412 
Fishery Bulletin 107(4) 
Age 1 
Age 2 
Age 3 
Age 4+ 
Figure 3 
Rose diagrams showing the direction and distances moved for conventionally 
tagged red drum ( Sciaenops ocellatus) in the coastal and estuarine waters of 
North Carolina, 1983-2007. Age classes are shown in columns and region of 
tagging in rows. The four regions are the following: eastern Pamlico Sound 
(EPS), western Pamlico Sound (WPS), Neuse and Pamlico rivers (NPR), 
and southern North Carolina (SNC). Northward movements are straight up, 
southward movements are straight down, and outer circle is scaled to 300 
km. Sample size is provided on each diagram. 
2007. Most (77%) ultimately emigrated from the system, 
but some were harvested by fishermen (15%) and others 
remained alive at the end of the study (7%). One fish (1%) 
died from the surgical tagging procedure. 
Emigration rates from Hancock Creek were bimodal 
and seasonal (x 2 =41.6; PcO.OOl; Fig. 6A), with most 
fish emigrating in spring (April-June) or fall months 
(September-November). No fish emigrated during win- 
ter (December-February). Movement rates of tagged 
red drum within Hancock Creek (i.e., excluding move- 
ments of emigrating fish) were also seasonal (ANOVA: 
P=0.01); highest movements occurred in May and low- 
est in January and February. Lastly, directionality 
of movements in Hancock Creek was dependent upon 
month of relocation (RxC test of independence: x 2 =53.4, 
PcO.OOl), but no obvious seasonal trend was observed 
(Fig. 6B). 
Upstream and downstream movements of transmitter- 
tagged red drum were also significantly correlated with 
fluctuations in salinity (Fig. 7). The proportion of red 
drum moving upstream was correlated with a positive 
monthly change in salinity (r= 0.57; P=9.19; P=0.007; 
Fig. 7A), and, similarly, downstream movements were 
correlated with a negative monthly change in salinity 
(r=-0.68; F=16.28; PcO.OOl; Fig. 7B). Changes in salin- 
ity did not influence emigration rate, however (r=-0.20; 
F=0.19; P=0.67; Fig. 70. 
Discussion 
Our analyses on the movement patterns of red drum are 
innovative and of broad interest for two reasons. First, 
we provided a thorough treatment of the multiscale 
movement patterns of subadult and adult red drum 
by using multiple techniques and sources of data over 
many years, resulting in a comprehensive examination 
of movement of an estuarine fish species. Second, we 
