Animal Sciences Commons^™

Characterization Of Nursery Habitats Used By Black Sea Bass And Summer Flounder In Chesapeake Bay And The Coastal Lagoons, Mary C. Fabrizio, Troy D. Tuckey, Shannon C. Smith, Paige G. Ross, Richard A. Snyder, Harry V. Wang, Aaron J. Bever

Reports

Coastal habitats are increasingly impacted by intersecting and often competing human activities overlaid on habitat loss and degradation. These demands have prompted resource managers to implement marine spatial-planning strategies (Foley et al. 2010), but the effectiveness of this approach depends on the quality and resolution of the ecological information considered in delineating best uses of public natural resources. Many economically and ecologically important species such as summer flounder and black sea bass depend on inshore nursery habitats, yet habitat-specific utilization patterns lack the resolution needed to protect critical areas and inform ecological restoration strategies. To address these data gaps, we …

Results For The 2022 Vims Industry Cooperative Surveys Of The Mid-Atlantic Bight, Nantucket Lightship, Southern Flank, And Closed Area Ii Resource Areas, Sally A. Roman, David A. Rudders

Reports

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) conducted high resolution sea scallop dredge surveys of the entire Mid-Atlantic Bight (MAB) and portions of Georges Bank (GB) including the Nantucket Lightship (NL), the Southern Flank (SF), Closed Area II (CA) Extension, and CAII during May–June 2022 (Figure 1). These surveys were funded by the Sea Scallop Research Set-Aside Program (RSA). Exploitable biomass for each survey is shown in Table 1 for each spatially explicit SAMS Area (Scallop Area Management Simulator). SAMS Areas represent management relevant spatial subunits of the resource and explicitly account for differences in recruitment, vital rates, and fishing …

2022 Annual Report - Estimating Relative Juvenile Abundance Of Ecologically Important Finfish In The Virginia Portion Of Chesapeake Bay (1 July 2021 – 30 June 2022), Troy D. Tuckey, Mary C. Fabrizio

Reports

The Trawl Survey provides crucial data to state, regional, and national fisheries management agencies, including the Virginia Marine Resources Commission (VMRC), the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASMFC), the Mid‐Atlantic Fisheries Management Council (MAFMC), and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS). The MAFMC recognizes the juvenile trawl survey as one of the key predictors of Summer Flounder recruitment. Annual indices of juvenile abundance have been generated from trawl survey data for species of key recreational and ecological importance in the Virginia portion of Chesapeake Bay. These include Spot, Atlantic Croaker, Weakfish, Summer Flounder, Black Sea Bass, Scup, Striped Bass, White …

Age Based Assessment In The Sea Scallop Placopecten Magellanicus: A Pilot Study - Final Report, Roger L. Mann, David Rudders, Sally Roman, Melissa Southworth, Kaitlyn R. Clark

Reports

If the current sea scallop fishery is well managed with a Catch At Size Analysis (CASA) length structured model, then why bother with an age based assessment? The success of the CASA based approach, in conjunction with management measures, is demonstrated by the development of the scallop fishery over the past two decades to its current status as the one of the most valuable fisheries on the Atlantic coast of the United States (NOAA, 2021). But, even the best length-based model can be improved by the addition of age data. An age-based model calibrates a length-based model, including a description …

Use Of Nest Web Cameras And Citizen Science To Quantify Osprey Prey Delivery Rate And Nest Success, Michael H. Academia, Harmony J. Dalgleish

Arts & Sciences Articles

Ospreys (Pandion haliaetus) are obligate piscivores and their nesting success depends on sufficient amounts of fish delivered to the nests during the breeding season. Nests are considered successful when pairs raise a minimum of one young to fledging or near-fledging age. Through web cameras and online broadcasts of Osprey nests, citizen scientists quantified daily number of fish deliveries, nest survival, and nest success. We received and analyzed curated data (one to seven seasons, 2014–2020) from citizen scientist groups representing 19 Osprey web cameras from four countries in North America and Europe. We compared the average and the coefficient …

Annual Report - 2021 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 …

Annual Report 2022 - Data Collection And Analysis In Support Of Single And Multispecies Stock Assessments In Chesapeake Bay: The Chesapeake Bay Multispecies Monitoring And Assessment Program, Gina M. Ralph, Christopher F. Bonzek, James Gartland, Debra J. Gauthier, Jameson Gregg, Robert J. Latour

Reports

The threats affecting living marine resources are diverse, including overfishing, climate change, and pollution. In response to long-term challenges in fisheries management, a more holistic evaluation of the natural and anthropogenic drivers of populations sizes is needed. Ecosystem management (EM), a suite of strategies that incorporate ecosystem considerations into fisheries and ecosystem management, can be difficult to implement in practice. In the Mid-Atlantic, efforts to implement EM are ongoing; one output has been the annual ‘State of the Ecosystem Report’ for the region, synthesizes available data on a variety of environmental, ecological, and socioeconomic factors. Historically, the data needed for …

Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program Annual Report 2021, Susanna Musick, Lewis Gillingham

Reports

Through 2021, the Virginia Game Fish Tagging Program (VGFTP) has maintained a 26-year database of rec-ords for tagged and recaptured fish. The program is a cooperative project of the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament (VSFT) under the Virginia Marine Resources Commission-(VMRC) and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) of William & Mary (under the VIMS Marine Advisory Program).

The main goal of the program is to train and maintain an experienced group of anglers who volunteer their time to properly tag and release fishes. Data on tagged and recaptured fish are summarized in annual reports.

