| Summary: | The estuarine populations of juvenile Atlantic and gulf menhaden (Brevoortia tyrannus and B. patronus) were sampledduring two-boat, surface-trawl, abundance surveys extensively conducted in the 1970s. Juvenile Atlantic menhaden were sampled in 39 estuarine streams along the U.S. Atlantic coast from northern Florida into Massachusetts. Juvenile gulf menhaden were sampled in 29 estuarine streams along the Gulf of Mexico from southeast Texas into western Florida. A stratified, two-stage, cluster sampling design was used. Annual estimates of relative juvenile abundance for each species ofmenhaden were obtained from catch-effort data from thesurveys. There were no significant correlations, for eitherspecies, between the relative juvenile abundance estimates and fishery-dependent estimates of year-class strength. From 1972 to 1975, the relative abundance of juvenile Atlantic menhaden in north Atlantic estuaries decreased to near zero. (PDF file contains 22 pages.)
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