204 



Fishery Bulletin 101(2) 



All YOY fish caught after tagging began 

 were checked for tags with the hand-held 

 "wand" detector during all sampling 

 events. Recaptured fish were measured to 

 the nearest mm FL and then preserved in 

 95'^f ETOH in the field. Tags were dissect- 

 ed out of each recaptured fish in the labo- 

 ratory and read with a dissecting scope 

 to identify each individual. The growth 

 of each recapture was then calculated by 

 dividing the difference in length at recap- 

 ture and at tagging by the number of days 

 between tagging and recapture. 



Food habits 



Young-of-year bluefish collected by seine 

 in 1998 from northern (;!=581 stomachs 

 with prey) and southern (n=667) New 

 Jersey ocean beaches and from the 

 Great Bay-Little Egg Harbor estuaries 

 (n=72) were analyzed for food habits. 

 Emphasis was placed on food habits on 

 ocean beaches because little is known 

 about this aspect of their life history. 

 Samples were immediately preserved 

 in 10% formalin and, in the laboratory, 

 were measured and divided into 10-mm 

 FL size classes, and the analysis was 

 performed on up to 12 individuals in 

 each size class from 30-39 mm FL to 

 >150 mm FL. The gastro-intestinal tract 

 was dissected from each fish and all con- 

 tents removed from the esophagus to the 

 pylorus. Prey items were identified to the 

 lowest possible taxon and their relative 

 contribution based on percent frequency 

 of occurrence. 



Results 



50- 

 40- 

 30- 

 20- 

 10- 



1995 

 n = 810 



^ 1^^ 



40- 

 30- 

 20 

 10 



Jun 14-18 



1996 

 n = 532 



Aug 23-27 



Oct 19-25 



Total 



t^ i^ 



300-1 



LU 200- 



100 



Jun 16-20 



1997 

 n = 3815 



Aug 12-17 



Oct 21-16 



Total 



M^ 



300 

 200- 

 100- 

 



Jul 19-25 



1998 

 n = 2124 



Sep 9-15 



Oct 13-18 



Total 



i 



Jun 20-24 Aug 17-21 Oct 30-Nov 4 



Total 



5-10 m 



□ l1-20m 



□ 21-30 m 



Figure 2 



Abundance (CPUE) by depth of young-of-year bluefish on the inner continental 

 shelf off New Jersey during 1995-98. None were collected during other periods 

 of the year Note differences in y-a.xes. See Figure 1 for sampling strata. 



Seasonal occurrence and abundance 



Young-of-year bluefish were consistently collected in the 

 ocean during summer and early fall from inner continental 

 shelf waters to beaches along the New Jersey coast. On 

 the inner shelf, in depths between 5 and 27 m, YOY were 

 collected from June through October; greatest abundance 

 occurred in August, September, and October during 1995- 

 98 (Fig. 2). Abundance varied between years and average 

 CPUE was an order of magnitude lower in 1995-96 than 

 in 1997 and 1998. During the periods of peak abundance, 

 catches averaged greater than 100-200 individual.s/tow. 

 The seasonal pattern of abundance varied between 

 years and the peaks occurred in October in 1995 and in 

 August-September in 1996-98. In every year the greatest 

 abundance typically occurred in the shallowest nearshore 

 stations (5-10 m), and the lowest value were at the deepest 

 stations (21-27 m). 



The YOY were consistently present on ocean beaches in 

 northern New Jersey during the summer and fall sampling 

 period in 1995-98 ( Fig. 3 ). Interestingly, the pattern of annual 

 abundance was consistent with the otter trawl sampling, i.e. 

 peak CPUE was lower in 1995-96 and an order of magnitude 

 higher in 1997-98. Seasonal abundance on these beaches 

 varied between these high and low abundance periods and 

 peaks in from late July through early August in 1995-96 

 and in late August-September in 1997-98. In all four years 

 abundance was very low by mid-October On smaller spatial 

 scales on ocean beaches the pattern of occurrence was quite 

 variable, regardless of year (Fig. 4); thus there were no sam- 

 pling locations where catches were consistently high and 

 instead peaks in abundance continually shifted. 



The seasonal i)attern of abundance on ocean beaches in 

 southern New Jersey in 1998 differed from those elsewhere 



