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the eastern bay (C), the satellite embayments (D), the 
lower bay (E), and the principal rivers (F). Each zone was 
stratified further by a 1-square-nautical-mile grid system. 
Sampling at fixed stations occurred monthly, but stratified 
random sampling was conducted principally in spring and 
autumn when many species recruit to Florida estuaries. 
Sampling gear included seines, trawls, block nets, and 
gill nets (Table 1). A 21.3-m center-bag seine was deployed 
in one of three different ways: 1) it was hauled along the 
shoreline across an area of about 340 m 2 (“beach sets”); 2) it 
was deployed from a boat in a semicircular pattern in river 
zones and the mean area swept was 70 m 2 (“boat sets”); 3) 
or it was set away from the shoreline and hauled into the 
current across an area of about 140 m 2 (“offshore sets”). A 
much larger seine (183-m) was also deployed from a boat 
in a semicircular pattern. A 61-m block net was set against 
seawalls or mangroves of inundated shorelines at high tide, 
and fish were collected at the ensuing low tide. Otter trawls 
were towed for 10 min in bay zones (zones A-E) and for 
5 min in river zones (zone F) at an approximate speed of 
0.6 m/s. A 184-m gill net with four 46-m panels (75-, 100-, 
125-, and 150-mm mesh) and a similar 198-m gill net that 
included a 15-m section of 50-mm mesh were used. These 
gill nets were set perpendicular to shore, four nets at a time, 
so that two nets with the larger mesh were oriented inshore 
and two nets were oriented in the opposite direction. 
Little Manatee River— Tampa Bay In addition to sampling 
the Little Manatee River as part of the bay-wide survey, 
FMRI staff completed an independent survey of this river 
