Life Sciences Commons^™

Interannual Decline, Compensatory Exploitation, And Conservation Of The Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab Population In Winter, Rom Lipcius, Marcel M. Montane

Reports

No abstract provided.

Shallow Water Resource Use Conflicts: Clam Aquaculture And Submerged Aquatic Vegetation, Center For Coastal Resources Management, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science

Reports

No abstract provided.

Preliminary Observations Of Barndoor Skates (Raja Laevis) On Georges Bank, Todd Gedamke, William D. Dupaul

Reports

An article published in Science magazine last year (Casey and Myers, 1998) has generated increased concern about the status of the barndoor skate (Raja laevis) in the North Atlantic. Very little information is available and a better understanding of the barndoor's life history, distribution and abundance is necessary for proper management. This document serves to provide preliminary data from an ongoing study that may aid in the current understanding of the barndoor skate population ..

Development Of An Expert System Based On A Tidal Prism Water Quality Model For Small Coastal Basins In Virginia, Albert Y. Kuo, Sung-Chan Kim, Kyeong Park, M. Dale Phillips

Reports

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Relative Abundance Of Recreationally Important Finfish In The Virginia Portion Of The Chesapeake Bay : Annual Progress Report July 1998 - June 1999, Patrick J. Geer, Herbert M. Austin

Reports

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 …

Ecological Functions Of Constructed Oyster Reefs Along An Environmental Gradient In Chesapeake Bay: Final Report, Fx O'Beirn, Mark Luckenbach, Roger L. Mann, J Harding, J Nestlerode

Reports

Oyster reef habitat restoration within the Chesapeake Bay has as its objectives not only the enhancement of the commercially important oyster stocks, but also the restoration of associated assemblages of organisms and, most importantly, the restoration of ecological functions associated with natural reef communities. Despite our efforts to date, many uncertainties still exist with respect to achieving these restoration goals. These include long-term information on the temporal sequence of community development on new reef substrate, evaluating oyster recruitment patterns (a) across restored reef systems and (b) in relation to resident brood stocks.

In this study we sought to characterize the …

Evaluation Of Fixed Gear For The Capture Of Summer Flounder In Coastal Waters Of Virginia, Robert A. Fisher, David Rudders

Reports

No abstract provided.

Chesapeake Bay Oyster Restoration : Consensus Of A Meeting Of Scientific Experts, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science, Wachapreague, Virginia, Virginia Institute Of Marine Science, Chesapeake Research Consortium

Reports

A small group of oyster experts from Maryland, Virginia and North Carolina met at the Virginia Institute of Marine Science Eastern Shore Laboratory, Wachapreague, VA on January 18, 1999 to recommend measures to restore and protect the oyster resource of the Chesapeake Bay.

Juvenile Fish And Blue Crab Stock Assessment Program Bottom Trawl Survey Annual Data Summary Report Volume 1998, Patrick J. Geer

Reports

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has conducted a trawl survey dating back to 1955. Over the years methods and objectives have varied according to funding sources and state and/or federal mandates.· The present thmst of the program is to provide juvenile indices of relative abundance for recreationally, commercially, and ecologically important fish and invertebrates. These measures of juvenile abundance are widely used as a key element in the management of the Atlantic States' coastal fishery resources. Estimates of juveniles (age-0) have proven to be a reliable and early indicator offuture year-class strength. A review of previously available indices …

Fish And Fisheries Of The Seaside Of The Eastern Shore Of Virginia, John A. Musick, John J. Norcross, David Hata

Reports

No abstract provided.

A Preliminary Study Of Predation On Blue Crabs By Three Fish Predators In A Seagrass Bed, R J. Orth, Jacques Van Montfrans, James Fishman

Reports

This report serves as a preliminary assessment of potential feeding impacts on blue crab prey inhabiting a seagrass bed in the York River by three species of recreationally and commercially important fish (striped bass, croaker, and red drum). We also provide an historic perspective indicating possible changes in relative abundance of these predatory fish between the period 1978-1980 and 1998. In no way do we intend for this report to reflect an accurate, bay-wide assessment of these relationships; the extremely limited temporal and spatial scope of this effort precludes such conclusions. However, this report supports the contention that habitat-specific predation …

Evaluation Of Striped Bass Stocks In Virginia: Monitoring Studies, 1993-1998 Completion Report 1 September 1997 - 31 October 1998, Philip W. Sadler, Robert E. Harris Jr., Jason Romine, John E. Olney Sr.

