The observed abundance of juvenile winter flounder during the 4-wk period may not accurately reflect 

 their absolute abundance. Unlike adults, juveniles do not necessarily enter the river during the spawning 

 season and other factors may influence their movements. However, similar to adults, annual differences 

 in late winter-early spring water temperature did not seemingly correspond with abundance inside or 

 outside of the river. Additional data were examined to determine how accurate the juvenile CPUE was 

 as a predictor of year-class strength. Since many tows were made in the upper river after 1980, median 

 CPUE were calculated which included all tows in the river during the comparable 4-wk time period. These 

 data showed less difference in abundance between 1981-83 and 1984-86 than median CPUE for the lower 

 river channel stations 1 and 2 alone (Fig. 29). This indicated a greater use of the entire river in recent 



90 i 



80 



70- 



=5 60 



Ll. 



o 



y 50 



40- 



P: 301 



-z. 



< 



R 20 



10 



0-i 



76 77 78 79 80 81 82 83 84 85 86 



YEAR 



Figure 29. Comparison of median trawl CPUE of age 1 winter flounder at various stations in and outside of the 

 NiantJc River from 1976 through 1986. CPUE are consistent within station groupings but are not 

 equivalent (see Materials and Methods). 



101 



