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Spatiotemporal Patterns In The Ecological Community Of The Nearshore Mid-Atlantic Bight, James Gartland, Sarah K. Gaichas, Robert J. Latour
Spatiotemporal Patterns In The Ecological Community Of The Nearshore Mid-Atlantic Bight, James Gartland, Sarah K. Gaichas, Robert J. Latour
VIMS Articles
Recognition of the need for a more holistic, ecosystem approach to the assessment and management of living marine resources has renewed interest in quantitative community eco logy and fueled efforts to develop ecosystem metrics to gain insight into system status. This investigation utilized 12 years (2008 to 2019) of fisheries-independent bottom trawl survey data to quantify and synthesize the spatiotemporal patterns of species assemblages inhabiting the nearshore Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB). Assemblages were delineated by ecomorphotype (EMT), and all species collected by the survey were allocated among 9 EMTs: demersal fishes; pelagic fishes; flatfishes; skates; rays; dogfishes; other sharks; cephalopods; and …
Climate Drives Long-Term Change In Antarctic Silverfish Along The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Andrew D. Corso, Deborah K. Steinberg, Sharon E. Stammerjohn, Eric J. Hilton
Climate Drives Long-Term Change In Antarctic Silverfish Along The Western Antarctic Peninsula, Andrew D. Corso, Deborah K. Steinberg, Sharon E. Stammerjohn, Eric J. Hilton
VIMS Articles
Over the last half of the 20th century, the western Antarctic Peninsula has been one of the most rapidly warming regions on Earth, leading to substantial reductions in regional sea ice coverage. These changes are modulated by atmospheric forcing, including the Amundsen Sea Low (ASL) pressure system. We utilized a novel 25-year (1993–2017) time series to model the effects of environmental variability on larvae of a keystone species, the Antarctic Silverfish (Pleuragramma antarctica). Antarctic Silverfish use sea ice as spawning habitat and are important prey for penguins and other predators. We show that warmer sea surface temperature and …
Spatiotemporal Modeling Of Nursery Habitat Using Bayesian Inference: Environmental Drivers Of Juvenile Blue Crab Abundance, A. Challen Hyman, Grace S. Chiu, Mary C. Fabrizio, Rom Lipcius
Spatiotemporal Modeling Of Nursery Habitat Using Bayesian Inference: Environmental Drivers Of Juvenile Blue Crab Abundance, A. Challen Hyman, Grace S. Chiu, Mary C. Fabrizio, Rom Lipcius
VIMS Articles
Nursery grounds provide conditions favorable for growth and survival of juvenile fish and crustaceans through abundant food resources and refugia, and enhance secondary production of populations. While small-scale studies remain important tools to assess nursery value of structured habitats and environmental factors, targeted applications that unify survey data over large spatial and temporal scales are vital to generalize inference of nursery function, identify highly productive regions, and inform management strategies. Using 21 years of spatio-temporally indexed survey data (i.e., water chemistry, turbidity, blue crab, and predator abundance) and GIS information on potential nursery habitats (i.e., seagrass, salt marsh, and unvegetated …
Low Levels Of Sibship Encourage Use Of Larvae In Western Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Abundance Estimation By Close-Kin Mark-Recapture, Jan Mcdowell, Mark Bravington, Peter Grewe, (...), Ellen E. Biesack, Et Al
Low Levels Of Sibship Encourage Use Of Larvae In Western Atlantic Bluefin Tuna Abundance Estimation By Close-Kin Mark-Recapture, Jan Mcdowell, Mark Bravington, Peter Grewe, (...), Ellen E. Biesack, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Globally, tunas are among the most valuable fish stocks, but are also inherently difficult to monitor
and assess. Samples of larvae of Western Atlantic bluefin tuna Thunnus thynnus (Linnaeus, 1758) from
standardized annual surveys in the northern Gulf of Mexico provide a potential source of “offspring”
for close‑kin mark‑recapture (CKMR) estimates of abundance. However, the spatial patchiness and
highly skewed numbers of larvae per tow suggest sampled larvae may come from a small number of
parents, compromising the precision of CKMR. We used high throughput genomic profiling to study
sibship within and among larval tows from the 2016 standardized Gulf‑wide …
Genome-Wide Analysis Of Acute Low Salinity Tolerance In The Eastern Oyster Crassostrea Virginica And Potential Of Genomic Selection For Trait Improvement, Alexandra J. Mccarty, Standish K. Allen Jr., Louis V. Plough
