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Influences of Stock Abundance and Bottom‐Water Temperature on Growth Dynamics of Haddock and Yellowtail Flounder on Georges Bank
Author(s) -
Ross Michael R.,
Nelson Gary A.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1992)121<0578:iosaab>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - haddock , pleuronectes , intraspecific competition , fishery , juvenile , biology , stocking , stock (firearms) , flounder , abundance (ecology) , flatfish , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , geography , archaeology
Growth rates of yellowtail flounder Pleuronectes ferrugineus and haddock Melanogrammus aeglefinus are highly correlated with stock abundance in the Georges Bank region of the northwest Atlantic Ocean. We used stepwise regression and Spearman rank sum analyses to test for correlations between lengths of age‐2 and age‐3 fish and both stock abundance and bottom‐water temperature for the period between 1963 and 1980. Mean length at age was significantly and inversely correlated with stock abundance for both species and age‐groups tested. Growth was more highly correlated with stock abundance during periods when abundance was higher than when it was low. This supports the hypothesis that growth should be most clearly density dependent when stock size, thus intraspecific competition, is high. Stock size was significantly correlated with growth of juvenile fish but not of young adults. Temperature was not significantly correlated with all species‐age‐groups tested. Also, when significant, temperature did not consistently explain any more variability in length at age than did stock abundance, even during periods when abundance was low. Annual temperature fluctuations of the magnitude studied appeared to exert only modest influence on growth rates of yellowtail flounder and haddock on Georges Bank.