FISHERY BULLETIN: VOL. 81, NO. 4 



in 1980 (Perlmutter et al. 1956). Longevity has 

 changed from 8 yr in 1929 and 6 yr in 1952 toll yrin 

 1980. Average weight per fish in recreational catches 

 has likewise increased from 480.8 g in 1960 to 

 1,510.5 gin 1974 (Wilk 1979). 



The trend toward increasing growth rate may be a 

 manifestation of increased growth following the 

 severe population decline of the 1960's. Botsford 

 (1981) demonstrated with several species that 

 individual growth rates will increase (compensatory 

 growth) following a severe decline in abundance, and 

 when the population is allowed to recover it will re- 

 spond by maintaining increased growth rates and 

 slightly lower biomass, but never regain the abun- 

 dance levels experienced previous to the decline. 



Present abundance of weakfish in the Middle Atlan- 

 tic Bight seems to be approaching levels comparable 

 to the predecline period of the 1950's (Murawski 

 1977 6 ; Wilk 1981), while growth rates have increased 

 over the same timespan (Table 5). These trends in 

 abundance, the severe decline followed by a 

 recovery, and changes in individual growth rates have 

 followed the predicted pattern of density-induced 

 growth compensation. Circumstantial evidence for 

 Delaware Bay density-dependent growth changes 

 has also been noted by Seagraves (1981). 



Length- frequency data of fisheries in the Delaware 

 Bay region suggest that current levels of exploitation 

 may lead to decline in weakfish abundance. Commer- 

 cial midwater trawl and recreational fisheries put 

 greatest emphasis on catching the largest, and conse- 

 quently the most fecund, fish during the spring fish- 

 ing season. In the fall, young- of- the- year weakfish are 

 recruited into the otter trawl fishery and constitute a 

 large percentage of the catch, as indicated by the 

 NMFS length- frequency data. These small fish have 

 no market value, so are discarded from the commer- 

 cial catches and likely suffer a high mortality. 

 Therefore, fishing results in a reduction of the pres- 

 ent and future spawning stock. It remains to be seen 

 whether this reduction in spawning stock will cause a 

 reduction of the weakfish population, reminiscent of 

 the 1950's and 1960's. 



ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 



The authors would like to thank Ken Able and J. 

 Richard Trout for their helpful guidance. Dan Dzen- 

 kowski and crew of the Dan Dee, Greenport, Long 

 Island, were more than generous in allowing us to 



''Murawski, S. A. 1977. A preliminary assessment of weakfish in 

 the Middle Atlantic Bight. NEFC Lab. Ref. 77-26, 13 p. Northeast 

 Fisheries Center Woods Hole Laboratory, National Marine 

 Fisheries Service, NOAA, Woods Hole, MA 02543. 



sample their catches, and Pat Heying of NMFS, Cape 

 May, N.J., graciously contributed invaluable catch 

 information. Personnel of NMFS, Woods Hole, 

 Mass., especially Ambrose Jearld, kindly provided 

 samples from the groundfish surveys, and typing was 

 patiently and expertly done by Hannah Goodale. We 

 would also like to thank Steven Turner, Chuck 

 Idleberger, and Susan Toogood for their assistance. 

 Funding for this project was provided by NMFS 

 (contract #NA-79-FAC-00041) and the New Jersey 

 Agricultural Experiment Station (NJAES publica- 

 tion #D-12409-12-83). 



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