Genome-Wide Analysis Of Acute Low Salinity Tolerance In The Eastern Oyster Crassostrea Virginica And Potential Of Genomic Selection For Trait Improvement, Alexandra J. Mccarty, Standish K. Allen Jr., Louis V. Plough
VIMS Articles
As the global demand for seafood increases, research into the genetic basis of traits that can increase aquaculture production is critical. The eastern oyster (Crassostrea virginica) is an important aquaculture species along the Atlantic and Gulf Coasts of the United States, but increases in heavy rainfall events expose oysters to acute low salinity conditions, which negatively impact production. Low salinity survival is known to be a moderately heritable trait, but the genetic architecture underlying this trait is still poorly understood. In this study, we used ddRAD sequencing to generate genome-wide single-nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) data for four F2 …
Effects Of Unregulated International Fishing On Recovery Potential Of The Sandbar Shark Within The Southeast United States, Cassidy Peterson, Michael J. Wilbert, Enric Cortes, Dean Courtney, Robert J. Latour
Effects Of Unregulated International Fishing On Recovery Potential Of The Sandbar Shark Within The Southeast United States, Cassidy Peterson, Michael J. Wilbert, Enric Cortes, Dean Courtney, Robert J. Latour
VIMS Articles
Coastal sharks are challenging to manage in the United States due to their slow life history, limited data availability, history of overexploitation, and competing stakeholder interests. Furthermore, species like the sandbar shark are subjected to international exploitation unmanaged by the U.S. We conducted a management strategy evaluation using Stock Synthesis on the sandbar shark to test the performance of various configurations of a threshold harvest control rule. In addition to uncertainties addressed in the operating model, we built multiple implementation models to address uncertainties related to future levels of a partially unmanaged source of removals, the combined Mexican and U.S. …
Patterns Of Hatchery-Produced Returns Of American Shad In The James River, Virginia, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee, Eric J. Hilton
Patterns Of Hatchery-Produced Returns Of American Shad In The James River, Virginia, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee, Eric J. Hilton
VIMS Articles
American Shad Alosa sapidissima is an anadromous clupeid that once supported a robust fishery but has declined drastically throughout its native range due to overfishing, dam proliferation, and poor water quality. A hatchery program on the James River in Virginia was introduced in 1992 to support the recovery of stocks. Following a moratorium of the fishery enacted in 1994, a fisheries-independent survey was initiated in 1998 to monitor the population recovery efforts and status of American Shad stocks in Virginia. This paper examined 22 years of monitoring data for the James River and determined the effect of hatchery inputs on …
The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery And Offshore Wind Energy Development: 2. Assessing Economic Impacts, Andrew M. Scheld, Jennifer Beckensteiner, Daphne M. Munroe, Et Al
The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery And Offshore Wind Energy Development: 2. Assessing Economic Impacts, Andrew M. Scheld, Jennifer Beckensteiner, Daphne M. Munroe, Et Al
VIMS Articles
The Atlantic surfclam (Spisula solidissima) fishery generates approximately USD 30 million in landings revenues annually, distributed across ports throughout the US Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Overlap between areas of Atlantic surfclam harvests and offshore wind energy leasing make the fishery vulnerable to exclusion and effort displacement as development expands in the region. An existing integrated bioeconomic agent-based model, including spatial dynamics in Atlantic surfclam stock biology, heterogeneous captain behaviour, and federal management processes, was extended to incorporate costs and revenues for fishing vessels and processors and used to evaluate the potential economic effects of offshore wind development on the …
The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery And Offshore Wind Energy Development: 1. Model Development And Verification, Daphne M. Munroe, Eric N. Powell, John M. Klinck, Andrew M. Scheld, Sarah Borsetti, Jennifer Beckensteiner, Eileen E. Hofmann
The Atlantic Surfclam Fishery And Offshore Wind Energy Development: 1. Model Development And Verification, Daphne M. Munroe, Eric N. Powell, John M. Klinck, Andrew M. Scheld, Sarah Borsetti, Jennifer Beckensteiner, Eileen E. Hofmann
VIMS Articles
