The patterns of recruitment of sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L. from nursery areas in England and Wales and implications for fisheries management

Abstract

A total of 6438 sea bass, Dicentrarchus labrax L., measuring less than 36 cm total length, were tagged and released in 11 nursery areas around England and Wales between 1988 and 1994. The aims were to elucidate, through the distribution of recaptures, the dispersal patterns of juvenile and adolescent bass, and by the recruitment of bass above 36 cm to fisheries, to reveal the potential benefits of protecting juvenile bass by closing nursery areas. The reported recapture rate was 3.7% overall, with 65.8% of the bass recaptured being over the 36 cm EC minimum size. The majority of bass recaptured (65% in total, 56% of fish over 36 cm) were taken in fisheries local to the tagging sites, whilst 22% of the recaptures were made in fisheries outside the respective home regions, indicating substantial mixing of recruiting bass between regions. Notably, some bass moved from the southeast and central south coasts of England to Wales and northwest England. The distribution of recruits to the coastal fisheries was uneven, with the southeast fishery receiving little recruitment from elsewhere, whilst the northwest received recruitment from nursery areas in all other regions. Only four tagged bass out of 235 recaptured were reported from non-UK fisheries, indicating that the main benefits from the protection of juvenile bass by closed nursery areas in England and Wales accrue to UK inshore fisheries.