Age and size composition of weakfish,Cynoscion regalis, from pound nets in Chesapeake Bay, Virginia 1954–1958

Abstract

Lengths of 14,508 weakfish from pound-net catches in Chesapeake Bay during the 1954–58 period showed little variation from year to year; modal lengths ranged from 220 to 235 mm. Spring catches included larger fish than were taken in summer and fall. Age composition, based on scale samples from 4,516 fish, changed little from year to year and was estimated as: 62 per cent, 1-year olds; 28 per cent, 2-year olds; 8 per cent, 3-year olds; and 1 per cent, 4-year olds. Two- and 3-year old fish dominated spring catches, 1-year old the summer and fall catches. Annual catch per net ranged from 50,000 to 70,000 pounds. In some months almost half of the catch was utilized as scrap. A single year class (1955) contributed about 200,000 fish per net. Before conclusions may be drawn concerning fishing mortality or the effect of the Virginia fishery on weakfish stocks further north, the complex migratory patterns of weakfish must be more clearly known.