Competing pressures imposed by climate-related warming and offshore development have created a need for quantitative approaches that anticipate fisheries responses to these challenges. This study used a spatially explicit, ecological-economic agent-based model integrating dynamics associated with Atlantic surfclam stock biology, decision-making behavior of fishing vessel captains, and fishing fleet behavior to simulate stock biomass, and fishing vessel catch, effort and landings. Simulations were implemented using contemporary Atlantic surfclam stock distributions and characteristics of the surfclam fishing fleet. Simulated distribution of fishable surfclam biomass was determined by a spatially varying mortality rate, fishing by the fleet was controlled by captain decisions …
Attitudes And Behaviors For Understanding Compliance In Greenland's Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) Fishery, Hunter T. Snyder, Rodrigo Oyanedel, Christopher S. Sneddon, Andrew M. Scheld
Attitudes And Behaviors For Understanding Compliance In Greenland's Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) Fishery, Hunter T. Snyder, Rodrigo Oyanedel, Christopher S. Sneddon, Andrew M. Scheld
VIMS Articles
Noncompliance is a central challenge for conservation, but in settings with limited access to behavioral data, it can be difficult to evaluate what drives compliance. Conservationists can measure and evaluate resource users' attitudes, and in so doing, leverage a complementary, nonbehavioral measure for evaluating compliance. In Greenland, wild Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) fishers are under increasing regulatory pressure to report salmon catch because the majority of North Atlantic salmon stocks are classified as suffering. The objective of this study is to measure salmon catch reporting compliance, reporting behavior, and attitudes toward Greenland's salmon management. We surveyed Greenland's licensed salmon fishers, …
Oceans Of Plenty? Challenges, Advancements, And Future Directions For The Provision Of Evidence-Based Fisheries Management Advice, Daniel R. Goethel, Kristen L. Omori, André E. Punt, Et Al
Oceans Of Plenty? Challenges, Advancements, And Future Directions For The Provision Of Evidence-Based Fisheries Management Advice, Daniel R. Goethel, Kristen L. Omori, André E. Punt, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Marine population modeling, which underpins the scientific advice to support fisheries interventions, is an active research field with recent advancements to address modern challenges (e.g., climate change) and enduring issues (e.g., data limitations). Based on discussions during the ‘Land of Plenty’ session at the 2021 World Fisheries Congress, we synthesize current challenges, recent advances, and interdisciplinary developments in biological fisheries models (i.e., data-limited, stock assessment, spatial, ecosystem, and climate), management strategy evaluation, and the scientific advice that bridges the science-policy interface. Our review demonstrates that proliferation of interdisciplinary research teams and enhanced data collection protocols have enabled increased integration of …
Effects Of Altered Stock Assessment Frequency On The Management Of A Large Coastal Shark, Cassidy D. Peterson, Michael J. Wiberg, Eric Cortez, Dean Courtney, Robert J. Latour
Effects Of Altered Stock Assessment Frequency On The Management Of A Large Coastal Shark, Cassidy D. Peterson, Michael J. Wiberg, Eric Cortez, Dean Courtney, Robert J. Latour
VIMS Articles
Stock assessments are particularly resource-intensive processes. Demand for assessments typically exceeds capacity, stimulating interest in reducing stock assessment frequency for suitable species. Species with slow population growth rates, low economic importance, and low recruitment variability, like coastal sharks in the USA, have been identified as appropriate candidates for long-interim assessment periods. We conducted a Stock Synthesis–based management strategy evaluation with a threshold harvest rate control rule within the southeastern USA to assess the impact of stock assessment frequency for the slow-growing Sandbar Shark Carcharhinus plumbeus. Stock assessments for the Sandbar Shark in the southeastern USA have been conducted or …
Spatial Differences In Estuarine Utilization By Seasonally Resident Species In Mid-Atlantic Bight, Usa, Adena J. Schonfeld, James Gartland, Robert J. Latour
Spatial Differences In Estuarine Utilization By Seasonally Resident Species In Mid-Atlantic Bight, Usa, Adena J. Schonfeld, James Gartland, Robert J. Latour
VIMS Articles
