Estuarine Residency and Migration of Southern Flounder Inferred from Conventional Tag Returns at Multiple Spatial Scales

AbstractAn improved understanding of the spatial structure and movements of harvested populations can promote more efficient management of marine resources. Conventional tagging is a valuable approach to study the movements of marine fishes due to its relatively low expense and the typically broad spatial extent over which movements can be characterized. We present the findings of multiple tag return studies initiated in the estuaries of North Carolina during the past two decades to better understand habitat residency and migration patterns of Southern Flounder Paralichthys lethostigma, an economically important marine flatfish in the southeastern USA. Tag return data indicated large-scale (>50 km) movements of relatively large fish in the fall, which were presumably associated with offshore winter spawning migrations. Nearly all Southern Flounder that demonstrated large-scale movement were recovered to the south of the system in which they were tagged, suggesting that the spawning activity of fish using ...