A long-haul seine was designed to sample 10,000 m2 of open water less than 3.5 m deep for both pelagic and semi-demersal fish populations. The net, 354 m long constructed of 20 and 25 mm bar mesh. was used to encircle the area, and by a simple method to concentrate and purse the catch in open water. Atlantic menhaden, Brevoortia tyrannus; Atlantic thread herring, Opisthonema oglinum; pinfish, Lagodon rhomboides; and striped mullet, MugU cephalus were the most abundant species collected from 60 samples taken during 1973 in the Newport River estuary (Carteret County, North Carolina). Sample to sample variation for individual species was high, with coefficients of variation usually about 100%. Mark-recapture experiments using a total of 232 marked fish indicated that 31 to 54% (95% confidence limits) of the marked pelagic and semi-demersal fish released in the sampled water mass were recovered.