Climate-driven distributional shifts have been well-documented for fisheries resources along the East Coast of the United States, yet little attention has been given to adjacent estuarine systems. The Chesapeake Bay is the largest estuary in the continental United States and serves as important habitat for a diversity of fishes and invertebrates, many of which are seasonal residents. Survey data indicate that relative abundance of finfish in Chesapeake Bay has diminished substantially, while coastwide stock status has remained unchanged. In response to warming, seasonal estuarine residents may remain in coastal waters or inhabit a northerly estuary, but the extent to which …
Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program: A Nontraditional Data Source For Fisheries Management, Susanna Musick, Lewis Gillingham, Matt Perkinson, Thom Teears
Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program: A Nontraditional Data Source For Fisheries Management, Susanna Musick, Lewis Gillingham, Matt Perkinson, Thom Teears
VIMS Articles
Since 1995, the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program (VGFTP) has collected data for recreationally important marine fishes in cooperation with skilled volunteers. These trained anglers tagged more than 380,000 fishes since 1995 and contributed data regarding fish movement and site fidelity patterns of species captured and released in the Chesapeake Bay and Atlantic coastal waters. Over time, the VGFTP has become an important source of data for fishery managers and program data are included in stock assessments for species such as Cobia Rachycentron canadum. Best management practices from the VGFTP show that cooperative science programs that collect data for …
Examination Into A Vessel Effect For A Multi-Vessel Industry-Based Sea Scallop Dredge Survey, Sally Roman, David Rudders
Examination Into A Vessel Effect For A Multi-Vessel Industry-Based Sea Scallop Dredge Survey, Sally Roman, David Rudders
VIMS Articles
Generalized linear models (GLM) and generalized additive mixed models (GAMM) were developed to examine for differences in fishing power, also referred to as a vessel effect, for three commercial fishing vessels chartered by the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS). The vessels conducted a fishery-independent sea scallop dredge survey of the MidAtlantic sea scallop resource in 2015. Surveys have continued since 2015 using a multivessel approach, and understanding the implications of a potential vessel effect on scallop catch is important for management and assessment of the resource. Surveys are conducted yearly to support annual fishery specifications and contribute biological and …
Development Of An Individual-Based Tag Recapture Model To Benchmark Biomass And Harvest Rates In An Iconic Lobster Fishery, Simon De Lestang, John Hoenig, Jason How
Development Of An Individual-Based Tag Recapture Model To Benchmark Biomass And Harvest Rates In An Iconic Lobster Fishery, Simon De Lestang, John Hoenig, Jason How
VIMS Articles
The West Coast Rock Lobster Managed Fishery (WCRLMF) moved from input to output controls in 2010. This change affected the relativity of fishery-based data sources (e.g., catch rates and landed size composition), making the assessment of the fishery problematic. A novel examination of the stock dynamics was required to ensure the robustness of the stock assessment and associated management arrangements. This study derived estimates of current biomass levels and harvest rates from the release of over 60,000 tagged western rock lobsters (Panulirus cygnus). A Brownie tag-recapture (BTR) model was initially implemented to provide an assessment on a fishery-wide …
Cranial Morphology Of The Stellate Sturgeon, Acipenser Stellatus Pallas 1771 (Acipenseriformes, Acipenseridae), With Notes On The Skulls Of Other Sturgeons, Eric J. Hilton, Casey B. Dillman, Marian Paraschiv, Radu Suciu
Cranial Morphology Of The Stellate Sturgeon, Acipenser Stellatus Pallas 1771 (Acipenseriformes, Acipenseridae), With Notes On The Skulls Of Other Sturgeons, Eric J. Hilton, Casey B. Dillman, Marian Paraschiv, Radu Suciu
VIMS Articles
Extant members of Acipenseridae are generally classified in four genera: Scaphirhynchus, Pseudoscaphirhynchus, Huso and “Acipenser,” which is widely recognized to be paraphyletic. Advances have been made in understanding the systematic relationships among sturgeons based on both morphological and molecular data. Analysis of mitochondrial DNA data suggested that Pseudoscaphirhynchus should be regarded as nested within “Acipenser,” specifically as sister group to the Stellate Sturgeon, A. stellatus. Recent morphological analyses also recovered this relationship, supported by a number of osteological synapomorphies, although these results were based on few and relatively small individuals. Here we describe …
