70 
Fishery Bulletin 109(1) 
Figure t 
Location of larval summer flounder ( Paralichthys dentatus ) monitoring sites in the northeast and south- 
east United States shelf ecosystems during 1989-2006 (Little Egg Inlet) and 1986-2004 (Beaufort Inlet). 
umn (Sullivan et al., 2006). Characteristics of the two 
sites and gears implied that the sampling programs 
were comparable: the environmental setting was similar 
(salinity ranges, proximity to respective inlets, presence 
of a well-mixed water column), and mesh-size (1 mm), 
and sampling time (nighttime and incoming flood tide) 
were identical. 
Larval abundance at both collecting sites was stan- 
dardized as the number of individuals per 1000 m 3 of 
water that was filtered. Mean abundance for the repli- 
cate net sets on a given night was used as the estimate 
of summer flounder abundance at ingress during the 
flood tide. A maximum of 20 larvae per tow were pre- 
served in 95% ethanol and then measured for standard 
length per tow and for developmental stage determina- 
tion (after Keefe and Able, 1993). 
Spawning stock biomass and recruitment data 
Spawning stock biomass and recruitment data for 
summer flounder were obtained from the most recent 
stock assessment conducted by the Northeast Fisheries 
Science Center (NEFSC 1 ). In this assessment, indices 
of spawning stock biomass and recruitment data were 
derived from the following surveys: Northeast Fisher- 
ies Science Center winter, spring, and autumn survey; 
Massachusetts spring and autumn survey: Rhode Island 
annual survey: Connecticut spring and autumn survey; 
New Jersey annual survey; and Delaware annual trawl 
survey. Recruitment indices were also developed from 
young-of-the-year surveys conducted by the states of 
North Carolina, Virginia, and Maryland. These indices 
were combined with catch-at-age information to estimate 
recruitment and spawning stock biomass by using the 
statistical catch at age model implemented in the Age 
Structured Assessment Program (NEFSC). 
Statistical analysis 
The following null hypotheses were examined with 
respect to the two overlapping time series: 1) there is 
no synchrony between inlets in annual abundance of 
summer flounder larvae and 2) there is no synchrony 
between annual abundance at each inlet, spawning stock 
biomass (SSB), and recruitment (REC). Using the over- 
lapping time periods from each inlet, we determined syn- 
