Life Sciences Commons^™

Evaluation Of Striped Bass Stocks In Virginia, Monitoring And Tagging Studies, 2010-2014 Progress Report, 1 September 2012 - 31 August 2013, Philip W. Sadler, Matthew W. Smith, John M. Hoenig, Shelley E. Sullivan, Robert E. Harris, Lydia M. Goins

Reports

This report presents the results of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) tagging and monitoring activities in Virginia during the period 1 September 2012 through 31 August 2013. It includes an assessment of the biological characteristics of striped bass taken from the 2013 spring spawning run, estimates of annual survival and fishing mortality based on annual spring tagging, and the results of the study that documents the prevalence of mycobacterial infections of striped bass in Chesapeake Bay. The information contained in this report is required by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and is used to implement a coordinated management plan for …

Establishing Field-Based Evidence For The Effects Of Hypoxia On The Reproductive Capacity Of Chesapeake Bay Fishes., Troy D. Tuckey, Mary C. Fabrizio

Reports

No abstract provided.

Final Report An Inventory Of The Sea Scallop Resource In The Georges Bank Closed Area Ii And Surrounds, David Rudders, William D. Dupaul, Jessica Bergeron

Reports

No abstract provided.

Final Report An Assessment Of Sea Scallop Abundance And Distribution In A Selected Closed Area: Nantucket Lightship Closed Area, David Rudders, William D. Dupaul, Jessica Bergeron

Reports

No abstract provided.

Final Report An Assessment Of Sea Scallop Abundance And Distribution In Selected Areas: The Hudson Canyon And Delmarva Closed Area And Inshore Areas Of The New York Bight, David B. Rudders, William D. Dupaul, Jessica Bergeron

Reports

No abstract provided.

Final Report Discrimination Of Cownose Ray, Rhinoptera Bonasus, Stocks Based On Microsatellite Dna Markers, Jan R. Mcdowell, Robert A. Fisher

Reports

No abstract provided.

Economic Activity Associated With Shellfish Aquaculture In Virginia – 2012, Thomas J. Murray, Karen Hudson

Reports

No abstract provided.

2013 Annual Report Estimating Relative Juvenile Abundance Of Ecologically Important Finfish In The Virginia Portion Of Chesapeake Bay Project Number: F‐104‐R‐17, Troy D. Tuckey, Mary C. Fabrizio

Reports

No abstract provided.

Annual Report - 2012 Data Collection And Analysis In Support Of Single And Multispecies Stock Assessments In Chesapeake Bay:The Chesapeake Bay Multispecies Monitoring And Assessment Program, Christopher F. Bonzek, James Gartland, Debra J. Gauthier, Robert J. Latour

Reports

Historically, fisheries management has been based on the results of single-species stock assessment models that focus on the interplay between exploitation level and sustainability. There currently exists a suite of standard and accepted analytical frameworks (e.g., virtual population analysis (VPA), biomass dynamic production modeling, delay difference models, etc.) for assessing the stocks, projecting future stock size, evaluating recovery schedules and rebuilding strategies for overfished stocks, setting allowable catches, and estimating fishing mortality or exploitation rates. A variety of methods also exist to integrate the biological system and the fisheries resource system, thereby enabling the evaluation of alternative management strategies on …

Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program Annual Report 2012, Susanna Musick, Lewis Gillingham

Reports

Through 2012, the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program has maintained a 18-year database of records for tagged and recaptured fish. The program is a cooperative project of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament (under the Virginia Marine Resources Commission-VMRC) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) of the College of William and Mary (under the VIMS Marine Advisory Program).

Monitoring Relative Abundance Of American Shad In Virginia Rivers 2012 Annual Report, Eric J. Hilton, Rob Latour, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee

Reports

Concern about the decline in landings of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) along the Atlantic coast prompted the development of an interstate fisheries management plan (FMP) under the auspices of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Management Program (ASMFC 1999). Legislation enables imposition of federal sanctions on fishing in those states that fail to comply with the FMP. To be in compliance, coastal states are required to implement and maintain fishery-dependent and fishery-independent monitoring programs as specified by the FMP. For Virginia, these requirements include spawning stock assessments, the collection of biological data on the spawning run (e.g., age-structure, sex ratio, and …

Virginia Shellfish Aquaculture Situation And Outlook Report : Results Of The 2012 Virginia Shellfish Aquaculture Crop Reporting Survey, Thomas J. Murray, Karen Hudson

Reports

The shellfish aquaculture industry in Virginia continues to grow, adding significant value to the state’s seafood marketplace. Today, watermen continue to harvest both hard clams and oysters from the state’s public resources, albeit at diminished rates. At the same time, Virginia’s watermen-farmers are providing growing quantities of additional quality shellfish to consumers. In recent years, folliowing the lead of the hard clam industry, a significant transition to intensive aquaculture of native oysters is underway. The once-extensive oyster planting utilizing wild seed has contracted primarily as a result of endemic oyster diseases and increasing wildlife predation of seed oysters. In its …

