Fishery bulletin of the Fish and Wildlife Service - NOAA

10 FISHERY BULLETIN OF THE FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE
magnitude of the increased abundance resulting from the 1934 dominant year-class.
The peaks at 1894 and 1895, 1906, and 1922 perhaps also represent good year-classes
that bolstered the stock temporarily, but there is no adequate means of checking this,
since practically no other records covering the same period are available. Striped
bass tend to school heavily, and the presence of several schools might easily form the
main part of such a peak as the ones shown at 1906 or 1922 in figure 4. Consequently,
it may have been that in these years striped bass were not more numerous, but that
one or more large schools hit the traps while on migration and gave a false impression
of abundance. In another year the reverse situation might have taken place—that
is, that the population was unusually high, but that comparatively few bass happened
to strike the pound-nets, thus producing a low point on the curve that is not a true
indication of abundance. It is, therefore, best not to assume that these fluctuations
represent actual changes in the size of the population—at least not until there is further
evidence on this score.
STRIPED BASS IN POUND NET
CATCHES AT FORT POND BAY,
LONG ISLAND, N Y
1884-1937
FIOUBE 4.—Numbers of striped bass taken each year in the pound nots at Fort Pond Bay, L. I., N. Y., from 1884 to 1937. The fishing
intensity has been equalized throughout (see Table 4).
The peak years mentioned by Bigelow and Welsh (1925)for the catches from Boston
to Monomoy, Mass., from 1896 to 1921, show some discrepancy with those in figure 4.
In this area 1897 and 1921 were years in which exceptional catches were made. It will
be noticed, however, that these years are close to the peaks at 1895 and 1922 shown
in figure 4. It may therefore be true that dominant year-classes were present from
1895 to 1897, and in 1921 and 1922, but that they made their presence felt in successive
years in somewhat different areas.
The peaks at 1936 and 1937, however, are no doubt reasonably accurate indications
of the increased abundance in those years. In 1936 the enormous numbers of
striped bass that appeared along the Atlantic coast were mainly made up of fish 2
years old, the age at which this species first makes its appearance in the commercial
and sport fishermen's catch in Long Island and New England waters. In 1937 a large
proportion of the population along the Atlantic coast was composed of 3-year-olds.