croakers

The Atlantic croaker, sometimes known as hardhead, is one of the most popular saltwater fish caught in Virginia. These hard fighters are sometimes caught in great numbers by anglers fishing in the Chesapeake Bay and along the Virginia coast.

Croakers range from about 10 inches up to monster fish of several pounds. In most areas, keeper croakers fall in the 14-24 inch range. These fish are silvery in color with metallic flecking along their flanks. Croakers have a sharp spine on each gill plate. Their body shape is very similar to their larger cousin, the red drum or redfish.

Virginia fishing piers are famous for their croaker runs. Piers along the Chesapeake Bay and coastal beaches are especially productive. Along Virginia’s Atlantic Coast, the Virginia Beach and Sandbridge piers are good areas for catching croakers. In the Chesapeake Bay, there is the Sea Gull Pier, Lynnhaven Pier, and piers at Buckroe Beach, Kiptopeake, Morely’s Wharf, Saxis, and other locations.

Croaker are also caught in the major rivers, with the James River fishing pier being one of the popular spots.

In addition to fishing piers, several jetties and sea walls along inlets are known to be good spots to catch croaker. In Virginia Beach, Rudee Inlet and Lynnhaven Inlet are popular spots for catching croakers.

Croakers are also caught while surf fishing. In Virginia, beach access can be found at Sandbridge, Virginia Beach and Assateague Island.

In Virginia, a wide range of head boat operators, charter boat captains and fishing guides offer croaker fishing trips. Some of the best places to go croaker fishing in Virginia include Point Lookout, Reedville – Northern Neck, Hampton Roads, Onancock, Chincoteague, Wachapreague, Cape Charles and Kiptopeake.

For anglers that want a more individual experience, there are guided fly fishing trips in the shallows of the Chesapeake Bay. These areas of aquatic grasses and other structure offer some of the best croaker fishing in Virginia.

                          

Both proposed measures stem from the recommendations of the 2010 benchmark assessment, which indicates that Atlantic croaker is not experiencing overfishing. Based on the findings of the assessment, Atlantic croaker is now considered to be a single stock on the Atlantic coast.

The previous stock assessment, which formed the basis of Amendment 1, divided the stock into Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic regions due to difficulty assessing the resource as a single unit. The 2010 assessment used data from both regions to produce a single, coastwide assessment. Draft Addendum I proposes adopting the single stock unit to be consistent with the current science on Atlantic croaker.

Draft Addendum I also proposes modifying the biological reference points (BRPs) used to assess stock condition since the results of the 2010 assessment cannot be compared to the Amendment 1 BRPs, which are specific to the Mid-Atlantic region only. The proposed BRPs are very similar to those in Amendment 1. They use the same definitions for the targets and thresholds (e.g., fishing mortality rate threshold = FMSY), but they differ in that absolute estimates of spawning stock biomass (SSB) and fishing mortality (F) are not estimated.

Estimates are not given because of uncertainty in the assessment resulting from inadequate data on the magnitude of croaker discards in the South Atlantic shrimp trawl fishery. The determination of stock status is thus based on the ratios of F and SSB to their respective target and threshold. The proposed targets and thresholds are:

F target = 0.75*FMSY                        SSB target = SSBMSY
F threshold = FMSY                        SSB threshold = 0.70*SSBMSY

Under the proposal, if F/FMSY is greater than 1, then overfishing is occurring. If SSB/(0.70*SSBMSY) is less than 1, the stock is overfished. In other words, F must be lower than its threshold, and SSB must be higher than its threshold, or the stock will be considered to be experiencing overfishing or be in an overfished condition, respectively. The targets would still represent the levels that management measures are designed to achieve.

Fishermen and other interested groups are encouraged to provide input on the Draft Addendum through written comment. The Draft Addendum can be obtained via the Commission’s website at www.asmfc.org under Breaking News or by contacting the Commission at 703.842.0740.

