Can Intra-State Striped Bass Stocks That Support Significant Recreational Fisheries be Separated for Management Using Otolith Chemistry?

Striped Bass, Morone saxatilis, is an important, highly migratory commercial and recreational species with significant fisheries along the eastern American seaboard. Their broad migration patterns complicate management strategies. With three independently managed stocks, North Carolina managers need to understand potential mixing of these different stocks. Striped Bass from two major management areas in North Carolina -- the Albemarle Sound and Roanoke River Management Area, and the Central/Southern Management Area -- were used to analyze migration patterns. Otolith microchemistry analyzed by LA-ICP-MS was used as a proxy for migration patterns as otoliths incorporate trace elemental signatures of the watersheds the fish inhabit.  Results of discriminant function analyses of otolith chemistries suggest there is little migration between management areas.  Analysis also revealed that a small but significant percentage of fish collected in the Albemarle and Roanoke River Management Area may be anadromous contributors to the Atlantic Migratory Stock.