Distribution and Abundance of Fishes and Invertebrates in Mid-Atlantic Estuaries 



Introduction 



Rationale 



This report presents information on the spatial and 

 temporaldistribution, and relative abundance of 61 fish 

 and invertebrate species in 22 estuaries along the U.S. 

 Atlantic coast from Virginia to Massachusetts. Its 

 purpose is to disseminate data developed in the Na- 

 tional Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's 

 (NOAA) Estuarine Living Marine Resources (ELMR) 

 program (inside front cover). The ELMR program is 

 conducted by the Biogeographic Characterization 

 Branch of the Strategic Environmental Assessments 

 (SEA) Division, in cooperation with regional research 

 institutions (Figure 1). The presence, distribution, and 

 relative abundance of each species and the time period 

 it utilizes each estuary are the primary data compiled. 

 The data and framework presented in this report are 

 illustrative of the nationwide ELMR program. 



The objective of the ELMR program is to develop a 

 consistent data base on the distribution, abundance, 

 and life history characteristics of important fishes and 

 invertebrates in the Nation's estuaries. The Nation- 

 wide data base is divided into five study regions (Figure 

 1 ). The data base contains the monthly relative abun- 

 dance of each species' life stage by estuary for three 

 salinity zones (seawater, mixing, and tidal fresh) iden- 

 tified in NOAA's National Estuarine Inventory (NEI) 

 Data Atlas-Volume I (NOAA 1985). The Nationwide 

 data base contains information for 135 fish and inver- 

 tebrate species found in 122 U.S. estuaries. 



Estuaries are among the most productive natural sys- 

 tems and are important nursery areas that provide 

 food, refuge from predation, and valuable habitat for 

 many species (Gunter 1967, Joseph 1973, Weinstein 

 1 979, Mann 1 982). Estuarine organisms that support 

 important commercial and recreational fisheries in- 

 clude molluscs, crustaceans, and fishes. In spite of the 

 well-documented importance of estuaries to fishes and 

 invertebrates, few consistent and comprehensive data 

 bases exist which allow examinations of the relation- 

 ships between estuarine species found in or among 

 groups of estuaries. Furthermore, much of the distribu- 

 tion and abundance information for estuarine-depen- 

 dent species (i.e., species that require estuaries during 

 their life cycle) is for offshore life stages and does not 

 adequately describe estuarine distributions (Darnell et 

 al. 1983, NOAA 1988). 



Only a few comprehensive sampling programs collect 

 fishes and invertebrates with identical methods across 

 groups of estuaries within a region. Therefore, most 

 existing estuarine fisheries data cannot be compared 

 among estuaries because of the variable sampling 

 strategies. In addition, existing research programs do 

 not focus on how groups of estuaries may be important 

 for regional fishery management, and few compile 

 information for species having little or no economic 

 value. 



Figure 1 . ELMR study regions and regional research institutions. 



NOAA NMFS 

 Hammond, OR 



West Coast 



32 estuaries, 

 47 species 



North Atlantic 



17 estuaries, 

 58 species 



j^ I Maine DMR, 

 • <-/- Boothbay Harbor, ME 

 O^UNH, Durham, NH 

 Mid-Atlantic 

 22 estuaries, 

 61 species 

 NOAA SEA Division, 

 Silver Spring, MD 



VIMS. Gloucester Point, VA 

 NOAA NMFS, Beaufort, NC 



Southeast 



20 estuaries, 

 40 species 



