A Pilot Trap Survey of Artificial Reefs in New Jersey for Monitoring of Black Sea Bass, Tautog, and Lobster
Date
2021
Date Removed
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Trenton, N.J. : New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection
Abstract
Three of the most important target species of commercial and recreational fisheries in New Jersey are structure-associated species that may not be sampled effectively by existing
scientific trawl surveys. Black sea bass (Centropristis striata) are commonly targeted by commercial and recreational fisheries along the U.S. Atlantic coast. In 2015, black sea bass were
the second most commonly caught target species by recreational anglers both along the entire
Atlantic coast (13 million fish: NMFS, 2016) and in New Jersey (2.4 million fish: NMFS, 2017).
Similarly, Tautog (Tautoga onitis) are also one of the most important target species of marine
recreational fisheries in New Jersey (i.e., #5 by numbers: NMFS, 2017). American lobster (Homerus americanus) support a valuable commercial fishery in New Jersey, with the dockside value ranging from $2.2-$4 million in recent years (NMFS, 2017). While all three of these
species are captured in trawl surveys, they are believed to primarily inhabit rocky reefs and wrecks, which are generally avoided by vessels fishing with bottom trawls. As a result, the reliability of scientific bottom trawl surveys for providing an index of relative abundance for these species is uncertain.
Description
Keywords
New Jersey, Black sea bass - New Jersey, Tautog - New Jersey, American lobster - New Jersey, Artificial reefs