Estimating Relative Abundance Of Young-Of-Year American Eel, Anguilla Rostrata, In The Virginia Tributaries Of Chesapeake Bay (Spring 2012), Troy D. Tuckey, Mary C. Fabrizio

Reports

The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC) adopted the Interstate Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the American Eel in November 1999. The FMP focuses on increasing coastal states’ efforts to collect American Eel data through both fishery-dependent and fishery-independent studies. Consequently, member jurisdictions agreed to implement an annual survey for young-of-year (YOY) American Eels. The survey is intended to “…characterize trends in annual recruitment of the YOY eels over time [to produce a] qualitative appraisal of the annual recruitment of American Eel to the U.S. Atlantic Coast” (ASMFC 2000). The development of these 4 surveys began in 2000 with full …

Northeast Area Monitoring And Assessment Program (Neamap) 2012 Data Collection And Analysis In Support Of Single And Multispecies Stock Assessments In The Mid-Atlantic: Northeast Area Monitoring And Assessment Program Near Shore Trawl Survey Final Report, Christopher F. Bonzek, James Gartland, Debra J. Gauthier, Robert J. Latour

Reports

Concerns regarding the status of fishery-independent data collection from continental shelf waters between Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and the U.S. / Canadian border led the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission’s (ASMFC) Management and Science Committee (MSC) to draft a resolution in 1997 calling for the formation of the Northeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (NEAMAP) (ASMFC 2002). NEAMAP is a cooperative state-federal program modeled after the Southeast Area Monitoring and Assessment Program (SEAMAP), which has been coordinating fishery-independent data collection south of Cape Hatteras since the mid1980s (Rester 2001). The four main goals of this new program directly address the …

Evaluation Of Striped Bass Stocks In Virginia, Monitoring And Tagging Studies, 2010-2014 Progress Report, 1 September 2011 - 31 August 2012, Philip W. Sadler, Mathew W. Smith, John M. Hoenig, Shelley E. Sullivan, Robert E. Harris, Lydia M. Gions

Reports

This report presents the results of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) tagging and monitoring activities in Virginia during the period 1 September 2011 through 31 August 2012. It includes an assessment of the biological characteristics of striped bass taken from the 2012 spring spawning run, estimates of annual survival and fishing mortality based on annual spring tagging, and the results of the study that documents the prevalence of mycobacterial infections of striped bass in Chesapeake Bay. The information contained in this report is required by the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission and is used to implement a coordinated management plan for …

Marine Resource Bulletin Vol. 45, No. 1, Virginia Sea Grant, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Virginia Marine Resource Bulletin

In This Issue

Taking Stock of Working Waterfronts 2

An inventory of Virginia’s working waterfronts will help communities maintain the water access that is crucial to a variety of marine business and recreational uses.

Up Close 6

Virginia Sea Grant researcher Jessica Thompson and her students are taking a careful look at how an important little fish uses man-made living shorelines.

Global Aquaculture Starts at Home 8

Aquaculture is an important component of the future world food supply, and VASG staff are helping ensure it will be profitable and safe —in Virginia and around the world.

Virginia Sea Grant News …

Virginia Fishery Resource Grant Program 2012, Virginia Fishery Resource Grant Program

Reports

No abstract provided.

Biodiversity In A Changing Climate: A Synthesis Of Current And Projected Trends In The Us, Md Staudinger, Sl Carter, Ms Cross, Ns Dubois, Je Duffy, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

This paper provides a synthesis of the recent literature describing how global biodiversity is being affected by climate change and is projected to respond in the future. Current studies reinforce earlier findings of major climate-change-related impacts on biological systems and document new, more subtle after-effects. For example, many species are shifting their distributions and phenologies at faster rates than were recorded just a few years ago; however, responses are not uniform across species. Shifts have been idiosyncratic and in some cases counterintuitive, promoting new community compositions and altering biotic interactions. Although genetic diversity enhances species' potential to respond to variable …

Conservation In The First Internal Transcribed Spacer (Its1) Region Of Hematodinium Perezi (Genotype Iii) From Callinectes Sapidus, Kmp Lohan, Hamish J. Small, Jeffrey D. Shields, Ar Place, Kimberly S. Reece

VIMS Articles

Hematodinium spp. infections have been reported from blue crabs Callinectes sapidus in high-salinity waters of the USA from New Jersey to Texas. Recently, H. perezi (genotype III) has been proposed as the parasite species and genotype infecting blue crabs from Virginia; however, it is unknown whether this same genotype is present in blue crabs from other locations. To address this question, we collected 317 blue crabs from Massachusetts, Virginia, Georgia, Florida, Louisiana, and Texas to test for the presence of H. perezi (III) using a specific PCR assay targeting the first internal transcribed spacer (ITS1) region of the ribosomal RNA …

