. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 58 Wildwood had a smaller mean length than Point Pleasant clams; for 4,466 Cape May clams njeasured throughout the vear, the range was 105 to 180 mm. (4g to 7| in.) and themeanlength was 139 mm. (5j in.)--fig. 6. The difference in lengths between clams in the inshore and offshore beds is evident in figure 4; the lengths for February through June, and for November and December, were determined from inshore clams. At Point Pleasant, amounts of small clams (lessthan 130 mm. or 5 In.) discarded at sea WILDWOOD CAPE MAY. MILLIMtTER S FiQ. 6 - Su
. Commercial fisheries review. Fisheries; Fish trade. 58 Wildwood had a smaller mean length than Point Pleasant clams; for 4,466 Cape May clams njeasured throughout the vear, the range was 105 to 180 mm. (4g to 7| in.) and themeanlength was 139 mm. (5j in.)--fig. 6. The difference in lengths between clams in the inshore and offshore beds is evident in figure 4; the lengths for February through June, and for November and December, were determined from inshore clams. At Point Pleasant, amounts of small clams (lessthan 130 mm. or 5 In.) discarded at sea WILDWOOD CAPE MAY. MILLIMtTER S FiQ. 6 - Surf clam lengths in 1965 commercial catch (139 mm Syin. and 151 mm. = 6 in.). were negligible--about 1 bushel per 200 bush- els landed. No clams were discarded in the Cape May-Wildwood area. STATUS AND TRENDS OF THE FISHERY Information from interviews with vessel captains indicates fishing effort has increased in the last few years. The average length of surf clams caught in the Barnegat Lightship area, however, has remained at about 150 mm. (6 in.). Many factors affect the catch and effort of the surf clam fleet. Weather is perhaps the most important limiting factor in boat opera- tion, hampers proper dredging, and increases hazards to the crews in handling dredges. Data in this report do not emphasize the im- portance of wind because the larger, more efficient boats were able to fish during ad- verse weather and make higher catches than the fleet average during good fishing condi- tions. The industry imposed catch quotas at va- rious times to compensate for slight fluctua- tions in supply and demand. Size preference was a minor factor in limiting production-- shuckers dislike processing small clams be- cause their salary depends on the volume of meats shucked. Also, the smaller the clams, the less return in pounds of meats per bushel to the processor. Production of surf clams has been relatively stable; fluctuations in sup- ply and demand have not been marked. The industry app
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