Interdisciplinary Analysis of Yellowtail Flounder Stock Structure off New England

Abstract

An interdisciplinary study considering geographic patterns of abundance, geographic variation, and movement suggests that yellowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea, on the principal U.S. fishing grounds should be managed as three separate stocks despite apparent homogeneity of genetic variation. Divergent patterns of abundance and biomass over time suggest two harvest stocks of yellowtail flounder with a boundary on southwest Georges Bank. Geographic patterns of growth and maturity indicate two phenotypic stocks of yellowtail flounder, with a boundary on northern Georges Bank. Yellowtail flounder resources off the U.S. may be a single genetic stock, but significant variation in life history attributes and different patterns of abundance over time suggest that yellowtail flounder off the northeastern U.S. should be managed as three stocks: Cape Cod-Gulf of Maine, Georges Bank, and southern New England-Mid Atlantic.

Keywords:

• yellowtail flounder
• Limanda ferruginea
• stock identification

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

Much of this work was completed as partial fulfillment of my doctoral research at the University of Rhode Island. I thank my Graduate Committee members: Conrad Recksiek, Marta Gomez-Chiarri, and Jeremy Collie as well as my Dissertation Committee members, David Bengtson and Larry Buckley. Bill Overholtz, Steve Murawski, Fred Serchuk, John Boreman, and Mike Sissenwine supported my education with a National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Advanced Studies Program award. Alan Kuzirian and Hemant Chickarmane provided results from genetic analyses, funded by the NMFS Marine Fisheries Initiative program. Participants in the 36th Northeast Regional Stock Assessment Workshop reviewed much of this research and provided helpful comments, particularly Mark Terceiro, the Working Group chair. The ongoing tagging study was a collaboration among many scientists and fishermen, funded by NMFS Cooperative Research and the Northeast Consortium, coordinated with the help of Azure Westwood, Josh Moser, and Cathy Sumi. Heath Stone, Steve Murawski, Fred Serchuk, and an anonymous reviewer offered helpful comments on the manuscript.

Notes

¹Doggett, L.F., R.D. Lewis, and G.J. Ridgway. Distinguishing yellowtail flounder, Limanda ferruginea (Storer), stocks in ICNAF subareas 4X, 5Y, 5Z and 6 by polymorphisms of phosphohexose isomerase and L-alpha glycerophosphate dehydrogenase. Northeast Fisheries Science Center, W. Boothbay Harbor, Maine (1973).

²Lux, F.E. Yellowtail tagged south of Cape Ann. Bureau of Commercial Fisheries memorandum, Woods Hole, Massachusetts (1963).