Migratory And Within-Estuary Behaviors Of Adult Summer Flounder (Paralichthys Dentatus) In A Lagoon System Of The Southern Mid-Atlantic Bight, Karen M. Capossela, Mary C. Fabrizio, Richard Brill

VIMS Articles

We monitored the movements of 45 adult Summer Flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) between June 2007 and July 2008 through the use of passive acoustic telemetry to elucidate migratory and within-estuary behaviors in a lagoon system of the southern mid-Atlantic Bight. Between 8 June and 10 October 2007, fish resided primarily in the deeper (>3 m) regions of the system and exhibited low levels of large-scale (100s of meters) activity. Mean residence time within this estuarine lagoon system was conservatively estimated to be 130 days (range: 18-223 days), which is 1.5 times longer than the residence time previously reported for Summer …

Oyster-Mediated Benthic-Pelagic Coupling Modifies Nitrogen Pools And Processes, Ar Smyth, Nr Geraldi, Mf Piehler

VIMS Articles

Removal of nitrogen through enhanced denitrification has been identified as an ecosystem service provided by oysters. In this study, we assessed the effects of an individual oyster (Crassostrea virginica) on nitrogen dynamics. Fluxes of N-2, O-2, nitrate/nitrite (NOx) and ammonium (NH4+) were measured from continuous-flow microcosms that contained a live oyster, sediment, or a live oyster + sediment. Net N-2 fluxes were indicative of nitrogen fixation in the sediment treatment and denitrification in the oyster and oyster + sediment treatments. Organic matter de position and ammonium production associated with oyster biodeposits and excretion likely decreased N limitation, and …

Indication Of Density-Dependent Changes In Growth And Maturity Of The Barndoor Skate On Georges Bank, Karson Coutre, Todd Gedamke, David Rudders, William B. Driggers Iii, David M. Koester, James A. Sulikowski

VIMS Articles

Drastic increases or decreases in biomass often result in density-dependent changes in life history characteristics within a fish population. Acknowledging this phenomenon and in light of the recent biomass increase in Barndoor Skate Dipturus laevis, the current study re-evaluated the growth rate and sexual maturity of 244 specimens collected from 2009-2011within closed areas I and II on Georges Bank, USA. Ages were estimated using vertebral band counts from skate that ranged from 21 to 129cm TL. The von Bertalanffy growth function was applied to pooled age-at-length data. Parameter estimates from the current study of L = 155cm TL and k …

Visual Acuity In Pelagic Fishes And Mollusks, Yl Gagnon, Tt Sutton, S Johnsen

VIMS Articles

In the sea, visual scenes change dramatically with depth. At shallow and moderate depths (<1000 >m), there is enough light for animals to see the surfaces and shapes of prey, predators, and conspecifics. This changes below 1000 m, where no downwelling daylight remains and the only source of light is bioluminescence. These different visual scenes require different visual adaptations and eye morphologies. In this study we investigate how the optical characteristics of animal lenses correlate with depth and ecology. We measured the radius, focal length, and optical quality of the lenses of pelagic fishes, cephalopods, and a gastropod using a …

Distribution, Prevalence, And Genetic Analysis Of Panulirus Argus Virus 1 (Pav1) From The Caribbean Sea, Ja Moss, D Behringer, Jeffrey D. Shields, A Baeza, A Aguilar-Perera, Et Al.

VIMS Articles

The pathogenic virus Panulirus argus virus 1 (PaV1) was first discovered in Caribbean spiny lobsters Panulirus argus from the Florida Keys (USA) in 1999 and has since been reported in Belize, Mexico, and Cuba; its distribution in the wider Caribbean is unknown. We collected tissue samples from adult spiny lobsters from 30 locations in 14 countries bordering the Caribbean Sea and used molecular diagnostics to assay for the presence of PaV1. PaV1 occurred primarily in the northern areas of the Caribbean, where its prevalence was highest. The virus was not found in lobsters from the southeastern Caribbean, and its prevalence …

Differential Compartmentalization Of Memory B Cells Versus Plasma Cells In Salmonid Fish, Cy Ma, Jm Ye, Sl Kaattari

VIMS Articles

The disposition of teleost memory and plasma cells (PCs) has essentially been un-explored. As the organization of the teleost immune system differs significantly from that of mammals (i.e. no bone marrow or lymph nodes, hematopoietic anterior kidney), this disposition could be essential in understanding how comparable functions are achieved. To address this question, the primary and secondary antibody-secreting cell, B memory cell, and antibody responses to T-independent and T-dependent antigens were analyzed in trout. Although the TI and TD antibody responses did not differ substantively from one another, the secondary responses to both were significantly prolonged compared with the primary …

