592 



Fishery Bulletin 92(3), 1994 



and New Jersey (Able et al., 1990); however, the stud- 

 ies in Virginia reporting the capture of age-0 sum- 

 mer flounder were not directed specifically at this 

 species (Richards and Castagna, 1970; Orth and 

 Heck, 1980; Weinstein and Brooks, 1983). Thus the 

 third objective of this study was to assess the region's 

 importance as a nursery area. 



Methods 



Sampling sites were located on the seaside (eastern 

 border) and bayside (western border) of Virginia's 

 Eastern Shore and on the western shore of Chesa- 

 peake Bay (Fig. 1 ) because the Chesapeake Bay and 

 Eastern Shore were hypothesized to be prime nurs- 



76°00' 



G. Guinea Marshes O. Occohannock Creek 



T. Tue Marshes s. Sand Shoal Channel 



W Wachapreague Channel 



1 Supplemental stations sampled April -August 1986, 

 July 1987 and June 1988 



Figure 1 



Locations of sampling sites for Paralichthys dentatus 

 on Virginia's Eastern Shore and in Chesapeake Bay 

 and its tributaries. Letters indicate sites with regu- 

 lar, fixed station sampling; shading indicates areas 

 in which rivers, (reeks, and nearshore locations were 

 sampled during 1986 preliminary investigations and 

 supplemental investigations in July 1987 and June 

 1988. 



ery grounds (Poole, 1966). The eastern border of the 

 Eastern Shore peninsula is an extensive system of 

 barrier islands enclosing salt marshes and shallow 

 bays that are 1-2 m deep at mean high water (MHW). 

 The bays and salt marshes are transected by main 

 channels that are 3-20 m deep at MHW. On the west- 

 ern border of the peninsula, there are shallow creeks, 

 1-6 m deep at MHW, which extend into upland ar- 

 eas. Fringing and pocket marshes, much less exten- 

 sive than the seaside salt marshes, occur along creek 

 margins. Seagrass beds are present at the mouth of 

 most creeks. The mouth of the York River (Fig. 1 ) is 

 3.7 km wide; it has extensive shoal areas along its 

 margins and a main channel 18 m deep. Salt marshes, 

 with channels 1-3 m deep, and seagrass beds are 

 present in the shoal areas. 



Between 1986 and 1989, three different types of 

 4.9-m semi-balloon otter trawls with 19.1-mm bar 

 mesh in the wings and upper body were used to 

 sample areas 1-11 m in depth. Only bar mesh sizes 

 are noted in this paper. The first unlined trawl, used 

 in 1986 and July 1987, had 6.4-mm mesh in the lower 

 body and codend. We added a 3.2-mm mesh liner to 

 the codend in September to capture the newly settled 

 juveniles. Because ctenophores and jellyfish could 

 clog the mesh, mesh sizes of the unlined trawl were 

 increased to 19.1 mm in the lower body and to 15.9 

 mm in the codend in August 1987. To compare the 

 sampling efficiency of the lined and unlined trawls, 

 both trawls were towed at each station from Sep- 

 tember 1987 onward. All trawls were fished with a 

 4.8-mm link tickler chain to increase catches of flat- 

 fish (see Creutzberg et al., 1987). 



Two 6.1-mm seines were used to sample shallow 

 (<1 ml habitats. A beach seine (6.4-mm mesh) was 

 used in April and May 1986 and a bag seine (3.2-mm 

 mesh) was used from November 1986 until Decem- 

 ber 1988. A 3.2-mm link chain was attached to the 

 leadline of both seines to increase catches of flatfish. 



Trawling and seining were conducted from April 

 1986 to August 1989 during daylight hours (Norcross 

 and Hata, 1990). While designing the study from 

 April to August 1986, sampling was conducted at 

 least once in most navigable waters of the Eastern 

 Shore and at the mouth of the York River (Fig. 1). 

 Over the next two years, September 1986-Septem- 

 ber 1988, samples were collected at fixed stations at 

 five sites (Fig. 1): Wachapreague and Sand Shoal 

 Channels, Occohannock Creek, and Guinea and Tue 

 Marshes (also see Wyanski, 1990). At each site, deep 

 (5-11 m) water stations were located in the middle 

 of channels, whereas shallow (<5 m) water stations 

 were situated along channel margins. All stations 

 had sand or fine-grained substrates. Samples were 

 collected semi-monthly from September 1986 through 



