Population assessment of two stocks of white grunt, Haemulon plumieri, from the southeastern coast of the United States

Changes in the age structure and population size of white grunt, Haemulon plumieri, from North Carolina through the Florida Keys were examined using records of landings and size frequencies of fish from commercial, re~reational, and headboat fisheries from 1986-1998. Data were stratified into two geographical areas: North Carolina and South Carolina; and southeast Florida. Population size in numbers at age was estimated for each year and geographical area by applying an uncalibrated separable virtual population analysis (SVPA) to the landings in numbers at age. A calibrated virtual population analysis, FADAPT, was also run for data from North Carolina and South Carolina. SVPA and FADAPT were used to estimate annual, age-specific fishing mortality (F) for four levels of natural mortality (M = 0.20, 0.25, 0.30, and 0.35). The best estimate of M for white grunt is 0.30. Landings of white grunt in the Carolinas for the three fisheries have generally decreased in recent years, but have held fairly steady for the species in southeast Florida. Age at entry and age at full recruitment were age-1 and age-4 for the Carolinas, and age-l and age-3 for southeast Florida. With M = 0.30, levels of fishing mortality (F) on the fully-recruited ages were 0.23 for the Carolinas and 0.33 for southeast Florida. Spawning potential ratio (SPR) at M = 0.30 was 57% for the Carolinas and 61% for southeast Florida, which indicates that the species, by definition, has not been over-exploited by fishing. The results of this assessment of the white grunt population off the Carolinas agree with the recent F/FMSY analysis of white grunt (Anonymous, 1999). (PDF contaons 72 pages)

Proceedings fo the Seventeenth Annual Sea Turtle Symposium, 4-8 March 1997, Orlando, Florida, U.S.A.