Rangewide Population Structure Of The Clearnose Skate, Lindsey Noel Nelson, Christian M. Jones, Jan Mcdowell
Rangewide Population Structure Of The Clearnose Skate, Lindsey Noel Nelson, Christian M. Jones, Jan Mcdowell
VIMS Articles
Skates (family Rajidae) are benthic elasmobranchs that are highly vulnerable to incidental fishery bycatch, are dis-carded at sea, and are poorly accounted for in catch records. Many aspects of skate life history, such as population structure, are not well understood. Without this knowledge, indiscriminate removal may have deleterious effects on scientific, conservation, and management efforts. The Clearnose Skate Rostroraja eglanteriais seasonally migratory and widely distributed in the coastal waters of the eastern United States and in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. This study used molecular techniques to assess the population structure of Clearnose Skate for use as a biological reference …
Evaluating A Possible New Paradigm For Recruitment Dynamics: Predicting Poor Recruitment For Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) From An Environmental Variable, Julie M. Gross, Philip Sadler, John M. Hoenig
Evaluating A Possible New Paradigm For Recruitment Dynamics: Predicting Poor Recruitment For Striped Bass (Morone Saxatilis) From An Environmental Variable, Julie M. Gross, Philip Sadler, John M. Hoenig
VIMS Articles
Understanding what causes large year classes and predicting them has been called the holy grail of fisheries science, one of the last great unanswered questions. Recruitment prediction, or forecasting, is an important component for setting fishery catch limits. We propose a new approach, called the “poor-recruitment paradigm”, for predicting recruitment using environmental variables. This approach hypothesizes that it is easier to predict poor recruitment rather than good recruitment because an environmental variable affects recruitment only when its value is extreme (lethal); otherwise, the variable may be benign and not influence recruitment. Thus, good recruitment necessitates all environmental conditions not be …
Identifying Species Complexes Based On Spatial And Temporal Clustering From Joint Dynamic Species Distribution Models, Kristen L. Omori, James T. Thorson
Identifying Species Complexes Based On Spatial And Temporal Clustering From Joint Dynamic Species Distribution Models, Kristen L. Omori, James T. Thorson
VIMS Articles
Data-limited species are often grouped into a species complex to simplify management. Commonalities between species that may indicate if species can be adequately managed as a complex include the following: shared habitat utilization (e.g., overlapping fine-scale spatial distribution), synchrony in abundance trends, consistent fishing pressure or gear susceptibility, or life history parameters resulting in similar productivity. Using non-target rockfish species in the Gulf of Alaska as a case study, we estimate spatial and temporal similarities among species to develop species complexes using the vector autoregressive spatio-temporal (VAST) model, which is a joint dynamic species distribution model. Species groupings are identified …
Oyster Economics: Simulated Costs, Market Returns, And Nonmarket Ecosystem Benefits Of Harvested And Nonharvested Reefs, Off-Bottom Aquaculture,And Living Shorelines, Daniel R. Petrolia, William C. Walton, Just Cebrian
Oyster Economics: Simulated Costs, Market Returns, And Nonmarket Ecosystem Benefits Of Harvested And Nonharvested Reefs, Off-Bottom Aquaculture,And Living Shorelines, Daniel R. Petrolia, William C. Walton, Just Cebrian
VIMS Articles
We simulate expected costs, market returns, and nonmarket ecosystem benefits associated with four oyster resources: harvested bottom reefs, off-bottom aquaculture, nonharvested (restored) reefs, and living shorelines. Benefit categories include market returns from harvest, improved water quality (reduced nitrogen), habitat for other species (blue crab and red drum), and shoreline protection. Bottom reefs and off-bottom aquaculture yield both market returns and nonmarket ecosystem benefits, whereas nonharvested reefs and living
shorelines yield only nonmarket ecosystem benefits. Overall gross benefits are expected to be greater and much more variable for off-bottom aquaculture and living shorelines relative to harvested and nonharvested reefs. We find …
Population Genetic Structure In Channeled Whelk Busycotypus Canaliculatus Along The U.S. Atlantic Coast, Samantha E. Askin, Robert A. Fisher, Ellen E. Biesack, Rick Robins, Jan Mcdowell
Population Genetic Structure In Channeled Whelk Busycotypus Canaliculatus Along The U.S. Atlantic Coast, Samantha E. Askin, Robert A. Fisher, Ellen E. Biesack, Rick Robins, Jan Mcdowell
