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Effects of Age‐1 Striped Bass Predation on Juvenile Fish in Western Albemarle Sound

2008; Wiley; Volume: 137; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1577/t05-239.1

1548-8659

Jack E. Tuomikoski, Paul J. Rudershausen, Jeffrey A. Buckel, Joseph E. Hightower,

Marine animal studies overview

Abstract Historically, the fisheries for adult river herring (i.e., alewife Alosa pseudoharengus and blueback herring A. aestivalis ) and American shad A. sapidissima were economically important in Albemarle Sound, North Carolina. Stocks of these species are in decline, while stocks of striped bass Morone saxatilis have increased roughly 10‐fold in the Albemarle Sound‐Roanoke River since the early 1990s. The goal of this study was to quantify the predatory impact of age‐1 striped bass on age‐0 prey fishes by estimating striped bass consumption rates and comparing loss rates from predation with total prey loss rates using catch curves. Age‐1 striped bass and their potential prey were collected with beach and purse seines from western Albemarle Sound from spring to fall, 2002 and 2003. Commercially and ecologically important prey in one or both years included river herring, American shad, Atlantic menhaden Brevoortia tyrannus , and yellow perch Perca flavescens . Predation by age‐1 striped bass had a marked effect on juvenile American shad densities in 2002 but little effect in 2003. Conversely, predation by age‐1 striped bass explained none of the loss in juvenile yellow perch in 2002 but accounted for nearly all of the loss early in 2003. In most cases, predation by age‐1 striped bass did not greatly influence juvenile alewife numbers. Juvenile blueback herring were preyed on during late summer and fall, but the predatory impact could not be confirmed because of apparent downstream emigration into the study area. Thus, for some species, these predator‐prey linkages are important in determining year‐class strength and should be incorporated into multispecies population models.