The Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery of the Middle Atlantic Bight and Southern New England Waters

Abstract

Summer flounder, Paralichthys dentatus, scup, Stenotomus chrysops, and black sea bass, Centropristis striata, cooccur within the Middle Atlantic Bight and off southern New England and are important components of commercial and recreational fisheries. The commercial otter trawl fishery for these species is primarily a winter fishery, whereas the recreational fishery takes place between late spring and autumn. The otter trawl fishery generally targets summer flounder, and less frequently scup, while black sea bass occurs as bycatch. Trips in which all three species were present yielded highest aggregate landings per unit of effort (LPUE) levels and occurred more often than trips landing only one or two species. More than 50% of the trips in the trawl fishery landed at least two of the three species. In contrast, greater than 75% of the recreational landings of each species occurred as a result of trips landing only one species. Differences in the fisheries resulted from the interactions of seasonal changes in species distributions and gear selectivity. (PDF file contains 18 pages.)