

9.881(1946)

12.136(1972)

2,314(1959)

12.664

4.453

Industrial species

220,

,639(1956)

62.713(1962)

5.918(1970)

291(1967)

34.448

2.479

Subtotals

232,

,105(1956)

66.391(1962)

28.115(1966)

5,067(1967)

52.218

9.093

Resources vulnerable to
foreign fishing:

IS,

.644(1949)

22.222(1939)

5.441(1969)

5,188(1970)

7.702

6.371

Percentage changes in

Percent

maximum

decline from historic Percent decline from historic
to subsequent minimum maximum to average for period
following minimum

New Jersey New Yor)c

New Jersey

New Yor)c

Resources not available
foreign fleets;

.9 92

77.5

86.3

Resources vulnerable to
foreign fishing;

.8 76

58.7

71.3

:l_^

STRIPED Bass
AMERICAN LOBSTER

0
10 -

UNCLASSIFIED
INDUSTRIAL FISHES
{NOTE SCALE CHANGE)

,^/':^^^X/

250

.1,

200

150

100

J.. ,VA

-t-- _

r-'.-c

,fN^oA-^

'°r

SUMMER FLOUNDER

MENHADEN
(NOTE ORDER- OF.
MAGNITUDE
SCALE CHANGE)

BLACK SEA BASS
SEA SCALLOP

ATLANTIC MACKEREL
SOFT CLAM
RED HAKE
ATLANTIC HERRING

_^ HARD CLAM

q -^-r--.-..-^

/■.,• •,

"■" \-\^r;

YELLOWTAIL FLOUNDER

SQUIDS

BLUE CHiB

WINTER FLOUNDER

ATLANTIC COD

SILVER HAKE

\^%.-^

AMERICAN SHAD

BLUEFISH
ALEWIFE

AMERICAN OYSTER

American fishery, opinion is divided as to how bad things
are. Substantial investment is being made in new domes-
tic fishing vessels, and some experienced observers point
out that energetic and hardworking fishermen are doing
well (Townes 1975). They attributed most of this success
to the Point Judith Fishermen's Cooperative and to the
rise of Newport as a trawler port. Thus, the healthy con-
ditions described refer largely to the otter trawl in-
dustry. Some other fisheries in Rhode Island appear to be
much less healthy. The hard clam industry, for example,
has declined by more than 80% from peak landings of
about 2,300 metric tons of meats (5 million pounds) in
1955 to less than 400 metric tons (less than 850,000
pounds) in 1974. Olsen and Stevenson (1975) said that
the hard clam resource is large and underutilized but
also that if present trends in the fishery continue the har-
vest will continue to decline. The reasons for this ap-
parent contradiction are not entirely clear. Certainly
there is no scarcity of markets for hard clam if the up-
ward trend in production from New York waters is any
criterion. In this respect the commercial fishing industry
is in better condition in the New York Bight area (es-
pecially New York State) than in Rhode Island.

The major domestic problems of commercial fisheries
in the New York Bight area are sociopolitical and
economic, aggravated by wide fluctuations in abun-
dance of individual resources from natural causes. To a
degree the industry has been able to cope with resource
fluctuations by shifting from one species to another and
by using different methods of fishing. An outstanding ex-
ample of changes in fishing strategy in both states was
the virtual replacement of fixed pound nets in the shore
zone by more flexible otter trawls (Knapp in press) in the
past 40 yr. This development not only allowed fishermen
to follow the major species during their seasonal mi-
grations, but also lengthened the fishing season from
about 6 mo to a full year. This improvement in ef-
ficiency may have contributed to declining catches of
some species by overfishing those resources. Develop-
ment of a domestic trawl fishery proved to be an
evolutionary trend in fishing strategy which eventually
was adopted by much more efficient and massive foreign
fleets in the 1960s, to the detriment of some domestic
fisheries in the New York Bight area, including some
recreational fisheries.

