Marquesas Area Fishery And Environmental Data January March 1959

This report presents meteorological, oceanographic and fishery data collected aboard the Honolulu Biological Laboratory research vessel, Charles H. Gilbert, and a chartered West Coast tuna clipper, Cape Falcon, on expeditions to the southeastern Pacific Ocean centered in the Marquesas Islands during January-March 1959.

Creel census surveys were conducted by the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries on the Connecticut River shad sport fishery during 1957 and 1958. In 1957 it was estimated that 34,310 shad were caught and kept in 19,901 fisherman days, and in 1958 an estimated 38,570 shad were caught and kept in 20,242 fisherman days. In 1958 the catch increased 12.4 percent, and the effort increased 14.1 percent over that in 1957. The average catch per fisherman day (1.7 shad) was identical for both years. The estimated sport catch for each year, 1941 through 1956, was determined by ratio estimate between catch at a state-controlled area and total catch for years 1957 and 1958.