Public comment will be accepted until 5:00 PM (EST) on January 31, 2011 and should be forwarded to Robert Beal, ISFMP Director, 1050 N. Highland Street, Suite 200A-N, Arlington, VA 22201-2196; 703.842.0741 (FAX) or at comments@asmfc.org (Subject line: Atlantic Croaker).

source: ASMFC press release

                          

The model is one of the first to directly link a specific fish stock with climate change. In a paper in the March 2010 issue of the journal Ecology Applications published online by the Ecological Society of America, NOAA researchers forecast the future of the Atlantic croaker fishery in the mid-Atlantic under various climate and fishing scenarios.

Atlantic croaker (Micropogonias undulatus) is a coastal marine fish inhabiting the east coast of the United States with an $8 million annual commercial fishery. Previous studies have shown a strong link between croaker abundance and winter temperatures.

“Some fish populations will increase and others decrease as a result of climate change,” said lead author Jon Hare of the

Northeast Fisheries Science Center (NEFSC) laboratory in Narragansett, R.I. “Our results demonstrate that climate effects on fisheries must be identified and understood, included in the scientific advice to managers, and factored into fishery management plans if sustainable exploitation is to be achieved.”

For various temperature and fish population scenarios over the next 90 years to 2100, the researchers forecast that at current levels of fishing, the spawning population of Atlantic croaker would increase between 60 and 100%, the center of the population would shift 50 to 100 kilometers (roughly 30 to 65 miles) northward, and the maximum sustainable yield would increase 30 to 100%.

With ocean temperatures expected to increase through the 21st century, the researchers developed the population model for Atlantic croaker based on the hypothesis that recruitment, or survival of juveniles to adulthood, is determined by winter water temperature. Atlantic croaker spawn in the coastal ocean and larvae enter estuaries in Delaware Bay, Chesapeake Bay, and Pamlico Sound 30 to 60 days after hatching. Juveniles spend their first winter in these estuarine nursery habitats.

Temperature during this winter period is very important to juvenile survival. Temperature forecasts were obtained from 14 General Circulation Models (GCMs) used by the Intergovermental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to simulate three carbon dioxide emission scenarios through 2100: atmospheric carbon dioxide fixed at 350 , 550 and 720 parts per million (ppm). By comparison, the atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide in February 2010 was 389.91ppm.

Hare and colleagues from NOAA’s Northeast and Southeast Fisheries Science Centers, in collaboration with climate modelers from NOAA’s Earth System Research Laboratory in Boulder, Colo., linked the Atlantic croaker population model with forecasts of minimum winter temperature from the 14 GCMs. These linked modeling efforts provided estimates of the abundance, distribution, and yield of the Atlantic croaker population under different climate change scenarios and different fishing rates.

With increasing minimum winter temperatures, the NOAA model predicted that Atlantic croaker abundance will increase. Higher temperatures result in higher recruitment, which leads to a larger spawning stock. At current levels of fishing mortality, all 14 GCM models and all climate scenarios predicted higher population abundances than observed since the early 1970’s, when estimates of spawning stock were first developed. Even at higher fishing mortality rates, the models and climate scenarios predicted higher populations than observed in the past.

“Although our model does not include all potential environmental complexities, the recruitment hypothesis on which it is based is supported by both laboratory and field work, and is consistent with current fishery population models,” Hare said.

“The modeling work represents one of the first attempts to link a group of general circulation models to fish population models. The outputs from 14 GCM models are all consistent, so we have confidence in our long-term forecasts.”

This approach could be used for other species where an environmental link to population dynamics is established.

“Most stock assessments that inform fishery management decisions do not include the effect of a changing environment because they are conducted annually or every few years and do not provide a long-term view,” said Hare. “Understanding and quantifying the effect of climate change on populations, in combination with the effect of exploitation, is a major challenge to rebuilding and maintaining sustainable fisheries in the coming decades.”

Another challenge is developing climate models that forecast on shorter timer scales than the current 50 to 100 years.

source: NOAA press release