There are no population estimates available at this time. 



Bottom Trawl Survey Results 



The cumulative spring and autumn distributions over the time series are 

 shown in Figures 13.1 and 13.2. The plots clearly show the coastal dependence 

 and the seasonal appearance (autumn) and virtual disappearance (spring) of 

 Atlantic croaker from the Mid-Atlantic. The catch during spring surveys north 

 of 40° latitude (Figure 13.1) is a confirmed, but most unusual, catch. In the 

 autumn (Figure 13.2), the fish moved out of the estuaries and south along the 

 coast. 



Graphs of mean weight and number per tow (Figures 13.3-13.6) did not show 

 any consistent trends. 



Length frequencies for croaker, arranged by season, are shown in Figures 

 13. 7-13. lb. Spring catches consisted of overwintering juvenile fish in strata 

 set 2 (Figure 13.7), or large and older fish (two-three years old) in the 

 southernmost inshore and offshore strata sets (Figures 13.3-13.10). Autumn 

 catches show more young fish caught in northern portions of the range (Figures 

 13.11 and 13.12), with the largest croakers caught offshore and to the south 

 (Figure 13.14). There are no plots for spring strata set 1 and spring strata 

 set 5 and autumn strata set 4 because no fish were caught in these areas. 



Figures 13.16 and 13.17 show the percentage occurrence, by stratum, of 

 young-of-the-year (YOY). The cutoff size was 4 cm for both spring and autumn 

 series. YOY were found in the coastal waters south of Delaware Bay in the 

 spring but they were too small to be susceptible to the trawls utilized during 

 NMFS surveys until autumn. 



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