451 
Abstract .—We used otolith ageing 
to describe the population dynamics of 
black drum, Pogonias cromis, collected 
over a three-year period from the 
Chesapeake Bay region’s commercial 
and recreational fisheries. Black drum 
average age, total length, and weight 
were 26 years, 109.5 cm, and 22.1 kg 
respectively. The oldest fish was 59 
years and fish older than 50 years were 
present in the catch from 1990 to 1992. 
Growth in length slowed by age 20, 
whereas growth in weight did not slow 
until age 45. A von Bertalanffy growth 
function was fitted to our data (Lj= 
117.3 cm, K=0.105, t 0 =- 2.3 yr) and was 
similar to that for northeast Florida, 
but dissimilar to that for the Gulf of 
Mexico. Fish grow slower but reach 
larger sizes in the Atlantic than in the 
Gulf. Estimates of instantaneous total 
mortality, Z, from maximum age and 
catch-curve analyses were low, 0.08- 
0.13, indicating that fishing mortality 
is also low in the Chesapeake Bay re- 
gion. Studies to date lend support to the 
hypothesis that black drum from the 
east coast of the United States are from 
a common stock. The fishery of the 
Chesapeake Bay region is made up of old, 
large migrants from that larger popula- 
tion and should be managed accordingly. 
Manuscript accepted 28 October 1997. 
Fishery Bulletin 96:451-461 (1998). 
Age, growth, and mortality of 
black drum, Pogonias cromis, 
in the Chesapeake Bay region 
Cynthia M. Jones 
Applied Marine Research Laboratory and Department of Biological Sciences 
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529-0456 
E-mail address: jones@estuary.amrl.odu.edu 
Brian Wells 
Department of Biological Sciences 
Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia 23529 
Black drum, Pogonias cromis, is the 
largest member of the family Sciaeni- 
dae in the western North Atlantic 
Ocean. Black drum range in U.S. 
waters from New England south 
through Florida and across the 
northern Gulf of Mexico, with Chesa- 
peake Bay being near the northern 
end of the breeding range (Welsh and 
Breder, 1923; Hildebrand and Schroe- 
der, 1928). Black drum support im- 
portant recreational and commercial 
fisheries throughout their range in 
the United States. Their population 
abundance has been historically 
greater on the Florida coast than 
northward (Welsh and Breder, 1923), 
but the degree of stock unity along 
the east coast of the United States 
has not yet been determined. 
Black drum is migratory in the 
Chesapeake Bay region. Frisbie 
(1961) speculated that juveniles 
move offshore and southward in the 
fall. Richards (1973) reported that 
black drum were absent from ma- 
rine waters off Virginia during win- 
ter. Although occasionally caught 
inshore during winter, black drum 
generally move inshore to spawn in 
spring and offshore to overwinter in 
the fall. The migratory behavior of 
this fish complicates interpretation 
of the biological characteristics of 
the Atlantic coast fishery. 
Proper management of the black 
drum population depends on knowl- 
edge of their basic biology through- 
out their range, particularly their 
resilience to harvesting. Yet much 
is unknown about their adult life 
history and biology in the Chesa- 
peake Bay region where studies 
have concentrated on early life his- 
tory. Initial studies of eggs, larvae, 
and juveniles (Frisbie, 1961; Joseph 
et al., 1964; Richards and Castagna, 
1970) failed to clarify the geographic 
extent of the spawning and nursery 
regions. A recent study by Daniel 
and Graves (1994) concluded that 
egg production of black drum had 
been overestimated because of 
misindentification and that previ- 
ously reported egg distributions (Jo- 
seph et ah, 1964) may be incorrect. 
Little work has been directed at 
adult black drum in the Chesapeake 
Bay region, aside from general fau- 
nal studies like that of Hildebrand 
and Schroeder (1928), and only one 
study is recent. Studies of early life 
history by Frisbie (1961) and Joseph 
et al. (1964) provide little informa- 
tion that can be used in yield mod- 
eling to evaluate resilience to har- 
vest. The only studies that provide 
information specifically useful for 
modeling include Richards (1973) 
and Desfosse (1987), both on age 
and growth. Desfosse (1987) re- 
ported ages of 4-15 years with 10- 
year-olds predominant in the catch, 
whereas Richards (1973) estimated 