The 17th Annual Sea Turtle Symposium was held at the Delta Orlando Resort in Orlando, Florida U.S.A. from March 4-8, 1997. The symposium was hosted by Florida Atlantic University, Mote Marine Laboratory, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, Florida Atlantic University and the Comité Nacional para la Conservación y Protección de las Totugas Marinas. The 17th was the largest symposium to date. A total of 720 participants registered, including sea turtle biologists, students, regulatory personnel, managers, and volunteers representing 38 countries. In addition to the United States, participants represented Australia, Austria, the Bahamas, Bonaire, Bermuda, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cuba, Cyprus, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, England, Guatemala, Greece, Honduras, India, Italy, Japan, Madagascar, Malaysia, Mexico, The Netherlands, Nicaragua, Peru, Philippines, Republic of Seychelles, Scotland, Spain, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Taiwan, Turkey, Uruguay, and Venezuela. In addition to the 79 oral, 2 video, and 120 poster presentations, 3 workshops were offered: Selina Heppell (Duke University Marine Laboratory) provided “Population Modeling,” Mike Walsh and Sam Dover (Sea World-Orlando) conducted “Marine Turtle Veterinary Medicine” and “Conservation on Nesting Beaches” was offered by Blair Witherington and David Arnold (Florida Department of Environmental Protection). On the first evening, P.C.H. Pritchard delivered a thoughtful retrospect on Archie Carr that showed many sides of a complex man who studied and wrote about sea turtles. It was a presentation that none of us will forget. The members considered a number of resolutions at the Thursday business meeting and passed six. Five of these resolutions are presented in the Commentaries and Reviews section of Chelonian Conservation and Biology 2(3):442-444 (1997). The symposium was fortunate to have many fine presentations competing for the Archie Carr Best Student Presentations awards. The best oral presentation award went to Amanda Southwood (University of British Columbia) for “Heart rates and dive behavior of the leatherback sea turtle during the internesting interval.” The two runners-up were Richard Reina (Australian National University) for “Regulation of salt gland activity in Chelonia mydas” and Singo Minamikawa (Kyoto University) for “The influence that artificial specific gravity change gives to diving behavior of loggerhead turtles”. The winner of this year’s best poster competition was Mark Roberts (University of South Florida) for his poster entitled “Global population structure of green sea Turtles (Chelonia mydas) using microsatellite analysis of male mediated gene flow.” The two runners-up were Larisa Avens (University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill) for “Equilibrium responses to rotational displacements by hatchling sea turtles: maintaining a migratory heading in a turbulent ocean” and Annette Broderick (University of Glasgow) for “Female size, not length, is a correlate of reproductive output.” The symposium was very fortunate to receive a matching monetary and subscription gift from Anders J. G. Rhodin of the Chelonian Research Foundation. These enabled us to more adequately reward the fine work of students. The winners of the best paper and best poster awards received $400 plus a subscription to Chelonian Conservation and Biology. Each runner up received $100. The symposium owes a great debt to countless volunteers who helped make the meeting a success. Those volunteers include: Jamie Serino, Alan Bolton, and Karen Bjorndal, along with the UF students provided audio visual help, John Keinath chaired the student awards committee, Mike Salmon chaired the Program Commiteee, Sheryan Epperly and Joanne Braun compiled the Proceedings, Edwin Drane served as treasurer and provided much logistical help, Jane Provancha coordinated volunteers, Thelma Richardson conducted registration, Vicki Wiese coordinated food and beverage services, Jamie Serino and Erik Marin coordinated entertainment, Kenneth Dodd oversaw student travel awards, Traci Guynup, Tina Brown, Jerris Foote, Dan Hamilton, Richie Moretti, and Vicki Wiese served on the time and place committee, Blair Witherington created the trivia quiz, Tom McFarland donated the symposium logo, Deborah Crouse chaired the resolutions committee, Pamela Plotkin chaired the nominations committee, Sally Krebs, Susan Schenk, and Larry Wood conducted the silent auction, and Beverly and Tom McFarland coordinated all 26 vendors. Many individuals from outside the United States were able to attend the 17th Annual Sea Turtle Symposium thanks to the tireless work of Karen Eckert, Marydele Donnelly, and Jack Frazier in soliciting travel assistance for a number of international participants. We are indebted to those donating money to the internationals’ housing fund (Flo Vetter Memorial Fund, Marinelife Center of Juno Beach, Roger Mellgren, and Jane Provancha). We raise much of our money for international travel from the auction; thanks go to auctioneer Bob Shoop, who kept our auction fastpaced and entertaining, and made sure the bidding was high. The Annual Sea Turtle Symposium is unequaled in its emphasis on international participation. Through international participation we all learn a great deal more about the biology of sea turtles and the conservation issues that sea turtles face in distant waters. Additionally, those attending the symposium come away with a tremendous wealth of knowledge, professional contacts, and new friendships. The Annual Sea Turtle Symposium is a meeting in which pretenses are dropped, good science is presented, and friendly, open communication is the rule. The camaraderie that typifies these meetings ultimately translates into understanding and cooperation. These aspects, combined, have gone and will go a long way toward helping to protect marine turtles and toward aiding their recovery on a global scale. (PDF contains 342 pages)

Export potential of ornamental live fishes in Nigeria

Nigeria is blessed with an abundant variety of fish species, some of which have been exported over the years. These fish species are taken either from the wild or cultured. Large quantities of fishes and fishery products are exported from Nigeria in different forms and which have been sources of foreign exchange earnings for the Country. An estimate value of exports in the fishery sub-sector stood at approximately U.S. $48.212,070 for shrimps/sole fish/cuttlefish/crabs and over U.S.$500,000 for ornamental live fishes

Influence of ocean conditions on the timing of early life history events for blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) off California

