328 
Yield-per-recruit analysis for black drum, 
Pogonias cromis, along the East Coast of 
the United States and management strategies 
for Chesapeake Bay 
Abstract— Black drum , Pogon ias crom is, 
along the U.S. East Coast is subject to 
commercial and recreational harvest. 
However, prior to this study no model- 
ing had been undertaken to examine 
the potential for overfishing in the 
Chesapeake Bay region. We present 
evidence from yield-per-recruit models 
that growth overfishing of black drum 
is unlikely under current fishing prac- 
tices in this region. Particular attention 
was given to fishing practices in the 
Chesapeake Bay region where old, large 
fish predominate in the commercial 
and recreational catches (mean age=26 
years; mean total length= 108.4 cm; 
mean weight 22.1 kg). Yield-per-recruit 
model results showed that growth over- 
fishing was unlikely in the Chesa- 
peake Bay region under all but the 
lowest estimates of natural mortality 
(M=0.02-0.04). Such extreme low values 
of M predict potential life spans of 200 
years and were dismissed as improb- 
able — the oldest age recorded for this 
species is 59 years. Additionally, bio- 
mass-per-recruit model results indi- 
cated a 42-59% decrease to current 
biomass from the unfished stock. The 
apparent age-specific migration of this 
stock argues for protection of young 
fish that have dominated the catch in 
Northeast Florida. Modeling indicated 
that growth overfishing could result 
from heavy fishing on these young 
ages and would all but eliminate this 
resource of the northern fishery. 
Manuscript accepted 3 November 2000. 
Fish. Bull. 99:328-337 (2001). 
Cynthia M. Jones 
Brian K. Wells 
Old Dominion University 
Department of Biological Sciences 
Norfolk, Virginia 23529-0456 
E-mail address (for C. M. Jones): qones@odu.edu 
Black drum ( Pogonias cromis', family 
Sciaenidae) range in U.S. waters pri- 
marily from Massachusetts to Florida 
along the East Coast and, in the Gulf of 
Mexico, from the west coast of Florida 
along the northern Gulf to Texas. They 
form at least three populations, at least 
two in the Gulf of Mexico (Gold et al., 
1995) and one along the U.S. East Coast 
(Gold and Richardson, 1998; Gold 1 ). 
This population structure is seen as 
“isolation by distance” (Gold and Rich- 
ardson, 1998). East Coast black drum 
undertake long-range migrations with 
a general pattern of movement to the 
north and inshore in spring, and south 
and offshore in the fall (Richards, 1973; 
Murphy and Taylor, 1989; Jones and 
Wells, 1998 (.These seasonal migrations 
are age-specific and influence exploi- 
tation patterns differently along the 
coast. Although the East Coast stock 
shows a maximum age of 59 years, 
which indicates low total annual mor- 
tality of 8-11% (Jones and Wells, 1998), 
a greater proportion of old fish are 
found north of Cape Hatteras, and the 
potential exists for different age-spe- 
cific mortalities along the range. Along 
the East Coast, fisheries for black drum 
predominantly target small, young fish 
in the south (Music and Pafford, 1984; 
Murphy and Muller 2 and Wenner 3 ) and 
large, old fish in the north (Jones and 
Wells, 1998). Although small fish are 
targeted in the south, large fish are 
present and are caught occasionally 
in the recreational fisheries there. In 
contrast, small fish are rarely present 
north of Cape Hatteras besides young 
of the year fish that leave the bays after 
their first summer. Hence, little fishing 
mortality occurs to young fish in the 
northern part of the range. 
Compared with other exploited sciae- 
nids, black drum do not support large 
recreational or commercial fisheries. 
Along the East Coast between 1979 
and 1994, commercial catches aver- 
aged only 99,510 kg yearly (218,923 
pounds I 2 ' 4 5 6 - 5 6 - 7 ’ 8 Virginia and Florida 
have the greatest average annual land- 
1 Gold, J. R. 1995. Personal commun. 
Center for Biosystematics and Biodiver- 
sity, Department of Wildlife and Fisheries 
Sciences, Texas A&M University, College 
Station, TX 77843. 
2 Murphy, M. D., and R. G. Muller. 1995. A 
stock assessment of black drum, Pogonias 
cromis, in Florida. Unpubl. manuscript, 
20 p. Department of Environmental Pro- 
tection, Florida Marine Research Institute, 
St. Petersburg, FL, 33701-5095. 
3 Wenner, C. 1995. Personal commun. 
South Carolina Department of Nat ural Re- 
sources, P.O. Box 12559, Charleston, SC 
29422. 
4 Virginia Marine Resources Commission. 
1993. Mimeo: Virginia black drum land- 
ings by gear type 1973-1993. Virginia 
Marine Resources Commission, 2600 Wash- 
ington Ave, Newport News, VA, 23607. 
5 North Carolina Division of Marine Fisher- 
ies. 1980-94. Mimeos: North Carolina 
landings reports ( 1979-1993). North Car- 
olina Division of Marine Fisheries, More- 
head City, NC, 28557-0769. 
6 Werner, C. 1996. Personal written com- 
mun. Preliminary South Carolina land- 
ings reported to the Fisheries Statistics 
Program 1979-1995. South Carolina De- 
partment of Natural Resources, P.O. Box 
12559, Fisheries Statistics Program, 
Charleston, SC, 29422-2559. 
7 Pafford, J. 1995. Fisheries Statistics Proj- 
ect: Georgia black drum landings 1972-94. 
Georgia Department of Natural Resouixes, 
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