Document Type
Report
Department/Program
Virginia Institute of Marine Science
Publication Date
9-1994
Series
Sportfish Restoration Project F104R4
Abstract
Provisional annual indices of juvenile abundance have been generated from trawl survey data for six species of key recreational importance in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay (spot, croaker, weakfish, summer flounder, black sea bass and striped bass) and two species of secondary importance (scup and white perch) for the period 1988-1993. No species has shown a continuous trend during the six year period. Spot has shown the largest decline from a high geometric mean catch per trawl of 68 (1988) to a low (1992) of 2, recovering to 9. 7 in 1993. Atlantic croaker continued to decline reaching levels comparable to the survey low experienced in the early 1980's. The weakfish have remained relatively stable in recent years. Striped bass indices continued to recover reaching levels near equal to the very successful 1987 year class (1987: 3.6, 1993: 3.3) Both scup and y-o-y white perch showed substantial increase in 1993, while the age 1 + component of white perch reached a six year low. Of most concern is the recruitment failure of y-o-y summer flounder which continued to decline below levels seen in 1988 (1993: 0.5) Black sea bass decreased to near record lows for the 1992 year class (0.2). However, preliminary results for the 1993 year class indicate a moderate recovery to 1.0.
DOI
https://doi.org/10.25773/sccq-4644
Keywords
Fisheries, Management, Abundance, Virgina
Recommended Citation
Geer, P. J., & Austin, H. M. (1994) Estimation of Relative Abundance of Recreationally Important Finfish in the Virginia Portion of Chesapeake Bay: Annual Progress Report 1993-1994. Sportfish Restoration Project F104R4. Virginia Institute of Marine Science, William & Mary. https://doi.org/10.25773/sccq-4644