Reports

To document continued compliance with Federal law, the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) Anadromous Program (AP) has monitored the size and age composition, sex ratio and maturity schedules of the spawning striped bass stock in the Rappahannock River since December 1981 utilizing commercial pound nets and, since 1991, variable-mesh experimental anchored gill nets. Spawning stock assessment was expanded to include the James River in 1994 utilizing extant commercial fyke nets and variable-mesh experimental gill nets. The use of fyke nets was discontinued after 1997. Tagging programs have been conducted in the James and Rappahannock rivers since 1987 in conjunction …

Analysis Of Historical Distribution Of Submerged Aquatic Vegetation (Sav) In The James River, Ken Moore, David J. Wilcox, R J. Orth, Eva Bailey

Reports

Analyses of historical photography and ground surveys dating from the 1930s indicate that approximately 1645 hectares of SAV have been historically present in shallow water regions throughout the James River. This compares to 77 hectares of vegetation reported in 1997 and a James River Tier I SAV restoration goal of 107 hectares (areas mappped with SAV from 1971- 1991). Overall, the temporal and spatial patterns of loss of SAV populations in the James River suggest declines occurred first in the tidal freshwater regions of the upper James beginning approximately 50 years ago, and then subsequently in the lower James beginning …

Increasing The Probability Of Success In Restored Forested Wetlands, Kirk J. Havens, Gene Silberhorn

Reports

This study investigated survival and growth of two distinct ecotypic populations, with varying tolerance to waterlogging, of four species, Taxodium distichum (L.) Richard, Carpinus caroliniana Walt., Quercus michauxii Nutt. and Quercus pagoda Raf. (Syn. Q.falcata var. pagodifolia Ell.).

Results Of Modifications To Sea Scallop Dredge Twine Tops To Facilitate The Reduction Of Finfish Bycatch: Georges Bank Closed Area Ii Experimental Fishery September-October 1998, William D. Dupaul, David B. Rudders, David Kerstetter

Reports

No abstract provided.

Status Of The Major Oyster Diseases In Virginia 1998 A Summary Of The Annual Monitoring Program, Lisa M. Ragone Calvo, Eugene M. Burreson

Reports

No abstract provided.

Gloucester County Shoreline And Tidal Marsh Inventory, Marcia Berman, Harry Berquist, Sharon Dewing, George Thomas, Rose Laird

Reports

This inventory is intended to serve as a useful planning tool for managers, planners, regulators, and environmentalists with an interest in Gloucester County. This report documents conditions measured in the County of Gloucester using remote sensing techniques. Two separate activities have occurred in tandem to develop this inventory of tidal marsh, and shoreline features. First, a delineation of tidal marshes within the county used high end image processing software along with color infra-red imagery to delineate the boundaries oftidal marshes'within 33 georeferenced scenes. The process calculates the amount of tidal marsh measured within each river segment in acres. Second, the …

Mortality And Pathophysiology Studies Of Blue Crabs Infected With The Parasitic Dinoflagellate Hematodinium Perezi, Jeffrey D. Shields

Reports

On the eastern seaboard of the USA, populations of the blue crab, Callinectes sapidus, experience recurring epizootics of a parasitic dinoflagellate. The parasite, H ematodinium perezi, fulminates in the summer and autumn causing mortalities in high salinity embayments and estuaries. In laboratory studies, we experimentally investigated host mortality due to the disease, assessed differential hematological changes in infected crabs, and examined proliferation of the parasite. Mature, overwintering, non-ovigerous, female crabs were injected with 103 or 105 cells of H. perezi. Mortalities began 14 dafter infection, with a median time to death of30.3 ± 1.5 d (se). Subsequent mortality rates were …

Oyster Reef Habitat Restoration : A Synopsis And Synthesis Of Approaches; Proceedings From The Symposium, Williamsburg, Virginia, April 1995, Mark Luckenbach, Roger L. Mann, James A. Wesson

Reports

This volume has its origin in a symposium held in Williamsburg, VA in April 1995, though most of the chapters have been significantly revised in the interim. The primary purpose of the symposium was to bring together state fisheries managers involved in fisheries-directed oyster enhancement and research scientists to refine approaches for enhancing oyster populations and to better develop the rationale for restoring reef habitats. We could hardly have anticipated the degree to which this been successful. In the interim between the symposium and the publication of this volume the notion that oyster reefs are valuable habitats, both for oysters …

A Comparative Field Study Of Crassostrea Gigas And Crassostrea Virginica In Relation To Salinity In Virginia, Gustavo W. Calvo, Mark Luckenbach, Eugene M. Burreson

Reports

No abstract provided.

