Document Type
Report
Department/Program
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Publication Date
9-1999
Abstract
Measures of juvenile abundance are presently in wide use as a key element in the management of the Atlantic States' coastal fishery resources. Estimates of the relative interannual abundance of early juveniles (age-0) generated from scientific (fishery-independent) survey programs have been found to provide a reliable and early estimator of future year class strength (Goodyear 1985, Lipcius and Van Engel 1990). After a review of previously available indices of juvenile abundance for important fishery resource species in the Chesapeake Bay, the Chesapeake Bay Stock Assessment Committee (CBSAC), a federal/state committee sponsored and funded by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), recommended that II a unified, consistent trawl program should be one of the primary monitoring tools for finfish and crab stock assessment. 11 (Chesapeake Bay Program Stock Assessment Plan, Chesapeake Executive Council 1988). In order to facilitate the implementation of such a program, CBSAC directly supported pilot studies directed at developing a comprehensive trawl survey for Chesapeake Bay. In the Virginia portion of the bay the primary focus of this support was the initiation in 1988 of a monthly trawl survey of the main stem portion of the lower Bay. This survey served to compliment and greatly expand the monthly trawl surveys of the major Virginia tributaries (James, York and Rappahannock rivers) which have been conducted by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) as part of a long-term effort to monitor and assess the condition of fishery stocks in the lower Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. The primary intent of the present project is to assure that this sampling effort be continued on a long-term basis as well.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25773/8sm8-ap06
Keywords
Fish populations -- Virginia, Fishery resources -- Virginia
Publication Statement
Submitted to Virginia Marine Resources Commission and United States Fish and Wildlife Service
Recommended Citation
Geer, P. J., & Austin, H. M. (1999) Estimation of relative abundance of recreationally important finfish in the Virginia portion of the Chesapeake Bay : annual progress report July 1998 - June 1999. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary. https://doi.org/10.25773/8sm8-ap06
