Marancik et al.: Fish assemblages on the southeast United States continental shelf 



127 



these species range so widely (Sutter et al., 1991), only 

 very large MPAs would afford protection from fishing 

 (Parrish 1999, Beck and Odaya 2001). Unfortunately, 

 many species in the snapper-grouper complex, a more 

 sedentary group of species of particular importance in 

 the southeast United States, were not collected. Either 

 these taxa do not spawn on the continental shelf off the 

 coast of Georgia and their larvae are rarely transported 

 into the area, or snapper-grouper spawning on the con- 

 tinental shelf off the coast of Georgia is at a very low 

 level and larvae are quite rare. 



Another aspect of MPAs designed for fisheries man- 

 agement is production of individuals in the MPA and 

 their supply to surrounding areas; larval transport is 

 a major mechanism of supply. On the continental shelf 

 off the coast of Georgia, larval assemblages suggest 

 that the supply of larvae from the south (by the Gulf 

 Stream) and even between cross-shelf zones is limited. 

 Members of the outer-shelf assemblage rarely occurred 

 on the mid- and inner-shelf, and members of the inner- 

 shelf assemblage rarely occurred on the mid- and outer- 

 shelf. Thus, larvae spawned on the inner-shelf and to 

 a lesser degree on the mid-shelf likely remain on the 

 continental shelf off the coast of Georgia and appear to 

 be subject to local retention. MPAs in the region, there- 

 fore, could provide a local benefit by supplying recruits 

 to nonprotected areas on the continental shelf off the 

 coast of Georgia. 



Acknowledgments 



We would like to thank all who helped with sample 

 collections, sorting, and analyses: G. Bohne, R. Bohne, 

 C. Bonn, J. Burke, M. Burton, B. Degan, M. Duncan, 

 J. Govoni, M. Greene, E. Jugovich, S. Lem, J. Loefer, 

 R. Mays, R. McNatt, A. Powell, R. Rogers, S. Shoffler, 

 S. Varnam, H. Walsh, and T. Zimanski. We appreciate 

 the hard work and dedication of the officers and crew of 

 the NOAA Ship Ferrel, NOAA Ship Jane Yarn, NOAA 

 Ship Oregon II, and RV Cape Fear. Frank Hernandez 

 provided invaluable help with the CTD processing and 

 stratification calculations. We would also like to thank 

 J. Johnson, S. Norton, A. Powell, F. Hernandez, E. Wil- 

 liams, P. Marraro, W. Richards, and an anonymous 

 reviewer for their comments on previous drafts. Most of 

 all, we thank Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary 

 and the National Marine Sanctuary Office for funding 

 the project. 



Literature cited 



Atkinson, L. P., and D. W. Menzel. 



1995. Introduction: Oceanography of the southeast United 

 States continental shelf. In Oceanography of the south- 

 eastern U.S. continental shelf (L. P. Atkinson, D. W. 

 Menzel, and K. A. Bush, eds.), p 1-9. Am Geophysical 

 Union, Washington, D. C. 



Beck, M. W., and M. Odaya. 



2001. Ecoregional planning in marine environments: 

 identifying priority sites for conservation in the northern 

 Gulf of Mexico. Aquat. Conserv.: 11:235-242 

 Blanton, J. O., F. B. Schwing, A. H. Weber, L. J. Pietrafesa, and 

 D. W. Hayes. 



1985. Wind stress climatology in the south Atlantic 

 Bight. In Oceanography of the Southeastern U.S. con- 

 tinental shelf (L. P. Atkinson, D. W. Menzel, and K. A. 

 Bush, eds.). p. 10-22. American Geophysical Union, 

 Washington, D.C. 

 Boicourt, W. C, W. J. Wiseman Jr., A. Valle-Levinson, and 

 L. P. Atkinson. 



1998. Chapter 6. Continental shelf of the southeastern 

 United States and the Gulf of Mexico: in the shadow of 

 the western boundary current. In The sea, vol. 11 (A. 

 R. Robinson and K. H. Brink, eds.), p. 135-182. John 

 Wiley and Sons, Inc., New York, NY. 



Checkley. Jr.. D. M., P. B. Ortner, F. E. Werner, L. R. Settle, and 

 S. R. Gumming. 



1999. Spawning habitat of the Atlantic menhaden in On- 

 slow Bay, North Carolina. Fish. Oceanogr. 8:22-36. 



Churchill, J. H., E. R. Levine, D. N. Connors, and 

 P. C. Cornillon. 



1993. Mixing of shelf, slope and Gulf Stream water over 

 the continental slope of the Middle Atlantic Bight. Deep- 

 Sea Res. 40:1063-1085. 

 Clarke, K. R., and R. M. Warwick. 



2001. Change in marine communities: an approach to 

 statistical analysis and interpretation. PRIMER-E, 2 nd 

 ed., 144 p. Plymouth Marine Laboratory, Plymouth, 

 Cornwall, UK. 

 Collins, M. R., and B. W. Stender. 



1987. Larval king mackerel iScomberomorus cavalla), 

 Spanish mackerel (S. maculates), and bluefish (Poma- 

 tomus saltatrix) off the southeast coast of the United 

 States, 1973-1980. Bull. Mar. Sci. 41:822-834. 



1987. Larval striped mullet {Mugil eephalus) and white 

 mullet (Mugil curema) off the southeastern United 

 States. Bull. Mar. Sci. 45:580-589. 



Cowan, J. H., and R. F Shaw. 



1988. The distribution, abundance, and transport of larval 

 sciaenids collected during winter and early spring from 

 the continental shelf waters off west Louisiana. Fish. 

 Bull. 86:129-142. 



Cowen, R. K. , J. A. Hare, and M. P. Fahay. 



1993. Beyond hydrography: can physical processes explain 



larval fish assemblages within the Middle Atlantic 



Bight? Bull. Mar. Sci. 53:567-587. 

 Crowder, L. B., S. J. Lyman, W. F Figueira, and J. Priddy. 



2000. Source-sink population dynamics and the problem of 

 siting marine reserves. Bull. Mar. Sci. 66:799-820. 



Fahay, M. P. 



1975. An annotated list of larval and juvenile fishes 

 captured with surface-towed meter net in the South 

 Atlantic Bight during four RV Dolphin cruises between 

 May 1967 and February 1968. NOAA/NMFS Technical 

 Report SSRF 685, 39 p 



1983. Guide to the early stages of marine fishes occur- 

 ring in the western North Atlantic Ocean, Cape Hat- 

 teras to the southern Scotian Shelf. Northwest Atl. 

 Fish. Sci. 4:1-423. 

 Federal Register. 



2000. Presidential documents. Executive Order 13158 of 