Estimating Relative Abundance Of Young-Of-Year American Eel, Anguilla Rostrata, In The Virginia Tributaries Of Chesapeake Bay (Spring 2021), 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 calls for efforts to collect American Eel data through both fishery‐dependent and fishery‐independent studies in coastal states. Consequently, member jurisdictions agreed to implement an annual survey for young‐of‐year (YOY or glass) 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 surveys began in 2000 with …

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 …

The Status Of Virginia’S Public Oyster Resource 2021, Melissa Southworth, Roger L. Mann

Reports

The Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) monitors recruitment of the Eastern oyster, Crassostrea virginica (Gmelin, 1791), annually from late spring through early fall, by deploying spatfall1 (settlement and recruitment of larval oysters to the post metamorphic form termed spat) collectors (shellstrings) at various sites in three Virginia western Chesapeake Bay tributaries. The survey provides an estimate of a particular area’s potential for receiving a "strike" or settlement (set) of oysters on the bottom and helps describe the timing of recruitment events in a given year. Information obtained from this monitoring effort provides an overview of long-term recruitment trends in …

Evaluation Of Striped Bass Stocks In Virginia: Monitoring And Tagging Studies, 2021 Progress Report - 1 December 2020 - 30 November 2021, Robert J. Latour, Christopher F. Bonzek, James Gartland

Reports

This report presents the results of striped bass (Morone saxatilis) tagging and monitoring activities in Virginia during the period 1 December 2020 through 30 November 2021. It includes an assessment of the biological characteristics of striped bass taken from the 2021 spring spawning run and estimates of annual survival and fishing mortality based on annual spring tagging. 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 striped bass in Virginia, and along the eastern seaboard.

Monitoring The Abundance Of American Shad And River Herring In Virginia’S Rivers 2022 Annual Report, Eric J. Hilton, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee

Reports

This report describes the results of a continuing study to estimate the relative abundance and assess the status of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) stocks in Virginia by monitoring the spawning runs in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers in spring 2022, evaluating hatchery programs and contributing to coast-wide assessments (ASMFC 2007a; ASMFC 2020). We also report on a fishery-independent monitoring program to determine abundance and stock structure of river herring (A. pseudoharengus, and A. aestivalis) in Virginia by evaluating the adult spawning runs in the Chickahominy River, a major tributary of the James River, and the Rappahannock River. Further, a …

Monitoring The Abundance Of American Shad And River Herring In Virginia’S Rivers 2021 Annual Report, Eric J. Hilton, Patrick E. Mcgrath, Brian Watkins, Ashleigh Magee

Reports

This report describes the results of the twenty-fourth year of a continuing study to estimate the relative abundance and assess the status of American shad (Alosa sapidissima) stocks in Virginia by monitoring the spawning runs in the James, York and Rappahannock rivers in spring 2021, evaluating hatchery programs, and contributing to coast-wide assessments (ASMFC 2007, ASMFC 2020).

We also report on two fishery independent monitoring programs using anchor gillnets in the Rappahannock River (year 4) and the Chickahominy River (year 7; a major tributary of the James River), to determine relative abundance and stock structure for the adult spawning run …

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 …

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 …

A Deterministic Model For Understanding Nonlinear Viral Dynamics In Oysters, Qubin Qin, Jian Shen, Kimberly S. Reece

VIMS Articles

Contamination of oysters with a variety of viruses is one key pathway to trigger outbreaks of massive oyster mortality as well as human illnesses, including gastroenteritis and hepatitis. Much effort has gone into examining the fate of viruses in contaminated oysters, yet the current state of knowledge of nonlinear virus-oyster interactions is not comprehensive because most studies have focused on a limited number of processes under a narrow range of experimental conditions. A framework is needed for describing the complex nonlinear virus-oyster interactions. Here, we introduce a mathematical model that includes key processes for viral dynamics in oysters, such as …

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 …

Discard Mortality Of Sea Scallops Placopecten Magellanicus Following Capture And Handling In The U.S. Dredge Fishery, David Rudders, Hugues P. Benoıt, Ryan J. Knotek, John A. Mandelman, Sally Roman, James A. Sulikowski

VIMS Articles

Discard mortality can represent a potentially significant source of uncertainty for both stock assessments and fishery management measures. While the family Pectinidae is considered to be robust to the capture and handling process, understanding species-specific discard mortality rates is critical to characterize both population dynamics and to develop regulatory measures to meet management objectives. The discard mortality rate for the U.S. dredge fishery of sea scallop Placopecten magellanicus was estimated empirically via a retention study aboard industry vessels under commercial conditions. Over 16,000 sea scallops were assessed via a composite index of scallop vitality that consisted of semiqualitative measures of …

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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 …

Biological Responses Of The Predatory Blue Crab And Its Hard Clam Prey To Ocean Acidification And Low Salinity, Katherine S. Longmire, Rochelle D. Seitz, Michael S. Seebo, Richard Brill, Rom Lipcius

VIMS Articles

How ocean acidification (OA) interacts with other stressors is understudied, particularly for predators and prey. We assessed long-term exposure to decreased pH and low salinity on (1) juvenile blue crab Callinectes sapidus claw pinch force, (2) juvenile hard clam Mercenaria mercenaria survival, growth, and shell structure, and (3) blue crab and hard clam interactions in filmed mesocosm trials. In 2018 and 2019, we held crabs and clams from the Chesapeake Bay, USA, in crossed pH (low: 7.0, high: 8.0) and salinity (low: 15, high: 30) treatments for 11 and 10 wk, respectively. Afterwards, we assessed crab claw pinch force and …

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 …