Spatial Comparison of Adult Red Drum in the Coastal Waters of South Carolina

Red drum, Sciaenops ocellatus, is one of the most economically important recreational finfish species in the coastal waters of the southeastern United States. Juvenile and sub-adult fish (those younger than ~5 years) inhabit shallow estuarine areas, whereas adults typically inhabit deeper coastal waters. Information required for stock assessments is especially lacking from the adult portion of the population. Furthermore, evidence suggests that certain adult life history characteristics vary across the species’ range, but this spatial variation is poorly understood.

Here, we present analyses of data from an ongoing long-line survey that targets adult red drum in marine waters adjacent to four major estuaries along a 200 km section of coastal South Carolina.  Generalized linear models were used to explore relationships between catch rates and variables such as estuary, depth, salinity and time of year. Biological samples taken from randomly selected individuals were used to explore relationships between sex, maturity, size and age, and to test whether population characteristics vary between different estuarine areas. We recommend future work that compares data from different surveys across the full range of the species.