Microzooplankton Grazing Along The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Lm Garzio, Deborah K. Steinberg, M Erickson, Hw Ducklow

VIMS Articles

The significance of microzooplankton as grazers in pelagic ecosystems has been established, yet relatively few studies of microzooplankton grazing, compared to that of macrozooplankton, have been conducted in the Southern Ocean. We report phytoplankton and bacterial growth and grazing mortality rates along the Western Antarctic Peninsula (WAP), a region of rapid climate change. Growth and grazing rates were determined by dilution experiments at select stations along the WAP in January of 2009 to 2011 and in the nearshore waters near Palmer Station in February and March 2011. Microzooplankton exerted higher grazing pressure on bacteria compared to phytoplankton along the WAP …

Broad-Scale Association Between Seagrass Cover And Juvenile Blue Crab Density In Chesapeake Bay, Gina M. Ralph, Rochelle D. Seitz, R J. Orth, Kathleen E. Knick, Rom Lipcius

VIMS Articles

Although numerous small-scale laboratory, mesocosm, and field experiments have demonstrated that abundance, survival, and growth of juvenile fish and invertebrates are higher in vegetated than in unvegetated habitats, the effect of habitat quality (i.e. habitat complexity) within vegetated habitats has not been documented at a broad spatial scale. We examined the relationship between percent cover in seagrass beds (eelgrass Zostera marina, widgeon grass Ruppia maritima, and associated macroalgae) and juvenile blue crab Callinectes sapidus density at a broad spatial scale. We quantified the functional relationship between juvenile density and percent cover of vegetation by sampling in Chesapeake Bay (USA) seagrass …

Heritable Melanism And Parasitic Infection Both Result In Black-Spotted Mosquitofish, Lisa Horth, David Gauthier, Wolfgang K. Vogelbein

VIMS Articles

Male Gambusia holbrooki (Eastern Mosquitofish) express a heritable pigmentation polymorphism: ≈99% of males are silver, and only ≈1% have a melanic, black-spotted pattern. Sex-linkage, an autosomal modifier, and temperature control the expression of this heritable melanism. In many teleosts, melanin also accumulates around the site of parasitic invasion. We have identified black-spot disease in wild mosquitofish from their native habitat. Here, we demonstrate convergence upon the black-pigmented phenotype through two means: 1) heritable melanism, and 2) melanic spotting on the silver genotype that results from infection with immature encysted trematodes. Females are silver and express greater avoidance ofmelanic males during …

Genetic Population Structure Of Us Atlantic Coastal Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis), Dt Gauthier, Corinne Audemard, Jel Carlsson, Tl Darden, Mr Denson, Kimberly S. Reece, J Carlsson

VIMS Articles

Genetic population structure of anadromous striped bass along the US Atlantic coast was analyzed using 14 neutral nuclear DNA microsatellites. Young-of-the-year and adult striped bass (n = 1114) were sampled from Hudson River, Delaware River, Chesapeake Bay, North Carolina, and South Carolina. Analyses indicated clear population structure with significant genetic differentiation between all regions. Global multilocus F-ST was estimated at 0.028 (P < 0.001). Population structure followed an isolation-by-distance model and temporal sampling indicated a stable population structure more than 2 years at all locations. Significant structure was absent within Hudson River, whereas weak but significant genetic differences were observed between northern and southern samples in Chesapeake Bay. The largest and smallest effective striped bass population sizes were found in Chesapeake Bay and South Carolina, respectively. Coalescence analysis indicated that the highest historical gene flow has been between Chesapeake Bay and Hudson River populations, and that exchange has not been unidirectional. Bayesian analysis of contemporary migration indicated that Chesapeake Bay serves as a major source of migrants for Atlantic coastal regions from Albemarle Sound northward. In addition to examining population genetic structure, the data acquired during this project were capable of serving as a baseline for assigning fish with unknown origin to source region.

Patterns And Drivers Of The Demersal Fish Community Of Chesapeake Bay, Andre Buchheister, Christopher F. Bonzek, James Gartland, Robert J. Latour

VIMS Articles

Large-scale research on the environmental, biological, and anthropogenic drivers of fish distributions, abundances, and community structure can identify patterns and trends within systems, provide mechanistic insight into ecosystem functioning, and contribute to ecosystembased fisheries management. This study synthesized 10 yr of extensive fisheries-independent bottom trawl data (2002 to 2011) to evaluate drivers of demersal fish community structure in Chesapeake Bay, the largest estuary in the United States. Changes in community composition were assessed using constrained correspondence analysis. Also, aggregate community metrics (species richness, Simpson diversity, and catch-per-unit-effort [CPUE] of species groups) were modeled using generalized additive models. Five species (Atlantic …