224 
Fishery Bulletin 112(2-3) 
Materials and methods 
Study area 
Albemarle Sound is an extensive estuarine habitat 
in northeastern North Carolina, measuring 88.5 km 
long east to west and 4.8-22.5 km wide north to south 
(Street et al. 4 ; Fig. 2). Known spawning populations of 
Hickory Shad are located in 3 of the 15 tributaries — 
the Roanoke, Cashie, and Chowan Rivers — all of which 
are situated at the extreme western end of Albemarle 
Sound. The estuary is relatively shallow, with depths 
ranging from 5.5 to 7.6 m, and is bordered by cypress 
swamps and small sand beaches. The sound is essen- 
tially freshwater through its western and central por- 
tions and brackish in the eastern part. Access to the 
Atlantic Ocean is at Oregon Inlet between Bodie and 
Hatteras islands, which are parts of the Outer Banks 
barrier island system. The Roanoke River is the largest 
tributary to Albemarle Sound in terms of freshwater 
input. Only the last 220.5 km of the river are accessi- 
ble to anadromous fishes; upriver portions are blocked 
by a series of impoundments ending with the Roanoke 
Rapids Reservoir upstream from Weldon (Rulifson and 
Manooch, 1991). The coastal plain portion of the wa- 
tershed downstream of the last dam has an extensive 
floodplain that consists of hardwood forest, backwater 
swamps, oxbow lakes, and small creeks (Zincone and 
Rulifson, 1991), which are connected to the river by 
natural and anthropogenic openings in the natural 
river levee (Walsh et al., 2005). 
Field collection 
Adult Hickory Shad were collected during 2 indepen- 
dent gillnet surveys and the Roanoke River recreation- 
al fishery. Albemarle Sound and its tributaries were 
sampled in the NCDMF Independent Gill Net Survey 
of Albemarle Sound Striped Bass from 19 February to 
1 May 1996. Anchored, experimental gill nets in both 
floating and sinking configurations were 36.6 m long 
and constructed of monofilament with stretched mesh 
sizes ranging from 64 to 178 mm in 13-mm increments; 
additional nets of 203-mm and 254-mm stretched mesh 
were also used (Dilday and Winslow 14 ). The lower Roa- 
noke River at the Roanoke River National Wildlife Ref- 
uge (RRNWR; Fig. 2) was sampled during an indepen- 
dent gillnet survey conducted by personnel from the 
National Marine Fisheries Service and RRNWR from 
30 March to 17 April 1996. The single-mesh gill nets 
ranged from 3.6 m long and 1.5 m deep to 12.2 m long 
and 2.3 m deep; stretched mesh sizes ranged from 63 
mm to 76 mm (Settle et al., 1996). During the spawn- 
ing run, fish from the sport fishery at Weldon were 
14 Dilday, J. L., and S. E. Winslow. 2000. North Carolina 
striped bass monitoring. Annual report, Grant F-56, seg- 
ment 7, 43 p. [Available from Division of Marine Fisheries, 
North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Re- 
sources, 3441 Arendell St., Morehead City, NC 28557.] 
obtained at access points (primarily boat ramps) and 
examined fresh; fish from the gillnet surveys were fro- 
zen and transported to the laboratory for examination. 
Each fish was measured for both FL and total length 
(TL) in millimeters and weighed to the nearest gram. 
Gonads were removed from the fresh fish and weighed 
to the nearest gram, and ovaries were preserved in 
10% cold buffered formalin for later examination. Chi- 
square tests were used to determine significant differ- 
ences in adult sex compositions between the 3 collec- 
tion sites, and regression analyses were used to estab- 
lish length-weight relationships. 
Age analysis 
Both scales and sagittal otoliths were used for aging 
adult Hickory Shad. From the left side above the lat- 
eral line and below the dorsal fin, 10-20 scales were 
removed. Scales were soaked in soapy water to remove 
dirt, mucus, and residual pigment and then dried. For 
examination under a microfiche reader equipped with 
a 24x lens, scales were mounted between 2 glass slides. 
Whole otoliths were removed, then aged by placing 
each in a watch glass containing distilled water and 
viewed under a dissecting microscope at 30x magnifi- 
cation. Otoliths were not sectioned for aging because 
their thin nature allowed their rings to be visible on 
their external portions. 
Both scales and otoliths were aged by 3 independent 
readers; each determination was considered successful 
when either the scale or otolith ages of at least 2 read- 
ers agreed. For scale aging, the traditional techniques 
and criteria of Gating (1953), Judy (1961), Street and 
Adams 15 , and Pate (1972) were used. Otolith aging 
techniques used criteria by Kornegay (1977) and Libby 
(1985). Results for fish aged with both scales and oto- 
liths were used to determine agreement between the 2 
aging methods. 
Otoliths were used to back calculate growth because 
erosion of scale margins during the spawning migra- 
tion precludes the necessary relationship between fish 
length and scale radius (DeVries and Frie, 1996). To 
determine the relationship of otolith radius to FL, we 
used 75 fish, of which all fish <250 mm FL and nearly 
all fish >350 mm FL; 8 of those larger fish had otoliths 
that were unreadable. The 2 dominant length classes 
(250-299 and 300-349 mm FL) were subsampled to 
minimize bias associated with the effect that dominant 
size classes can have on linear regression calculations. 
Otolith images were measured on a video screen con- 
nected to a dissecting microscope at 16x power; otolith 
annuli were measured vertically from the nucleus to 
the ventral margin. 
15 Street, M. W., and J. G. Adams. 1969. Aging of hickory 
shad and blueback herring in Georgia by the scale method. 
Contribution Series No. 18, 13 p. Marine Fisheries Division, 
Georgia Game and Fish Commission, Brunswick, GA. 
