Sources of Variation in Chesapeake Bay Pound-Net and Haul-Seine Catch Compositions

Abstract

Abstract Commercial fish processors along Chesapeake Bay sort pound-net and haul-seine catches into boxes according to species and size. I evaluated betweenbox and within-box variation in the lengths of Atlantic croakers Micropogonias undulatus and weakfish Cynoscion regalis to design multistage survey sampling schemes. There was little or no difference in length composition among boxes and only minor trends, if any, in mean size with the chronology of processing. Within-box variation accounted for more than 98% of the total variation.