Volume 52

Assessment of the Recreational Sport Fisheries of Florida Bay and Adjacent Waters from 1985 – 1998


Authors
Schmidt, T.; Delgado, G.A.; Alvarado, M.
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Date: November, 1999


Pages: 385-401


Event: Proceedings of the Fifty Second Annual Gulf and Caribbean Fisheries Institute


City: Key West, Florida


Country: USA

Abstract

A stock assessment based on recreational catch and catch rate (CPUE) from 1985 - 1998 was conducted on four of the most popular gamefish in Florida Bay, Everglades National Park: snook (Centropomus undecimalis), gray snapper (Lutjanus griseus), spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus), and red drum (Sciaenops ocellatus). The responses of catch to fishing effort and CPUE to environmental factors (rainfall, water level, and salinity) were determined.\Snook catch rates have shown a cyclical trend every four years. The peaks may reflect recruitment of juveniles that were released in prior years because of size restrictions. Recruitment may also be enhanced by increased rainfall/runoff as there was a weak correlation between water levels recorded three years before and CPUE from 1985 - 1998. Although, no statistical significance was found, this trend suggests that periods of low salinity lead to inereases in abundance.\During the 1990s, gray snapper CPUE and estimated total harvest have dropped lower than anytime during the previous record and may be due to regulations imposed on the fishery in 1988 and 1990. A significant relationship was found between CPUE and mean annual salinities in northern Florida Bay suggesting that periods of high salinity may lead to increases in abundance. Mean annual rainfall and water levels were significantly inversely related to CPUE indicating that low rainfall and water levels lead lo increases in abundance.\Spotted seatrout CPUE has increased recently; yet, harvest rates have been holding steady since 1990. The lack of increase in harvest associated with the increase in catch may be due to size restrietions. A significant negative correlation was found between CPUE and water levels from the previous year.\Red drum CPUE has been stable since 1989 when present bag limits were imposed. No statistically significant relationships were found between CPUE and any of the environmental variables.\For each species, annual estimated total catch was highly correlated with the estimated total effort. This suggests that current catches do not greatly impact Florida Bay stocks and that additional increases may be possible.

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