Chesapeake Bay Finfish Fisheries Flashcards
Chesapeake Bay Fishes
-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
Main Chesapeake Bay Fisheries
American eel
Atlantic croaker
Atlantic menhaden
Blue catfish
Cobia
Spot
Striped bass
Summer flounder
Weakfish
What are some fisheries in C-Bay that once were open but now are closed?
American shad
Hickory shad
Alewife
Blueback Herring
An interesting caveat to the river herring fishery
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.
What types of commercial gear is used in C-Bay?
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
Pound Net Characteristics
Expensive
Labor Intensive
Fixed Location
Perpendicular to shoreline
Fish Stay alive
High bycatch
Staked Gill Net Characteristics
Less expensive
Fixed location
Size selective
Typically kills fish
Sink or Anchor Gill Net Characteristics
Less expensive
Mobile
Size selective
Typically kills fish
Haul Seine Characteristics
Labor Intensive
Fish Stay Alive
Purse Seine Characteristics
Expensive
labor Intensive
Mobile
Targeted
Effective!
Chesapeake Bay Landings: Atlantic menhaden
- 2022 stock status currently not overfished
- ASMFC adopted an ecological reference point to set aside enough for food for stripe bad.
Striped Bass Life Cycle in C-Bay
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.
Striped Bass - Landings data
Va recreational harvest is larger than commercial harvest.
Commercial is more stable since we have the ability to manage the stock.
What is one of the causes for the lack of stripe bass (as claimed by recreational fishers)?
Not due to commercial but more due to behavioral changes.
2022 Stripe Bass Stock Status
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.
American Eel Life Cycled
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.
Why was Chesapeake Bay Stock Status for American Eels classified as depleted in 2017?
Lack of data from other areas
Stock Status for Atlantic Croaker and Spot
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.
Stock Status for Summer Flounder
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.
Stock Status for Weakfish
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.
What is the hypothesis for the weakfish stock status?
Increase in predators
Cobia Fishery
- 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.
Chesapeake Bay: Alosines
American shad – Depleted (2020 Benchmark)
Alewife - Depleted (2017 Update)
Blueback herring- Depleted (2017 Update)
Why was the hatchery on the James River stopped?
Blue catfish were eating all of the juveniles that were released.
Blue Catfish History
In the 70’s we introduced blue catfish into james, York, and Rappahannock.
Blue Catfish Characteristics
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
What did the 2011 Resolution of the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission state about Blue Catfish?
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
What are the conflicting views between DWR and VMRC on blue catfish?
DWR – wants to keep them since there is trophy fishery in the James River – world renowned.
VMRC – wants them gone.
Why should you only eat the smaller size blue catfish?
biomagnified as they get older.
What is the total landings specifications for the fisheries in C-Bay?
10 species total
$25,000,000 of value (does not include recreational)
