82 
Abstract— Black Sea Bass ( Centropris - 
tis striata) in the mid- Atlantic Bight 
undertake seasonal cross-shelf move- 
ments to occupy inshore rocky reefs 
and hardbottom habitats between 
spring and fall. Shelf-wide migrations 
of this stock are well documented, but 
movements and home ranges of fish 
during their inshore residency period 
have not been described. We tagged 
122 Black Sea Bass with acoustic 
transmitters at a mid-Atlantic reef to 
estimate home-range size and factors 
that influence movements (>400 m) at 
a 46. 1-krn 2 study site between May and 
November 2003. Activity of Black Sea 
Bass was greatest and most consistent 
during summer but declined rapidly in 
September as water temperatures at 
the bottom of the seafloor increased on 
the inner shelf. Black Sea Bass main- 
tained relatively large home ranges 
that were fish-size invariant but highly 
variable (13.7-736.4 ha), underscoring 
the importance of large sample sizes 
in examination of population-level 
characteristics of mobile species with 
complex social interactions. On the 
basis of observed variations in move- 
ment patterns and the size of home 
ranges, we postulate the existence 
of groups of conspecifics that exhibit 
similar space-use behaviors. The group 
of males released earlier in the tagging 
period used larger home ranges than 
the group of males released later in 
our study. In addition, mean activity 
levels and the probability of movement 
among acoustic stations varied among 
groups of fish in a complex manner 
that depended on sex. These differ- 
ences in movement behaviors may in- 
crease the vulnerability of male fish to 
passive fishing gears, further exacer- 
bating variation in exploitation rates 
for this species among reefs. 
Manuscript submitted 21 January 2013. 
Manuscript accepted 11 December 2013. 
Fish. Bull 112:82-97 (2014). 
doi: 10.7755/FB.112.1.5 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necesarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Home range and seasonal movements of 
Black Sea Bass ICentropristis striata ) during 
their inshore residency at a reef in the 
mid-Atlantic Bight 
Mary C. Fabrizio (contact author ) 1 
John P. Manderson 2 
Jeffrey P. Pessutti 2 
Email address for contact author: mfabrizio@vims.edu 
1 Virginia Institute of Marine Science 
College of William & Mary 
P.O. Box 1346 
Gloucester Point, Virginia 23062 
2 James J. Howard Marine Sciences Laboratory 
Northeast Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 
74 Magruder Road 
Highlands, New Jersey 07732 
The vulnerability of marine and es- 
tuarine species to capture by recre- 
ational and commercial fisheries is 
enhanced when individuals aggre- 
gate during a predictable time of 
year. For example, the spring spawn- 
ing migrations of anadromous fishes, 
such as American Shad (Alosa sapi- 
dissima ) and Striped Bass ( Morone 
saxatilis ), historically fueled produc- 
tive fisheries along the U.S. Atlantic 
coast (Limburg and Waldman, 2009). 
In the mid-Atlantic region, fishes 
that use inshore reefs as feeding and 
spawning areas between spring and 
fall also may increase their vulner- 
ability to fishing gear because in- 
dividuals are associated with well- 
defined habitat features that may be 
targeted by fishing operations. 
Management of species that ex- 
hibit aggregation behaviors often is 
dependent upon spatially explicit 
regulations that aim to protect differ- 
entially vulnerable individuals. For 
instance, the harvest of blue crabs is 
prohibited in the lower Chesapeake 
Bay and the adjacent coastal ocean 
from May through mid-September to 
protect spawning females (Miller et 
al., 201 1 1 ). Similarly, marine protect- 
1 Miller, T. J., M. J. Wilberg, A. R. Colton, 
G. R. Davis, A. Sharov, R. N. Lipcius, 
ed areas and reserves may be used 
to reduce or eliminate fishing mortal- 
ity on depleted stocks (e.g., the sea 
scallop fishery in the North Atlantic; 
Murawski et al., 2000). For such area 
closures and related spatial manage- 
ment approaches, many of the indi- 
viduals from the target population 
area are assumed to use protected 
areas and their movements away 
from these areas are assumed to be 
minimal and temporary. Therefore, to 
achieve management goals, protected 
areas or networks of reserves should 
be large enough to sufficiently en- 
compass the home ranges of individ- 
uals of the target populations (Mof- 
fitt et al., 2009). 
Home range and movements of 
mobile species can be assessed with 
acoustic telemetry (e.g., Dawson and 
Starr, 2009; Douglas et al., 2009; 
Meyer et al., 2009; Farmer and Ault, 
2011; Knip et al., 2012). Although 
such techniques provide temporally 
G. M. Ralph, E. G. Johnson, and A. G. 
Kaufman. 2011. Stock assessment of 
the blue crab in Chesapeake Bay. Univ. 
Maryland Center for Environmental Sci- 
ence, Technical Report Series TS-614-11, 
203 p. [Available at http://www.cio. 
noaa.gov/Policy_Programs/prplans/ 
ID180_Chesapeake_Blue_Crab_Assess- 
ment. document_final_approved.pdf.] 
