Chesapeake Bay Finfish Fisheries

Question 1

Chesapeake Bay Fishes

Answer 1

-Home to nearly 350 species
-Range from freshwater to marine habitats
-Tolerant of wide temperature and salinity ranges
-Many species are transient – use the bay for spawning, a nursery for young, feeding
-Many are (or were) commercially and recreationally important

Question 2

Main Chesapeake Bay Fisheries

Answer 2

American eel
Atlantic croaker
Atlantic menhaden
Blue catfish
Cobia
Spot
Striped bass
Summer flounder
Weakfish

Question 3

What are some fisheries in C-Bay that once were open but now are closed?

Answer 3

American shad
Hickory shad
Alewife
Blueback Herring

Question 4

An interesting caveat to the river herring fishery

Answer 4

The fishery is available but has to demonstrate that the harvest level is not impacting the stock to fish. Currently unable to do that in C-Bay.

Question 5

What types of commercial gear is used in C-Bay?

Answer 5

Pound Net
Staked Gill Net
Sink or Anchor Gill Net
Fyke net or hoop net
Eel pot
Trotline
Hook and Line
Haul Seine
Purse seine

Question 6

Pound Net Characteristics

Answer 6

Expensive
Labor Intensive
Fixed Location
Perpendicular to shoreline
Fish Stay alive
High bycatch

Question 7

Staked Gill Net Characteristics

Answer 7

Less expensive
Fixed location
Size selective
Typically kills fish

Question 8

Sink or Anchor Gill Net Characteristics

Answer 8

Less expensive
Mobile
Size selective
Typically kills fish

Question 9

Haul Seine Characteristics

Answer 9

Labor Intensive
Fish Stay Alive

Question 10

Purse Seine Characteristics

Answer 10

Expensive
labor Intensive
Mobile
Targeted
Effective!

Question 11

Chesapeake Bay Landings: Atlantic menhaden

Answer 11

• 2022 stock status currently not overfished
• ASMFC adopted an ecological reference point to set aside enough for food for stripe bad.

Question 12

Striped Bass Life Cycle in C-Bay

Answer 12

Adults – run up and down the Atlantic coast. Late winter or early spring, head into the C-Bay estuaries to spawn. Release their eggs in the tidal freshwater.

Juveniles will stay in the tidal freshwater for about a year and move into the mainstem of the Chesapeake bay (between ages1-4 yrs old)

After that, will join the coastal migratory stock with other adults.

Ches Bay, Delaware Bay, and Hudson River are three producing areas for striped bass. Support all the stock and most come from Ches Bay.

Question 13

Striped Bass - Landings data

Answer 13

Va recreational harvest is larger than commercial harvest.

Commercial is more stable since we have the ability to manage the stock.

Question 14

What is one of the causes for the lack of stripe bass (as claimed by recreational fishers)?

Answer 14

Not due to commercial but more due to behavioral changes.

Question 15

2022 Stripe Bass Stock Status

Answer 15

The current status is still overfished. However, data shows that we are not longer catching too many, but the stock has not had a chance to rebuild. The expectation is to become above the line.

Question 16

American Eel Life Cycled

Answer 16

Spawn in the sargasso sea

Range – Greenland to South America

Metamorphosis into a glass eel. Migrate into the coastal waters. Look like a translucent grass reed.

Attracted to low-flow water

Dynamic animal – salinity is not a factor

Grow into a yellow eel (all eels that are harvested are immature)

Metamorphosis again into silver eel – gonads develop and swim to the sargasso sea. One way trip.

Question 17

Why was Chesapeake Bay Stock Status for American Eels classified as depleted in 2017?

Answer 17

Lack of data from other areas

Question 18

Stock Status for Atlantic Croaker and Spot

Answer 18

Status unknown. Recreational and commercial catches are down. The reason is unknown and hard to manage since there is a lot of bycatch from the shrimp fishery. No idea what that bycatch is, so unable to definitively say one way or the other.

Question 19

Stock Status for Summer Flounder

Answer 19

A downward trend in the recent decade. Stock is considered not overfished and overfishing is not occurring.

However, increasing in Delaware Bay. Seems to be a shift north.

Question 20

Stock Status for Weakfish

Answer 20

Had to go to a depleted status since there is so few data available.

Couldn’t say overfishing since landings was dropped off as well. Data shows that its something else causing the stock to disappear.

Question 21

What is the hypothesis for the weakfish stock status?

Answer 21

Increase in predators

Question 22

Cobia Fishery

Answer 22

• Recreational harvest has grown noticeably over the last 10 years
• Since the fish migrate from the south into the bay, the regulations in place in the southern Atlantic did not apply to Ches-Bay. Since cobia fishery is relatively new, no regulations were in place to manage the stock. Landings done in ches-bay were affecting the stock for the southern states.

Question 23

Chesapeake Bay: Alosines

Answer 23

American shad – Depleted (2020 Benchmark)
Alewife - Depleted (2017 Update)
Blueback herring- Depleted (2017 Update)

Question 24

Why was the hatchery on the James River stopped?

Answer 24

Blue catfish were eating all of the juveniles that were released.

Question 25

Blue Catfish History

Answer 25

In the 70’s we introduced blue catfish into james, York, and Rappahannock.

Question 26

Blue Catfish Characteristics

Answer 26

They are salinity tolerant. A rain event happened, and salinity dropped in Ches-Bay in the mainstem. Moved into the bay and gives them the ability to migrate north.

19 million in the james river

Question 27

What did the 2011 Resolution of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission state about Blue Catfish?

Answer 27

potential negative effects on other managed fishes
American shad, alewife, blueback herring, & striped bass
All practicable efforts should be made to reduce the population levels and ranges of invasive blue catfish

Question 28

What are the conflicting views between DWR and VMRC on blue catfish?

Answer 28

DWR – wants to keep them since there is trophy fishery in the James River – world renowned.

VMRC – wants them gone.

Question 29

Why should you only eat the smaller size blue catfish?

Answer 29

biomagnified as they get older.

Question 30

What is the total landings specifications for the fisheries in C-Bay?

Answer 30

10 species total
$25,000,000 of value (does not include recreational)