Domestic fishermen in the area have been han-
dicapped by restrictive state laws, usually justified as
conservation measures, but in reality serving only to per-
petuate inefficiency and increase the cost of locating and
catching fishes and shellfishes. Some of this legislation
has been passed at the insistence of recreational fisher-
men, who want improved access to certain living
resources and a greater share of the catch (Ginter 1974a,
b). This question of who gets the catch has been pushed
to extremes in repeated attempts in both states to
declare striped bass a game fish and prohibit completely
commercial fishing for that species. The rationale behind

Figure 43. — Historic landings of major species in the
New York Bight area (New York and New Jersey).

1880 90 1900 10 20 30 10 50 60 70

the striped bass controversy is emotional, having nothing
to do with scientific management. In fact, all available
evidence points to the conclusion that, historically,
fishing has not had an adverse effect on the striped bass
resource. However, the history of the striped bass fishery
and attempts to control fishing is an excellent example of
the failure of domestic management to address itself to
the central issue, namely, control of coastal fisheries for
maximum benefit to the public and to the economy.
Neither scientists, nor fishermen, nor legislators, nor
fishery administrators have demonstrated a recognition
that obtaining essential management information should
have top priority.

In some ways an even better example of failure by the
states to manage coastal fisheries is provided by the his-
tory of the surf clam industry. This began as a major
fishery in the middle 1940s off New York and New Jer-
sey. Peak landings were reached in the two states com-
bined in 1966, but by 1973 and 1974 landings had
dropped by about 43^r. Meanwhile, the fishery has
shifted steadily to the southward, as stocks on northern
grounds have been reduced and new resources have been
discovered. Most of the catch is now made off Virginia.
This is a typical example of the evolution of an un-
regulated fishery, a history that has been repeated all too
often around the coasts of the United States. The decline
cannot be attributed, as declines of other molluscan
shellfisheries have been, to water pollution, for most of
the resource inhabits the continental shelf, away from
coastal contamination.

One encouraging recent development has been that
several coastal species have supported increasing catches
in the 1970s, and these increases clearly have been made
possible by increases in abundance. Major species in
New York Bight which have shown such increases are
scup, summer flounder, bluefish, weakfish, striped bass,
and blue crab (McHugh 1976b). The reasons for these in-
creases are not known, and there is no guarantee that
they will continue. Some people have speculated that
pollution abatement in the coastal zone has been a fac-
tor (Clark in press; McHugh in press b), but there is no
proof that this is true. Recent agreements with other
nations, which have reduced catches of certain food
fishes of major importance to American fishermen, have
been a step in the right direction. But the major un-
solved problem is to improve incentives of the in-
dividual states to manage domestic marine fisheries
wisely and to provide the means of achieving successful
management of living resources of the coastal zone.
Perhaps the recently developed State-Federal fishery
management program will provide the incentive. Now
that the United States has extended its jurisdiction to
200 miles, the states will be obliged to improve their
scientific knowledge of coastal fishery resources and their
fishery management capabilities.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I thank Paul Hamer, Principal Fisheries Biologist,

Nacote Creek Research Station, Marine Fisheries Sec-
tion, Division of Fish, Game and Shell Fisheries, Depart-
ment of Environmental Protection, State of New Jersey,
and Eugene A. LoVerde, Fishery Reporting Specialist,
National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), NOAA,
Toms River, N.J., for reading an early draft of this
manuscript and providing comments and corrections.
Thanks are due also to Carl. J. Sindermann, Director,
Middle Atlantic Coastal Fisheries Center, NMFS,
NOAA, Highlands, N.J., and anonymous members of his
staff, for advice and comments. Bruce B. Collette, Scien-
tific Editor, NMFS, NOAA, and two anonymous readers
also provided editorial services and helpful critical com-
ments, for which I am grateful. Special thanks go to
Anne Williams for assistance in compiling the ICNAF
catch statistics and to Marjorie Sumner for the tedious
task of typing several drafts of the manuscript and
catching numerous errors and inconsistencies.

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from the central Arctic Ocean, with a review of the Spinocalanidae. By
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by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office,
Washington, D.C. 20402.

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Washington. DC. 2(1402.

395. Report of a colloquium on larval fish mortality studies and their
relation to fishery research. January 1975. By John R. Hunter. May
1976. iii + 5 p. For sale by the Superintendent of Documents. U.S.
Government Printmg Office. Washington, DC. 20402.

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