Search

Florida promotes itself as the fishing capital of the world, and fishing is one of the state's most popular recreational activities. As the state faces increasing anthropogenic and natural environmental stressors, effective resource management is of paramount importance in sustaining healthy fisheries. The Fisheries Independent Monitoring (FIM) program of the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission's Fish and Wildlife Research Institute regularly monitors relative abundance of various size and age classes of multiple sport fish species (e.g., Centropomus undecimalis common snook, Sciaenops ocellatus red drum, Cynoscion nebulosus spotted seatrout) to provide timely data to fisheries managers. The FIM program samples seven major Florida estuaries, including four that the National Estuary Program has designated as estuaries of national significance (Tampa Bay, Sarasota Bay, Coastal and Heartland, and Indian River Lagoon). Although the FIM program sampling design is consistent and results are comparable among estuaries, the environmental perturbations, available habitats, habitat use by resource species, and recruitment dynamics vary, which can result in different abundance trends among estuaries. The goal of this study was to assess the role of early life stages as refuges for adult populations for two inshore sport fish species and examine their potential in forecasting relative abundance of fishery stocks. We present long-term abundance trends and assess lagged regressions among size or age classes to reveal the importance of size class refuges and identify preferred habitats that are estuary- and age class-specific, providing tools for better managing fishery stocks and habitats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]