were used to forecast log-trans formed catches for October 1982 through 

 September 1983. Coinp.ir i sons were then ni.ide between the predicted and 

 the actual catches made durinj; the past year. 



RESULTS AND DISCUSSION 



Adult population studies 

 Abundance 



The 1983 population abundance survey took place during a 7-week 

 period; 5,196 adults larger than 20 cm were marked and 363 of these were 

 subsequently recaptured (Table 2). The number marked in 1983 was about 



Table 2. Yearly mark and recapture data for Nlantlc River winter flounder 

 from 1976 throuRh 1983. 



one-half that of 1981 and 1982 because the minimum size for marking was 

 raised from 15 to 20 cm. This change was made to focus effort on the 

 adult spawning population and eliminate labor involving smaller winter 

 flounder. Unlike earlier years, the survey in 1983 did not extend 

 beyond the spawning period, but the percentages of fish recaptured (7%) 

 and of the estimated population sampled (12%) were similar to previous 

 years (6-13%; 11-23%). Except for the third week of March, the number 

 marked was very consistent from week to week (Table 3); this was 

 probably because of the more uniform temporal and spatial sampling 

 effort made during 1983. These data were used with the Jolly mark and 

 recapture model to produce an estimate of 41,980 ± 15,564 winter 

 flounder larger than 20 cm in the Niantic River (Table 4). 



14 



