538 



Fishery Bulletin 102(3) 



estuarine portion of the study area. Sheepshead and 

 common snook were recaptured primarily to the south 

 at inlets or in the adjacent Atlantic coastal waters out- 

 side the lagoon. 



The remaining 75% (« = 301) of the total recaptured 

 fish were from fish originally tagged outside the NTZ 

 (Table 1). The majority of these (/!=285) were also re- 

 covered in outlying waters, including 16 red drum and 

 1 sheepshead that were subsequently recaptured on 

 multiple occasions. Sixteen fish were recaptured after 

 they had immigrated into the reserve. These recaptured 

 fish were from three sciaenid species: predominantly 

 black drum in = 9, mean TL = 907 mm, SD = 66 mm) and 

 red drum ln = 6, mean TL = 656 mm, SD = 170 mm), but 

 also one spotted seatrout (TL=420 mmMFig. 2B). The 

 longest migration distances into the NTZ were up to 75 

 km for red drum and spotted seatrout tagged in south- 

 ern Mosquito Lagoon and the northern Indian River 

 basins. All black drum that immigrated into the NTZ 

 were tagged in the adjacent Banana River basin. 



A relatively large number of red drum, common snook, 

 and sheepshead that were tagged inside the NTZ or in 

 the outlying waters were recaptured in close proximity 

 (0 to 2.75 km distance) to inlet habitats. Recaptured 

 red drum from inlet habitats (n = 45, mean TL=647 mm, 

 SD = 135 mm) peaked during September through No- 

 vember. Recaptured common snook from inlet habitats 

 (n=13, mean TL = 598 mm, SD = 111 mm) were distrib- 

 uted throughout much of the year but peaked in late 

 fall. Few common snook were recaptured from inlet 

 spawning habitats during the peak summer spawning 

 months (June-August) when their fishery was closed. 

 Recaptured sheepshead from inlet habitats («=8, mean 

 TL = 373 mm, SD = 53 mm) were concentrated in the 

 winter and early spring. 



Estimated migration rates were calculated by using 

 only those fish that were tagged and recovered from 

 FMRI sampling in the NTZ and the immediately ad- 

 jacent upper Banana River (BR). The number of fish 

 tagged in the NTZ (n=1654) was approximately 1.7 

 times the number tagged in the BR (/(=965) (Table 3); 



however, the overall recapture rates of fish that were 

 originally tagged in each of these two areas were equal 

 (2.4%). Black drum and red drum made up the majority 

 of tagged and recaptured fish in both areas and were 

 the only species recaptured that had migrated both into 

 and away from the NTZ in this comparison. For total 

 sportfish (all species pooled), there was a significant 

 relationship between the tagging location and the direc- 

 tion offish movements (f h 005 =13.8, P=0.0002). A total 

 of 40 fish originating from the NTZ were recaptured, 

 but that number included only 2 fish (one red drum 

 and one black drum) that emigrated to the BR (5% 

 overall migration rate). In contrast, 23 fish originat- 

 ing in the BR were recaptured overall, including 12 

 that immigrated into the NTZ (52% overall migration 

 rate). Species-specific migration rates were highest for 

 black drum, and relative immigration rates (90%) were 

 higher than emigration rates (25"7<). For this species, 

 the frequency of immigration and emigration were sta- 

 tistically independent of tagging location (x Z i 005 =0.01. 

 P=0.9039), which is probably due to the low number of 

 recaptures offish tagged inside the NTZ (Table 3). For 

 red drum, relative immigration rates (27%) were also 

 higher than emigration rates (3%), but in this case, 

 there was a significant relationship between fish move- 

 ments and tagging location (^ ,, (ia =20.58, P<0.0001). 

 Common snook, spotted seatrout. and sheepshead were 

 also recaptured by FMRI scientists in these compari- 

 sons, but none of these recaptured fish represented 

 evidence of migrations across the NTZ boundary from 

 their original tagging location. 



Discussion 



This study demonstrated both the emigration and immi- 

 gration of sportfish species across the boundaries of an 

 estuarine no-take zone (NTZ). Legal-size large juveniles 

 and adults of six of the recreationally valuable species 

 tagged within NTZ boundaries — red drum, black drum, 

 common snook, sheepshead, bull shark, and crevalle 



