Spillover of Sea Scallops From Rotational Closures In the Mid-Atlantic Bight (United States)

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

9-1-2020

Department

Coastal Sciences, Gulf Coast Research Laboratory

School

Ocean Science and Engineering

Abstract

© 2020 Oxford University Press. All rights reserved. We examined evidence for larval spillover (increased recruitment outside the closures) of Atlantic sea scallops (Placopecten magellanicus) due to rotational closures in the Mid-Atlantic Bight using a 40-year fisheries survey time series and a larval transport model. Since the first closure of the Hudson Canyon South (HCS) area in 1998, mean recruitment in the two areas directly down-current from this closure, Elephant Trunk (ET) and Delmarva (DMV), increased significantly by factors of about 7 and 2, respectively. Stock–recruit plots indicate that low biomasses in HCS were associated with reduced mean recruitment in ET and DMV. Simulations indicate that larvae spawned in HCS often settle in the two downstream areas and that model-estimated settlement (based on gonad biomass in HCS and year-specific larval transport between the areas) is correlated with observed recruitment. This study gives strong evidence that the rotational closure of HCS has induced increased recruitment in down-current areas.

Publication Title

ICES Journal of Marine Science

Volume

77

Issue

5

First Page

1992

Last Page

2002

Link to Full Text

Find in your library

Share

COinS