A Model Analysis of Strategies for Enhancing Stocking Success of Landlocked Striped Bass Populations

Abstract

Abstract Poor first-year winter survival of stocked fingerling striped bass Morone saxatilis, resulting from slow summer growth and small body size in the fall, has limited the sport fishery of Smith Mountain Lake, Virginia. We used an individual-based model to examine different strategies for improving the success of the striped bass stocking program. For two spatially explicit compartments (littoral and pelagic zones) assigned for Smith Mountain Lake, the model simulates daily movement, consumption, growth, and mortality of juvenile striped bass from the time of stocking in early summer until 1 May of the next year. Model predictions of fish prey consumption, predator–prey size relationships, first-year survival, and fall versus spring length-frequency distributions were similar to observed data. Simulations were conducted to examine the effects of fingerling size, stocking density, and day of year at introduction on first-year growth, survival, and recruitment to age 1 and to determine the sensitivity ...