284 
National Marine 
Fisheries Service 
NOAA 
Fishery Bulletin 
established in 1881 
Spencer F. Baird 
First U.S. Commissioner 
of Fisheries and founder 
of Fishery Bulletin 
Reproductive dynamics of Gulf menhaden 
C Brewoortia patronus} in the northern Gulf of 
Mexico: effects on stock assessments 
Nancy J. Brown-Peterson (contact author ! 1 
Robert T. Leaf 1 
Amy M, Schueller 2 
Michael i. Andres 1 
Email address for contact author: nancy.brown-peterson@usm.edu 
1 Division of Coastal Sciences 
School of Ocean Science and Technology 
The University of Southern Mississippi 
703 East Beach Drive 
Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564 
Present address for contact author: Center for Fisheries Research and Development 
Gulf Coast Research Laboratory 
The University of Southern Mississippi 
703 East Beach Drive 
Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564 
2 Beaufort Laboratory 
Southeast Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 
101 Rivers Island Road 
Beaufort, North Carolina 28516 
Abstract' — Gulf menhaden ( Brevoor - 
tia patronus) produce one of the larg- 
est U.S. fisheries, yet information on 
reproductive dynamics of the stock 
is sparse. Males and females reach 
50% maturity at 140.8 and 137.2 
mm fork length, respectively and re- 
cruit into the commercial fishery at 
this size. Analysis of fishery-depen- 
dent data from 1964 through 2014 
indicated that somatic condition was 
lower during the late 1980s and late 
2000s and that reproductively active 
fish from 2014 were significantly 
larger and had greater gonadosomat- 
ic index values than those from 1964 
through 1970. Histological analysis 
performed on fish from 2014 through 
2016 revealed spawning-capable and 
actively spawning fish of both sexes 
from early October through mid- 
March. Females have indeterminate 
fecundity, are batch spawners, and 
spawn every 2. 1-4.3 days, although 
oocyte recruitment shows some char- 
acteristics of determinate fecundity. 
Mean relative batch fecundity was 
107.8 eggs/g ovary-free body weight 
(standard error 17.1). Estimates 
from age-structured assessment 
models based on updated fecundity 
and maturity measures resulted in 
a lOO-lOOOx greater production of 
eggs than previous estimates. Model 
output, including the number-at-age, 
age-specific fishing-induced mortali- 
ty, and spawners-per-recruit are sen- 
sitive to alterations in age-specific 
annual fecundity. Therefore, updated 
estimates of Gulf menhaden repro- 
ductive dynamics can affect assess- 
ments of the stock. 
Manuscript submitted 1 August 2016. 
Manuscript accepted 28 March 2017. 
Fish. Bull. 115:284-299 (2017). 
Online publication date: 9 May 2017. 
doi: 10.7755/FB.115.3.2. 
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. 
Gulf menhaden ( Brevoortia patro- 
nus), family Clupeidae, are exploited 
by an industrial purse seine fleet and 
a smaller purse-seine bait fleet in the 
northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). The 
fishery comprises the largest catches, 
by weight, of any fishery in the lower 
contiguous United States (Vaughn et 
a!., 2007; VanderKooy and Smith 1 ). 
The majority of the commercial land- 
ings (>99%) are harvested for the re- 
duction fishery at 3 facilities based 
along the GOM coast (Moss Point, 
Mississippi, and Empire and Abbev- 
ille, Louisiana), which operates from 
the third Monday in April through 
1 VanderKooy, S. J., and J. W. Smith (eds.). 
2015. The menhaden fishery of the 
Gulf of Mexico, United States: a regional 
management plan, 2015 rev. Gulf States 
Mar. Fish. Comm., No. 240, 200 p. Gulf 
States Mar. Fish. Comm., Ocean Springs, 
MS. [Available from website, accessed 
June 2016], 
October 31 (Vaughan et a!., 2007). 
Harvest data for Gulf menhaden are 
estimated from daily catch records. 
The most recent Gulf menhaden 
stock assessment was completed in 
2013 (SEDAR 2 ) and updated in Oc- 
tober 2016 (Schueller 3 ). Although the 
fishery has economic and ecological 
importance, changes in the biologi- 
cal aspects of the stock in the past 5 
decades of exploitation have not been 
described, particularly those related 
to reproduction. 
2 SEDAR (Southeast Data, Assessment, 
and Review). 2013. SEDAR 32A — 
Gulf of Mexico menhaden stock as- 
sessment report, 422 p. SEDAR, North 
Charleston, SC. [Available from web- 
site, accessed June 2016]. 
3 Schueller, A. 2016. GDAR 02— Gulf 
menhaden stock assessment: 2016 up- 
date. Gulf States Mar. Fish. Comm., 
GSMFC No. 254, 65 p. GSMFC, Ocean 
Springs, MS. [Available from website.] 
