Habitat Use, Site Fidelity, and Movement of Adult Striped Bass in a Southern New Jersey Estuary Based on Mobile Acoustic Telemetry

Abstract

To determine individual patterns of habitat use, site fidelity, and movement, adult striped bass Morone saxatilis (n = 81; mean fork length = 70.8 cm [range, 48.3-95.3 cm]) were implanted with individually coded acoustic transmitters and tracked with a mobile hydrophone from July 2003 through July 2005 in Mullica River-Great Bay estuary in southern New Jersey. Striped bass in this small coastal bay-estuarine system preferred deeper water near shorelines and were found at the same location 56.6% of the time. In fact, the persistence of individual home ranges at the scale of meters was observed within and among years. When fish were moving, their pattern was characterized by sporadic swimming followed by long periods of little movement. Seasonally, movement in the estuary was highest in April, followed by two secondary peaks in October and December. Daily movement was highest around sunset. Mobile telemetry demonstrated important dynamics in habitat use, site fidelity, and estuarine movements that were not detectable by a parallel study using a fixed array of omnidirectional hydrophones. In addition, the high degree of site fidelity across seasons and years implies that habitat management at the appropriate spatial scale can be an important component of fisheries management for this species.