Estimation Of Juvenile Striped Bass Relative Abundance In The Virginia Portion Of Chesapeake Bay, January 1998-December 1998 : Annual Progress Report, Herbert M. Austin, A. Dean Estes, Donald M. Seaver

Reports

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) has conducted a juvenile striped bass seine survey from 1967 through 1973 and from 1980 through the present. The primary objective has been the monitoring of the relative annual recruitment success of juvenile striped bass in the spawning and to the nursery areas of Lower Chesapeake Bay. Initially (1967-1973), the survey was funded by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and when reinstated in 1980 with funding from the National Marine Fisheries Service-under the Emergency Striped Bass Study program Commencing with the 1988 annual survey, support of the program has been jointly made …

Laws, Regulations, And Environmental Factors And Their Potential Effects On The Stocks And Fisheries For The Blue Crab, Callinectes Sapidus, In The Chesapeake Bay Region, 1888-1940, Willard A. Van Engel

Reports

In the period 1880 to 1940. the blue crab fisheries of Chesapeake Bay evolved from a relati\·ely small industry to one having a significant economic impact on watennen, processors and shippers, and the coastal communities, and the need for studied legislation and administration of the industry. The growth of the fishery resulted also in a need for well thought out science based on legislation and administrati011 of the fishery. This text examines whether any of several variables had effects on the stocks and the successes or failures of the fisheries. with the aim of more infom1ed planning of scientific studies, …

Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program Annual Report 1998, John A. Lucy, C.M. Bain, M. D. Arendt

Reports

The Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program (VGFTP), a cooperative project of the Virginia Marine Resources Commission and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS), set records for fish tagged and fish recaptured during 1998, its fourth year of operation.

The Economic Value Of Saltwater Angling In Virginia, James Kirkley, N. P. Bockstael, Kenneth E. Mcconnell, Ivar Strand

Reports

No abstract provided.

Exploratory Field Evaluation Of Hook-Release Mortality In Tautog (Tautoga Onitis) In Lower Chesapeake Bay, Virginia, John A. Lucy, Michael D. Arendt

Reports

In April 1996, the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission approved a Tautog Fishery Management Plan (FMP) requiring states to systematically adopt a 14 in. (356 mm) TL minimum size limit. Release-mortality was assumed to be 25%. Between October and December 1997-1998, 299 tautog (235-520 mm TL; 9-20 in.) were caught using angling gear to estimate release mortality in Virginia's tautog fishery. Fishing occurred at shallow (3-10 m; 10-33 ft.) and deep (12-17 m; 39-56 ft.) water depths at temperatures between 9-l 8°C ( 48-64°F). Tautog were tagged, accumulated in aerated livewells, then returned to depth of capture in galvanized wire …

An Introduction To Culturing Oysters In Virginia, Mark Luckenbach, Francis X. O'Beirn, Jake Taylor

Reports

This document is intended to respond to a growing demand for information on intensive, off-bottom aquaculture of the eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica, in Virginia and neighboring coastal states. Over the past few years the number of individuals involved in intensive oyster aquaculture in Virginia has increased dramatically, and we now estimate that over 2000 separate off-bottom oyster culture operations are underway within the coastal waters of Virginia. Individuals involved in this activity include non-commercial gardeners, traditional watermen and members of the well-established hard clam aquaculture industry. In addition to growing oysters for personal consumption and marketing, an increasing number of …

Modeling Coastal Hydrodynamics And Water Qualityof Kyunggi Bay Korea:Application Of Vims Hem-3d Model, Jian Shen, Chang-Shik Kim, Albert Y. Kuo

Reports

No abstract provided.