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Understanding the long-term movement patterns of hatchery-reared white seabass

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Abstract

Recaptures of white seabass Atractoscion nobilis from a marine stock enhancement program were analyzed to understand long-term movement patterns within the Southern California Bight, USA. Between 1999 and 2020, white seabass at liberty for 1–20 years were recaptured as legal-sized (≥ 711 mm TL) adults recruited to California commercial and recreational fisheries. Movement metrics were quantified for 190 recaptures that had been released as juveniles (91–466 mm TL) from a large offshore island, Santa Catalina Island, or from coastal areas. Santa Catalina Island-released white seabass tended to be recaptured in the vicinity of the island up to 7 years post-release (minimum displacement distance = 18.0 ± 4.9 km (mean ± SE)). In contrast, white seabass released from coastal areas were at liberty for up to 20 years and moved significantly farther (145.0 ± 9.2 km and 82.9 ± 5.5 km for southern and northern coastal release areas, respectively), to areas of habitat continuous to (i.e., elsewhere along the coast) and disconnected from (i.e., islands and other offshore areas) the point of release. Minimum displacement distance distributions for 2-year time at liberty intervals (and fitted Weibull curves) further demonstrated the heterogeneous movement patterns associated with Santa Catalina Island and coastal release areas. White seabass released from coastal areas were predominantly recaptured in a west to north west direction from the point of release. Divergent movement metrics were not detected between male and female white seabass. This study provides much needed information on the long-term movement and dispersal of hatchery-reared white seabass, which will help guide stock enhancement management strategies of this highly mobile marine fish species.

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Acknowledgements

Thanks to the numerous HSWRI staff, San Diego State University staff and students, and volunteers who have assisted over the course of 30+ years with the white seabass release and recapture efforts described in this study. We would also like to acknowledge the cooperation of the southern California recreational and commercial fishing communities and California Department of Fish and Wildlife in facilitating the recovery of tagged white seabass. The constructive comments provided by anonymous reviewers greatly improved an earlier draft.

Funding

This work was supported by the Ocean Resources Enhancement and Hatchery Program.

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  1. Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute, 2595 Ingraham Street, San Diego, CA, 92109, USA

    Ruairi MacNamara, Michael Shane & Mark Drawbridge

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  1. Ruairi MacNamara
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  2. Michael Shane
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  3. Mark Drawbridge
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Correspondence to Ruairi MacNamara.

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The work described here has been approved by the Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee at Hubbs-SeaWorld Research Institute.

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MacNamara, R., Shane, M. & Drawbridge, M. Understanding the long-term movement patterns of hatchery-reared white seabass. Environ Biol Fish 105, 1797–1808 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-021-01183-8

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