Fishery Bulletin articles from April 2005

Fishery Bulletin archives from April 2005

Sex-change rules, stock dynamics, and the performance of spawning-per-recruit measures in protogynous stocks.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--Predicting and understanding the dynamics of a population requires knowledge of vital rates such as survival, growth, and reproduction. However, these variables are influenced by individual behavior, and when managing exploited...

Neonatal growth of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) pups in Alaska.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--The growth rate of Steller sea lion (Eumetopias jubatus) pups was studied in southeast Alaska, the Gulf of Alaska, and the Aleutian Islands during the first six weeks after birth. The Steller sea lion population is currently stable in...

Reproductive biology of carpenter seabream (Argyrozona argyrozona) (Pisces: Sparidae) in a marine protected area.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--The carpenter seabream (Argyrozona argyrozona) is an endemic South African sparid that comprises an important part of the handline fishery. A three-year study (1998-2000) into its reproductive biology within the Tsitsikamma National...

Decline in sea otter (Enhydra lutris) populations along the Alaska Peninsula, 1986-2001.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--During the 1990s, sea otter (Enhydra lutris) counts in the Aleutian archipelago decreased by 70% throughout the archipelago between 1992 and 2000. Recent aerial surveys in the Aleutians did not identify the eastward extent of the...

Growth dynamics of the spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna) off the United States southeast and Gulf of Mexico coasts: a comparison of methods.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--The age and growth dynamics of the spinner shark (Carcharhinus brevipinna) in the northwest Atlantic Ocean off the southeast United States and in the Gulf of Mexico were examined and four growth models were used to examine variation...

Tracking Pacific bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus orientalis) in the northeastern Pacific with an automated algorithm that estimates latitude by matching sea-surface-temperature data from satellites with temperature data from tags on fish.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--Data recovered from 11 popup satellite archival tags and 3 surgically implanted archival tags were used to analyze the movement patterns of juvenile northern bluefin tuna (Thunnus thynnus orientalis) in the eastern Pacific. The light...

Age, growth, mortality, and radiometric age validation of gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) from Louisiana.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--The gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus) is a temperate and tropical reef fish that is found along the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic coasts of the southeastern United States. The recreational fishery for gray snapper has developed rapidly in...

Estimating exploitable stock biomass for the Maine green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) fishery using a spatial statistics approach.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--The objective of this study was to investigate the spatial patterns in green sea urchin (Strongylocentrotus droebachiensis) density off the coast of Maine, using data from a fishery-independent survey program, to estimate the...

Abundance and distribution of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) in central and northern California during 1998 and summer 1999.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--The abundance and distribution of California sea lions (Zalophus californianus) in central and northern California was studied to allow future evaluation of their impact on salmonids, the ecosystem, and fisheries. Abundance at-sea was...

Variability in spawning frequency and reproductive development of the narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) along the west coast of Australia.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--The narrow-barred Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus commerson) is widespread throughout the Indo-West Pacific region. This study describes the reproductive biology of S. commerson along the west coast of Australia, where it is targeted...

Seasonal marine growth of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) in relation to competition with Asian pink salmon (O. gorbuscha) and the 1977 ocean regime shift.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--Recent research demonstrated significantly lower growth and survival of Bristol Bay sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) during odd-numbered years of their second or third years at sea (1975, 1977, etc.), a trend that was opposite that...

Distribution, feeding condition, and growth of Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) larvae in the Seto Inland Sea.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--Distribution of eggs and larvae and feeding and growth of larvae of Japanese Spanish mackerel (Scomberomorus niphonius) were investigated in relation to their prey in the Sea of Hiuchi, the Seto Inland Sea, Japan, in 1995 and 1996....

Maximum likelihood estimation of mortality and growth with individual variability from multiple length-frequency data.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--We consider estimation of mortality rates and growth parameters from length-frequency data of a fish stock and derive the underlying length distribution of the population and the catch when there is individual variability in the von...

Effects of fishing on growth traits: a simulation analysis.
April 1, 2005... Abstract--Fisheries often target individuals based on size. Size-selective fishing can create selection differentials on life-history traits and, when those traits have a genetic basis, may cause evolution. The evolution of life-history traits...

Preliminary evidence of increased spawning aggregations of mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis) at Riley's Hump two years after establishment of the Tortugas South Ecological Reserve.
April 1, 2005... In this note we describe the re-formation of a spawning aggregation of mutton snapper (Lutjanus analis). A review of four consecutive years of survey data indicates that the aggregation may be increasing in size. Mutton snapper are distributed...

Feeding habits of European hake (Merluccius merluccius) in the central Mediterranean Sea.
April 1, 2005... European hake (Merluccius merluccius) is an important predator of deeper shelf-upper slope Mediterranean communities. It is a nectobenthic species distributed over a wide depth range (20-1000 m) throughout the Mediterranean Sea and the north...

Biology of queen snapper (Etelis oculatus: Lutjanidae) in the Caribbean.
April 1, 2005... The queen snapper (Etelis oculatus) is among the deepest dwelling species of the family Lutjanidae, and the only Atlantic species of Etelis. Its distribution covers the tropical western Atlantic Ocean, from North Carolina to the eastern tip of...

Courtship and spawning behaviors of carangid species in Belize.
April 1, 2005... Many species of reef fish aggregate seasonally in large numbers to spawn at predictable times and sites (Johannes, 1978; Sadovy, 1996; Domeier and Colin, 1997). Although spawning behavior has been observed for many reef fish in the wild...

Comparison of two approaches for estimating natural mortality based on longevity *.
April 1, 2005... Vetter (1988) noted that her review of the estimation of the instantaneous natural mortality rate (M) was initiated by a discussion among colleagues that identified M as the single most important but least well-estimated parameter in fishery...

Effects of current speed and turbidity on stationary light-trap catches of larval and juvenile fishes.
April 1, 2005... Light traps are one of a number of different gears used to sample pelagic larval and juvenile fishes. In contrast to conventional towed nets, light traps primarily collect larger size classes, including settlement-size larvae (Choat et al.,...

Can a change in the spawning pattern of Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi) affect its recruitment? *.
April 1, 2005... Argentine hake (Merluccius hubbsi) inhabit waters of the Southwest Atlantic Ocean between 22[degrees] and 55[degrees]S, at depths ranging from 50 to 500 m (Cousseau and Perrota, 1998). This species has historically been among the more abundant...

Feeding habits of the dwarf weakfish (Cynoscion nannus) off the coasts of Jalisco and Colima, Mexico.
April 1, 2005... Sciaenids from the Pacific coast of Mexico are used as a second-class fish species for human consumption (Aguilar-Palomino et al., 1996). The dwarf weakfish (Cynoscion nannus) (Castro-Aguirre and Arvizu-Martinez, 1976) is often caught as...

Using bone measurements to estimate the original sizes of bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) from digested remains.
April 1, 2005... The ability to estimate the original size of an ingested prey item is an important step in understanding the community and population structure of piscivorous predators (Scharf et al., 1998). More specifically, knowledge of original prey size...