Utilizing spatial demographic and life history variation to optimize sustainable yield of a temperate sex-changing fish.

ABSTRACT: Fish populations vary geographically in demography and life history due to environmental and ecological processes and in response to exploitation. However, population dynamic models and stock assessments, used to manage fisheries, rarely explicitly incorporate spatial variation to inform management decisions. Here, we describe extensive geographic variation in several demographic and life history characteristics (e.g., size structure, growth, survivorship, maturation, and sex change) of California sheephead (Semicossyphus pulcher), a temperate rocky reef fish targeted by recreational and commercial fisheries. Fish were sampled from nine locations throughout southern California in 2007-2008. We developed a dynamic size and age-structured model, parameterized separately for each location, to

SUBMITTER: Hamilton SL 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3167858 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature