Toxic materials, fishing, and environmental variation: simulated effects on striped bass population trends
Decreased survival of larval striped bass Morone saxatilis resulting from toxic chemicals in the environment and decreased survival of adults caused by fishing both are suspected as agents contributing to the decline in the Chesapeake Bay stock since the mid-1970s. The relative power of each type of mortality to cause population declines was evaluated with simulation techniques. Equivalent levels of added mortality induced qualitatively identical and quantitatively similar trends in population simulations for all conditions examined except if strong density-dependent mortality preceded the contaminant toxicity. In this case the contaminant effect caused a greater reduction in yield, but the population did not tend toward extinction. The results indicate that the observed downward trend in the Chesapeake Bay population can be halted or reversed by a reduction in fishing mortality, even if contaminant toxicity is the proximate cause for the decline. 28 references, 1 figure, 1 table.
- Research Organization:
- Fish and Wildlife Service, Kearneysville, WV
- OSTI ID:
- 5001338
- Journal Information:
- Trans. Am. Fish. Soc.; (United States), Vol. 114:1
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
54 ENVIRONMENTAL SCIENCES
POPULATION DYNAMICS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
STRIPED BASS
MORTALITY
CHESAPEAKE BAY
FISHING INDUSTRY
LARVAE
TOXIC MATERIALS
WATER POLLUTION
WATER QUALITY
ANADROMOUS FISHES
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
ATLANTIC OCEAN
BAYS
ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
FISHES
INDUSTRY
MATERIALS
POLLUTION
SEAS
SURFACE WATERS
VERTEBRATES
560305* - Chemicals Metabolism & Toxicology- Vertebrates- (-1987)
520200 - Environment
Aquatic- Chemicals Monitoring & Transport- (-1989)