VIMS Articles
Globally, commercial fisheries for whelk (family Buccinidae) generally exhibit a boom-and-bust cycle that fuels overexploitation of resources. Channeled whelk Busycotypus canaliculatus is a commercially important species that supports a valuable fishery along the Atlantic coast of the United States. The fishery is managed at the state level, with minimum landing size varying by state. Biological studies of channeled whelk in New England and the mid-Atlantic region have indicated that females have a low probability of maturity upon entering their respective fisheries. The life history characteristics of channeled whelk, including slow growth, late maturation, and direct development paired with unsuitable minimum …
Using Forward And Backward Particle Tracking Approaches To Analyze Impacts Of A Water Intake On Ichthyoplankton Mortality In The Appomattox River, Qubin Qin, Jian Shen, Troy D. Tuckey, Xun Cai, Jilian Xiong
Using Forward And Backward Particle Tracking Approaches To Analyze Impacts Of A Water Intake On Ichthyoplankton Mortality In The Appomattox River, Qubin Qin, Jian Shen, Troy D. Tuckey, Xun Cai, Jilian Xiong
VIMS Articles
Municipal intakes of surface water have various uses, and their impacts on the aquatic environment and ecosystem, such as the impingement and entrainment of ichthyoplankton, are a major concern. A robust assessment of the intake impacts on ichthyoplankton in a system generally requires modeling efforts that can simulate the transport and dispersal pathways of the ichthyoplankton. However, it is challenging to simulate hydrodynamics with a high‐resolution grid at the
scale needed for intake screen sizes in a large system. In this study, a 3D unstructured grid model with a fine resolution grid (<1 >m) was developed to investigate potential impacts …
Editorial: Habitat And Distribution Models Of Marine And Estuarine Species: Advances For A Sustainable Future, Mary C. Fabrizio, Mark Henderson, Kenneth Rose, Pierre Petitgas
Editorial: Habitat And Distribution Models Of Marine And Estuarine Species: Advances For A Sustainable Future, Mary C. Fabrizio, Mark Henderson, Kenneth Rose, Pierre Petitgas
VIMS Articles
The physical and biological characterization of suitable habitats and species-specific models to estimate their extent are valuable for conservation and fisheries management. As exploited species and habitats face challenges from anthropogenic influences, such as fishing and climate change, the identification and protection of habitats becomes increasingly important. Most of the papers within this special topic issue used some form of species distribution model (SDM) to identify habitats used by fishes (Asch et al.; Crear et al.; Fabrizio et al.; Freidland et al.; Zydlewski et al.), marine mammals (Astarloa et al.), nearshore invertebrates (Cristiani et al.; Behan et al.), or deep-sea …
How Consistent Is The Advice From Stock Assessments? Empirical Estimates Of Inter-Assessment Bias And Uncertainty For Marine Fish And Invertebrate Stocks, Rujia Bi, Chip Collier, Roger L. Mann, Et Al
How Consistent Is The Advice From Stock Assessments? Empirical Estimates Of Inter-Assessment Bias And Uncertainty For Marine Fish And Invertebrate Stocks, Rujia Bi, Chip Collier, Roger L. Mann, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Fishery management frequently involves precautionary buffering for scientific uncertainty. For example, a precautionary buffer that scales with scientific uncertainty is used to calculate the acceptable biological catch downward from the overfishing limit in the US federal fishery management system. However, there is little empirical guidance to suggest how large buffers for scientific uncertainty should be. One important component of uncertainty is variation among different assessments of the same stock in estimates of management-relevant quantities. We analysed commercially exploited marine fish and invertebrate stocks around the world and developed Bayesian hierarchical models to quantify inter-assessment variation in terminal year biomass and …
Skeletal Ontogeny Of The Plainfin Midshipman, Porichthys Notatus (Percomorphacea: Batrachoidiformes, Diego F. B. Vaz, Eric J. Hilton
Skeletal Ontogeny Of The Plainfin Midshipman, Porichthys Notatus (Percomorphacea: Batrachoidiformes, Diego F. B. Vaz, Eric J. Hilton
VIMS Articles
