300 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
NOAA 
Fishery Bulletin 
established in 1881 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U.S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Management strategy evaluation for the Atlantic 
surfclam ( Spisula solidissitna ) using a spatially 
explicit, vessel- based fisheries model 
Email address for contact author: kelsey.kuykendall@usm.edu 
1 Gulf Coast Research Laboratory 
The University of Southern Mississippi 
703 East Beach Drive 
Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564 
2 Center for Coastal Physical Oceanography 
Department of Ocean, Earth, and Atmospheric Sciences 
4111 Monarch Way, 3rd Floor 
Old Dominion University 
Norfolk, Virginia 23529 
Abstract — The commercially valu- 
able Atlantic surfclam ( Spisula so- 
lidissima) is harvested along the 
northeastern continental shelf of the 
United States. Its range has con- 
tracted and shifted north, driven by 
warmer bottom water temperatures. 
Declining landings per unit of effort 
(LPUE) in the Mid-Atlantic Bight 
(MAB) is one result. Declining stock 
abundance and LPUE suggest that 
overfishing may be occurring off 
New Jersey. A management strategy 
evaluation (MSE) for the Atlantic 
surfclam is implemented to evalu- 
ate rotating closures to enhance At- 
lantic surfclam productivity and in- 
crease fishery viability in the MAB. 
Active agents of the MSE model 
are individual fishing vessels with 
performance and quota constraints 
influenced by captains’ behavior 
over a spatially varying population. 
Management alternatives include 
2 rules regarding closure locations 
and 3 rules regarding closure du- 
rations. Simulations showed that 
stock biomass increased, up to 17%, 
under most alternative strategies in 
relation to estimated stock biomass 
under present-day management, and 
LPUE increased under most alterna- 
tive strategies, by up to 21%. When 
incidental mortality caused by the 
fishery increased, the benefits seen 
under the alternative management 
were enhanced. These outcomes sug- 
gest that area management involv- 
ing rotating closures could be valu- 
able in insulating the stock and the 
commercial fishery from further de- 
clines as a northerly shift in range 
proceeds. 
Manuscript submitted 28 June 2016. 
Manuscript accepted 27 March 2017. 
Fish. Bull. 115:300-325 (2017). 
Online publication date: 4 May 2017. 
doi: 10.7755/FB.115.3.3 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Kelsey M. Kuykendall (contact author ) 1 
Eric N. Powell 1 
John M. Klinck 2 
Paula T. Moreno 1 
Robert T. Leaf 1 
The Atlantic surfclam ( Spisula solid- 
issima ) is an economically valuable 
bivalve common to the sandy bot- 
toms off the northeastern coast of the 
United States and Canada (Weinberg, 
2005). The range of the Atlantic surf- 
clam before recent effects of global 
warming spanned the western North 
Atlantic Ocean continental shelf from 
Nova Scotia to northern South Caro- 
lina, at depths of 10 m to 50 m, and 
temperature determines the range 
boundaries (Goldberg and Walker, 
1990; Weinberg, 1998; Jacobson and 
Weinberg 1 ; NEFSC 2 ). They are gener- 
1 Jacobson, L., and J. Weinberg. 2006. At- 
lantic surfclam ( Spisula solidissima). In 
Status of fishery resources of the North- 
eastern US (R. Mayo, F. Serchuk, and E. 
Holmes, eds.), 1-8 p. Northeast Fish. 
Sci. Cent., Woods Hole, MA. [Available 
from website.] 
2 NEFSC (Northeast Fisheries Science Center). 
2013. 56 th Northeast Regional Stock 
Assessment Workshop (56 th SAW) as- 
sessment summary report. U.S. Dep. 
Commer, Northeast Fish. Sci. Cent. Ref. 
Doc. 13-04, 42 p. [Available from web- 
site.] 
ally not found where average bottom 
temperatures exceed 25°C (Cargnelli 
et al., 1999). Atlantic surfclams are 
relatively sessile planktivorous filter 
feeders that rarely vacate their bur- 
row unless resuspended by storms or 
they are escaping predators (Ropes 
and Merrill, 1973; Prior et al., 1979), 
after which they rapidly reburrow 
into the substrate (Weinberg, 2005). 
The life span of Atlantic surfclam is 
approximately 30 years and has a 
maximum-recorded shell length (SL) 
of 226 mm (Fay et al. 3 ; Cargnelli et 
al., 1999; Munroe et al., 2016). 
The range of Atlantic surfclam 
has been shifting north and offshore 
since approximately 1970, driven 
primarily by warming bottom water 
temperatures (Cargnelli et al., 1999; 
3 Fay, C. W., R. J. Neves, and G. B. Par- 
due. 1983. Species profiles: life his- 
tories and environmental requirements 
of coastal fishes and invertebrates (mid- 
Atlantic) surf clam. U.S. Fish. Wildl. 
Serv., FWS/OBS-82/11.13, U.S. Army 
Corps Eng., TR EL-82-4, 23 p. 
