Island in the Stream: Oceanography and Fisheries of the Charleston Bump

George R. Sedberry, editor

252 pages Published by American Fisheries Society Publication date: June 2001

Summary

Symposium 25

This first comprehensive volume on the Charleston Bump, an important geological feature in the Atlantic Ocean, brings together important new multidisciplinary research from physical scientists, fishery biologists, managers, and economists—professionals who do not often work together on fishery management problems.

Located on the Blake Plateau 100 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina, the Charleston Bump deflects the Gulf Stream offshore and may have a significant oceanographic effect on primary productivity, dispersal and retention of larval organisms, cross-shelf transport of nutrients and fauna, and life history of fishes. The interaction of the Charleston Bump and the Gulf Stream may play a role in the recruitment of large pelagic fishes, such as swordfish and other billfishes, to nursery areas in the vicinity. With the incidents of overfishing and the problem of bycatch, successful management of the fisheries industry surrounding the Charleston Bump may serve as a model to other fisheries. This book will present new information on the life history stages of swordfishes and other species in the Charleston Bump vicinity and will re-examine the oceanography and fisheries in light of recent developments.

Highlights include:

* A review of the Gulf Stream meanders and their influence on productivity and distribution of early life stages of important pelagic fishery species. * Descriptions of the influence of complex bottom topography on pelagic fisheries operating on one of the most important pelagic fishing grounds in the southeastern United States. * Exploration of the linkage of ecology and recruitment of important highly migratory species to oceanographic features in the Atlantic off the southeast United States. * A first description of geological features important to deep demersal reef fisheries of the southeastern United States. * Examination of fishery problems in similar island-like habitats off the southeastern United States, the eastern Atlantic, and the tropical Pacific.

This book is intended for:

* fisheries scientists and fisheries managers * marine biologists and oceanographers * conservation biologists * students of marine fisheries, marine biology, conservation biology, and oceanography

Table of Contents

PART I GEOLOGICAL AND OCEANOGRAPHIC SETTING

The Charleston Bump: an Island of Essential Fish Habitat in the Gulf Stream George R. Sedberry, John C. McGovern, and Oleg Pashuk

Gulf Stream Physical Oceanography at the Charleston Bump: Deflection, Bimodality, Meanders, and Upwelling John M. Bane, Jr., Larry P. Atkinson, and David A. Brooks

Geostationary Satellite Animation of the Gulf Stream at the Charleston Bump Richard Legeckis and Paul Chang

Origin and History of the Charleston Bump—Geological Formations, Currents, Bottom Conditions, and Their Relationship to Wreckfish Habitats on the Blake Plateau Peter Popenoe and F. T. Manheim

PART II FISHERIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CHARLESTON BUMP

Geographic Distribution of Longline Effort and Swordfish Discard Rates in the Straits of Florida and Oceanic Waters of the Continental Shelf, Slope, and Blake Plateau Off Georgia and the Carolinas from 1991 to 1995 Jean Cramer

Assessment of the Wreckfish Fishery on the Blake Plateau Douglas S. Vaughan, Charles S. Manooch III, and Jennifer C. Potts

PART III LIFE HISTORY CONSIDERATIONS

The Charleston Gyre as a Spawning and Larval Nursery Habitat for Fishes John J. Govoni and Jonathan A. Hare

Trophic Subsidies at the Charleston Bump: Food Web Structure of Reef Fishes on the Continental Slope of the Southeastern United States Douglas C. Weaver and George R. Sedberry

Cephalopods of the Continental Slope East of the United States Michael Vecchione

Benthic Habitats and Associated Fauna of the Upper- and Middle-Continental Slope Near the Charleston Bump E. L. Wenner and C. A. Barans

PART IV EXPERIENCES FROM ISLAND HABITATS AND MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS FOR FISHERIES AND CRITICAL FISH HABITATS

Understanding Environmental Influences on Movements and Depth Distributions of Tunas and Billfishes Can Significantly Improve Population Assessments Richard W. Brill and Molly E. Lutcavage

Exploitation-Related Changes in the Growth and Reproduction of Tilefish and the Implications for the Management of Deepwater Fisheries Patrick J. Harris, Sandra M. Padgett, and Paulette T. Powers

Tagging Techniques Can Elucidate the Biology and Exploitation of Aggregated Pelagic Species Kim N. Holland, Steven M. Kajiura, David G. Itano, and John Sibert

Atlantic Blue Marlin and Yellowfin Tuna: Comparative Population Vulnerability to Fishing Mortality C. Phillip Goodyear

Landings, Seasonality, Catch per Unit Effort, and Tag-Recapture Results of Yellowfin Tuna and Blackfin Tuna at Bermuda Brian E. Luckhurst, Tammy Trott, and Sarah Manuel

The Charleston Bump: Policy Context and Public Involvement John V. Miglarese and Robert H. Boyles, Jr.