Settled juvenile blue rockfish (Sebastes mystinus) were collected from two kelp beds approximately 335 km apart off Mendocino in northern California and Monterey in central California. A total of 112 rockfish were collected from both sites over 5 years (1993, 1994, 2001, 2002, and 2003). Total age, settlement date, age at settlement, and birth date were determined from otolith microstructure. Fish off Mendocino settled mostly in June and fish off Monterey settled mostly in May (average difference in settlement=23 days). Although the difference in the timing of settlement followed this same pattern for both areas over the five years, settlement occurred later in 2002 and 2003 than in the prior years of sampling. The difference in the timing of settlement was due primarily to differences in birth dates for the two areas. The time of settlement was positively related to upwelling and negatively related to sea level anomaly for most of the months before settlement. Knowledge of the timing of settlement has implications for design and placement of marine protected areas because protection of nursery grounds is frequently a major objective of these protected areas. The timing of settlement is also an important consideration in the planning of surveys of early recruits because mistimed surveys (caused by latitudinal differences in the timing of settlement) could produce biased estimates.

Reproductive seasonality, fecundity, and spawning frequency of tautog (Tautoga onitis) in the lower Chesapeake Bay and coastal waters of Virginia

The tautog, Tautoga onitis (Linnaeus), ranges from Nova Scotia to South Carolina and has become a popular target for recreational and commercial fisheries. Although tautog are a multiple spawning species, reproductive potential, measured as annual fecundity, has not been estimated previously with methods (batch fecundity, spawning frequency) necessary for a species with indeterminate annual fecundity. A total of 960 tautog were collected from the mouth of the Rappahannock River in the lower Chesapeake Bay to 45 km offshore of Virginia’s coastline to investigate tautog reproductive biology in the southern portion of the species range. Tautog did not exhibit a 1:1 sex ratio; 56% were females. Male tautog reached 50% maturity at 218 mm TL, females at 224 mm TL. Tautog spawned from 7 April 1995 to 15 June 1995, at locations from the York River to 45 km offshore. Batch fecundity estimates ranged from 2800 to 181,200 eggs per spawning for female tautog age 3–9, total length 259– 516 mm. Mean batch fecundity ±SEM for female tautog ages 4–6 was 54,243 ±2472 eggs and 106,256 ±3837 eggs for females ages 7–9. Spawning frequency was estimated at 1.2 days, resulting in 58 spawning days per female in 1995. Estimates of potential annual fecundity for tautog ages 3–9 ranged from 160,000 to 10,510,000 eggs.

Culture potentials of climbing perch, Anabas testudineus (Bloch) under different stocking densities at semi-intensive management

Anabas testudineus was cultured at different stocking density for the period of five months from May to September. Three stocking densities such as 50,000 (Treatment-1, T1), 56,250 (Treatment-2, T2) and 62,250/ha (Treatment-3, T3) were tested with three replications. After five months rearing, the mean weights of koi were 46.74±2.59, 40.44±2.98 and 37.27±3.01 in T-1, 2 and 3, respectively. The calculated production of native koi in T1 T2 and T3 were 1,916±314, 1,774.31 ±260 and 1,431 ±297 kg/ha, respectively which were significantly different (p<0.05) from each other.

Investigation on water quality in the Ashulia beel, Dhaka

The study was conducted to get an idea about the water quality of the Ashulia beel, and its temporal change over wet and dry seasons due to change of the physicochemical parameters. The water body has become a dumping ground of all kinds of solid, liquid and chemical wastes of bank side population and industries. Encroachment and illegal dredging has become a serious threat for the sound environment of the beel. The water parameters of pH 7.1-7.8 and alkalinity 30-63 mg/l in wet, and pH 7.1-8.4 and alkalinity 90-115 mg/l in dry season, respectively, which were within the standard range of DoE investigation. During wet season, EC 130-310 mg/l, TDS 80-132 mg/l, DO 1.1-2.1 mg/l and BOD -4.4-1.6 mg/l were measured. In dry season, EC 341-442 mg/l, TDS 207-276 mg/l, DO 0.5-2.0 mg/l and BOD 1.0-3.0 mg/l were measured. The comparative analysis showed that most of the water quality parameters of the Ashulia beel were suitable for aquatic organisms including fishes while the DO contents were much lower than the desirable level which may not be suitable for fishes.