Batrachoidiformes are benthic fishes that utilize the undersides of rocks as spawn- ing nests. Their larvae are attached to the nest and nourished by a large yolk sac. The evolutionary shift from feeding, free-swimming larvae to sedentary larvae that are reliant on their yolk sac for nutrition can lead to changes in skeletal develop- ment. Batrachoidiformes also have many morphological specializations, such as five pectoral-fin radials (versus four in other acanthomorphs) that are of uncertain homol- ogy, the determination of which may have phylogenetic implications. A larval series of Porichthys notatus was collected and its skeletal ontogeny is described. In …
Preferences For Derelict Gear Mitigation Strategies By Commercial Fishers, James A. Delbene, Andrew M. Scheld, Donna Marie Bilkovic
Preferences For Derelict Gear Mitigation Strategies By Commercial Fishers, James A. Delbene, Andrew M. Scheld, Donna Marie Bilkovic
VIMS Articles
Local, national, and international efforts to address the issue of derelict fishing gear are often limited by resources and costs. Managers and policymakers have implemented various preventative, impact reducing, and curative measures to decrease derelict fishing gear abundance and impacts, but stakeholder support is essential for success. To identify stakeholder preferences and the most efficient measures to address the issue of derelict blue crab pots in Chesapeake Bay, we distributed a stated preference survey with a discrete choice experiment to 1,032 licensed commercial fishers in Virginia and received a 42% response rate. The choice experiment consisted of hypothetical scenarios with …
The Path To An Ecosystem Approach For Forage Fish Management: A Case Study Of Atlantic Menhaden, Kristen A. Anstead, Katie Drew, David Chagaris, (...), Robert J. Latour, Et Al
The Path To An Ecosystem Approach For Forage Fish Management: A Case Study Of Atlantic Menhaden, Kristen A. Anstead, Katie Drew, David Chagaris, (...), Robert J. Latour, Et Al
VIMS Articles
Atlantic menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus) support the largest fishery by volume on the United States East Coast, while also playing an important role as a forage species. Managers’ and stakeholders’ increasing concerns about the impact of Atlantic menhaden harvest on ecosystem processes led to an evolution in the assessment and management of this species from a purely single-species approach to an ecosystem approach. The first coastwide stock assessment of Atlantic menhaden for management used a single-species virtual population analysis (VPA). Subsequent assessments used a forward projecting statistical catch-at-age framework that incorporated estimates of predation mortality from a multispecies VPA …
The Effects Of Scallop Dredge Fishing Practices On Physical, Behavioral, And Physiological Stress In Discarded Yellowtail Flounder, Windowpane, And Fourspot Flounder, Brooke N. Anderson, Amelia Weissman, John Mandelman, David B. Rudders, James A. Sulikowski
The Effects Of Scallop Dredge Fishing Practices On Physical, Behavioral, And Physiological Stress In Discarded Yellowtail Flounder, Windowpane, And Fourspot Flounder, Brooke N. Anderson, Amelia Weissman, John Mandelman, David B. Rudders, James A. Sulikowski
VIMS Articles
The Atlantic sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus dredge fishery is one of the most lucrative commercial fishing industries in the northeastern United States, and fish bycatch can comprise up to ~42% of the total catch. Benthic species, such as flatfish, are particularly susceptible to unintended capture in scallop dredge gear, and mitigating bycatch and associated mortality has been mandated a priority for fisheries management. Based on this management need, the present study evaluated the physical, physiological, and behavioral stress responses of Yellowtail Flounder Limanda ferruginea, Windowpane Scophthalmus aquosus, and Fourspot Flounder Paralichthys oblongus to capture in the scallop dredge …
Penaeid Shrimp In Chesapeake Bay: Population Growth And Black Gill Disease Syndrome, Troy D. Tuckey, Jillian L. Swinford, Mary C. Fabrizio, Hamish J. Small, Jeffrey D. Shields
Penaeid Shrimp In Chesapeake Bay: Population Growth And Black Gill Disease Syndrome, Troy D. Tuckey, Jillian L. Swinford, Mary C. Fabrizio, Hamish J. Small, Jeffrey D. Shields
VIMS Articles
Since 1991, the number of penaeid shrimp occurring in Virginia waters of Chesapeake Bay has steadily increased, prompting an interest in developing a fishery. Although development of a shrimp fishery in the Chesapeake Bay region could bring economic benefits, the fishery may be hampered by the presence of a disease syndrome known as shrimp black gill (sBG). The objectives of our study were to (1) describe the spatial distribution and abundance patterns of shrimp in Chesapeake Bay, (2) relate relative abundance of shrimp to habitat characteristics, and (3) determine the presence and seasonality of sBG to better understand disease dynamics …