Cynthia Jones

Nursery habitats such as seagrass beds are important for the health and sustainability of many fisheries. In fact, seagrass beds are considered to be essential nursery habitats and as a part of the Sustainable Fisheries Act (SFA) of 1996 it was mandated that these areas be protected. To designate an area as an essential fish habitat two main criteria must be met, 1) greater numbers of fish produced per area and 2) greater survival of juvenile fish to adulthood. In the Chesapeake Bay, seagrass beds are considered to be nursery habitat, but the mortality of juvenile fish on individual beds...

Sheepshead (Archosargus probatocephalus)are an estuarine/marine member of the porgy family that have long supported large recreational fisheries along the southeastern coast of the United States with a recently expanding recreational fishery in Virginia waters of the Chesapeake Bay. Due to this expansion into Bay waters, fisheries managers need to develop a management plan for this species. However, before any management plan can be developed, a comprehensive understanding of the age structure and growth rates of fish in the population is needed. To characterize the age and growth of...