Document Type

Report

Department/Program

Virginia Institute of Marine Science

Publication Date

1-1994

Series

Marine Resource Report No. 94-8

Abstract

Juvenile indices are employed in fisheries management to predict the future relative abundance of harvestable adults and to monitor the success of management efforts. Frequently, regulations controlling utilization of the resource, and a lack of fishery independent abundance data, make verification of the prediction impossible. In the case of white perch (Morone americana) in Virginia, this is not so. Using the weighting system developed for a Chesapeake Bay-wide index of juvenile striped bass abundance based on summertime beach seine data collected in nursery ground waters, we developed a similar index for white perch in the Virginia portion of the Bay. Regressions against Virginia Institute of Marine Science otter trawl survey indices (taken in deep, mesohaline water during winter months) for young-of-the-year (r2 = 0.597, p = 0.003) and age 1 + (r2 = 0.703, p < 0.001) white perch were significant and positive. These results lend support for the continued use of juvenile indices for finfish management.

DOI

https://doi.org/10.21220/m2-styg-zh49

Keywords

Fisheries, Management, Virginia

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