J. E. Crumpton

The St. Johns River, Florida Freshwater Striped Mullet Gill Net Fishery: Catch Composition, Status, and Recommendations

A 3-year study was initiated in 1992 to characterize the St. Johns River freshwater commercial striped mullet (Mugil cephalus) gill net fishery and estimate bycatch. Each year in fresh water, an estimated 137 fishers using 84 boats fished 1,554 days and harvested 233,109 kg of striped mullet. Approximately 86% of the fishers used the strike technique exclusively, while 14% used both strike and set-net techniques. Striped mullet comprised 99% of the total catch by number. The average annual freshwater game fish bycatch ranged from 86 to 274 fish (< 1 % by number). The extremely low...

Gamefish Bycatch and Mortality in Hoop Nets in the St. Johns River, Florida

An intensive hoop net study was conducted on the St. Johns River, Florida, to: (1) estimate commercial hoop net effort, bycatch and initial gamefish mortality; (2) determine delayed mortality of game fish caught in hoop nets; and (3) estimate riverwide gamefish mortality in hoop nets. A survey of all known hoop net fishers revealed 38 fished 2,386 hoop nets for 794,300 net-days of effort in 1993. Between July 1992 and June 1993, 1,053 commercially-fished hoop nets were observed that were fished 7,320 net-days. Catfish (Ictaluridae) comprised 95% of the 87,278 individuals captured, while...

Estimating Annual Game Fish Bycatch in Commercial Fishing Devices from Harvest Data

A major concern in managing commercial fisheries is the potential effect on game fish populations. The objective of this study was to design a model to determine annual game fish bycatch in hoop nets, wire traps, and pound nets utilized in the 51. Johns River, Florida, commercial catfish fishery. Annual bycatch was estimated with a model based on previous estimates of annual catfish harvest, catfish-to-game fish ratios, mean weight of catfish harvested and percentage composition of catfish harvested by each gear type. Hoop nets captured an estimated 435,635 game fish annually with 46,697...

Growth History of Black Crappie Spawned 1980, St. Johns River, Florida

Growth rates for the 1980 year class of black crappie were determined from samples collected in the St. Johns River, Florida, 1981 through 1987. Actual mean lengths of groups of black crappie aged by otolith evaluation were compared to back calculated lengths from otoliths of black crappie collected each year. Differences in actual and back calculated lengths for black crappie collected were not significant (P > 0.05). Coefficient of determination values (r2) dropped rapidly as differential growth rates increased. Overall, back calculated lengths for age I and II black crappie increased...

Evaluation of Wire Catfish Traps for Commercial Fishing in Central Florida Lakes

Two types of commercial wire catfish traps were fished in lakes Dora and Eustis between January and May 1984. Catches at shoreline and offshore fishing sites were evaluated for both trap types. Door throat traps harvested 4.1 catfish, 0.6 game fish, and 0.1 non-game fish per trap day. Open throat traps harvested 0.8 catfish, 0.6 game fish, and 0.2 non-game fish per day. Door throat traps were 5.7 times more efficient at harvesting catfish than open throat traps. Overall, shoreline fishing sites yielded more fish (catfish, game fish, and non-game fish) than offshore sites. Initial mortality...

Catfish Movement and Distribution in the Johns River, Florida

A 3-year tagging study was conducted to determine movement and distribution of catfish in the St. Johns River, Florida. A total of 8,800 white catfish (lctalurus catus), channel catfish (I. punctatus), brown bullhead (I. nebulosus) and yellow bullhead (I. natalis) were tagged with Floy FD-68B anchor tags from May 1983 through December 1985. Of these tagged fish, 1,227 (13.9%) were recaptured. The highest return was from lake habitat (22.8%) followed by riverine (17.1 %) and tributary (7.0%) habitats. The longest distance travelled was 178.2 kIn upstream. Approximately 52.0% of the...

Aging of Three Species of Florida Catfish Utilizing Three Pectoral Spine Sites and Otoliths

Twenty-one brown bullhead (Ictalurus nebulosus), 25 channel catfish (I. punctatus) and 25 white catfish (I. catus) collected by fish trap were aged by counting annuli from the articulating process (AP), basal recess (BR) and mid-spine (MS) sections of pectoral spines. Five large channel catfish collected from hoop nets were also aged using spine techniques. Attempts were also made to age catfish by counting opaque bands or checks from whole sagittal otoliths and otolith longitudinal and cross sections. Annuli were visible in all pectoral spine sections. Fish older than 3 years showed some...

Tag Retention and Survival of Floy-tagged and Fin-clipped White Catfish and Channel Catfish in Hatchery Ponds

The retention of Floy FD-68B anchor tags and survival of 200 tagged and fin-clipped white catfish (Ictalurus catus) and channel catfish (Ictalurus punctatus) were determined over a 184-day period in 2 0.20-ha ponds. In 1 pond, 50 tagged fish and 50 fin-clipped fish were stocked. In the second pond, 50 tagged and fin-clipped fish and 50 fin-clipped fish were stocked. Of the 70 tagged fish recovered (all tagged fish received 2 tags), all had retained at least 1 tag. Four Floy tags were lost, yielding an overall tag retention of 97.1 %. No separation of plastic sleeves was observed from the...

Catch Composition of Pound Nets and Their Impact on Game Fish Populations in the SI. Johns River, Florida

From December 1981 through March 1983, 71 observations of pound nets were conducted. In 407 net days, commercially important species comprised 93.5% of the total pound net catch while game fish species comprised 4.4%. An average of 1.8 game fish were caught per net day. Harvestable-size game fish (that size retained by sport fishermen) represented 3.6% of the total catch and comprised 81.5% of all sizes of game fish caught. Initial mortality was 3.3% for game fish or 0.06 game fish deaths/ net day. An estimated 68 game fish/km of shoreline/year were caught by the entire pound net fishery...