650 



Fishery Bulletin 93(4), 1995 



1000 



n=854 

 r 2 =0.98 



c 

 S 



S 



o 



500 



 cf Chesapeake Bay, 1989-93 

 ±9 Chesapeake Bay, 1989-93 

 09 Delaware Bay. 1985/1986 

 °cf Delaware Bay, 1992/1993 

 a9 Delaware Bay. 1992/1993 



2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 



Age (years) 

 Figure 7 



Observed lengths at age and fitted von Bertalanffy regres- 

 sion line for Chesapeake Bay weakfish, Cynoscion regalis, 

 in April and May and for three fish from Delaware Bay. 

 Weakfish in the asymptotic size range collected in Dela- 

 ware Bay are included as reference points but were not 

 used in calculations. 



fish reported in Virginia dropped sharply in 1981 and 

 has remained low. Only 12 fish >5.45 kg (792 mm 

 TL) were reported in 1989 and 1990, no fish in 1991, 

 and 3 fish >5.0 kg (771 mm TL) in 1992. During 1990- 

 92, maximum size in Virginia was below 6 kg (817 

 mm TL) for the first time since 1972. Delaware Bay 

 reported large numbers offish >4.6 kg (751 mm TL) 

 until 1989. However, the number offish >5.0 kg (771 

 mm TL) decreased from 981 in 1989 to 11 in 1990. 

 Only 18 fish have been reported since 1990. In 1991, 



7000 -i 



3500 - 



E 

 o 



450 

 Total length (mm) 



900 



Figure 8 



Somatic weight-length relationship of weakfish, Cynoscion 

 regalis, in the Chesapeake Bay region, 1989-93. 



10-1 



0) 



5 



A 11 -year-old 



A 10-year-old 



 Delaware Bay 

 o Chesapeake Bay 



1965 



1 ' I ' i i 

 1975 



Year 



1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 



1985 1995 



Figure 9 



Maximum total weights of weakfish, Cynoscion regalis, 

 reported in the Delaware Sport Fishing Tournament and 

 the Virginia Saltwater Fishing Tournament, 1958-1992. 

 The oldest and two heaviest fish from the present study 

 are included as reference points. 



maximum size of Delaware Bay fish dropped below 

 7.5 kg (878 mm TL) for the first time since 1981, and 

 remained low in 1992. 



Discussion 



Size and age composition 



Most weakfish in Chesapeake Bay in 1989-93 were 

 200-600 mm TL and ages 1-4, but fish as old as age 



