. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. ARTICLES THE SURF CLAM FISHERY By Thomas M. Groutage and Allan M. Barker* The 1965 surf clam (Spisula solidissima) fishery landed a record 44 million pounds of clam meats. New Jersey landings composed 96 per- cent of thetotal; the center of the fishery was Point Pleasant. Less than 2 percent of the total landings was used for fish bait. The hydraulic jet dredge was the principal gear. Sampling at Point Pleasant, Cape May, and Wildwood, N. J., provided data about the fishery. Daily catches averaged 355 bushels at Point Pleasant and 413 bushe
. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. ARTICLES THE SURF CLAM FISHERY By Thomas M. Groutage and Allan M. Barker* The 1965 surf clam (Spisula solidissima) fishery landed a record 44 million pounds of clam meats. New Jersey landings composed 96 per- cent of thetotal; the center of the fishery was Point Pleasant. Less than 2 percent of the total landings was used for fish bait. The hydraulic jet dredge was the principal gear. Sampling at Point Pleasant, Cape May, and Wildwood, N. J., provided data about the fishery. Daily catches averaged 355 bushels at Point Pleasant and 413 bushels at Cape May- Wildwood. Clams landed for processing had a mean shell length of 151 mm. (6 in.) at Point Pleasant and 13S mm. (5f in.) at Cape May-Wildwood. The surf clam is the largest bivalve mol- lusklivingonthe Atlantic coast (Miner, 1950). The fishery has existed since the late 1800s and contributes about 5 percent of the total U. S. annual shellfish landings. Regular sam- pling of the fishery was initiated in October 1964 when a field office was established at Point Pleasant, N. J., by the Surf Clam Pro- gram, Biological Laboratory, Oxford, Md. This report is a summary of the 1965 fishery. FISHING AREA Surf clams were harvested in two principal areas along the New Jersey coast. The larg- est and most productive grounds were be- tween Barnegat Lightship and Point Pleasant (fig. 1). Point Pleasant, the center of com- mercial landings, had a total surf clam fleet of about 40 vessels. A few (2 to 5) boats were based at Barnegat Inlet. Depth of clam beds ranged from 15 to 37 meters (48 to 120 feet); average depth was meters (73 feet). Point Pleasant boats traveled 1 to 3 hours to reach the offshore clam beds. Figure 1 also shows the second fishing area off Cape May. About 8 boats operated out of Cape May and Wildwood, traveling 1 to 2 hours to the inshore or offshore beds. Clam beds in this area were 9 to 37 meters (30 to 120 feet) deep--averag- ing meters (40 feet)
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