Can Freshwater Rivers and Offshore Reefs Contribute to the Resiliency of a Productive Estuarine Sport Fishery in Florida?

Landscape heterogeneity can affect population resiliency to natural and anthropogenic disturbance and stressors, as well resiliency to fishing.  In South Florida, Common Snook make up important coastal fishery throughout the region.   Though greater than 90% of snook are caught in the estuary, fish can be found in high abundances in non-estuary habitats including freshwater rivers and offshore reefs and wrecks. However, the extent, and mechanisms why snook use non-estuarine habitats has been understudied. In this paper, we review recent research related to snook dynamics in these non-estuary habitats.  In particular, we ask 1) what is the degree of connectivity between estuary populations and non-estuary populations? And 2) why are snook using these non-estuary habitats? To answer these questions, stable isotope biomarkers, acoustic telemetry, and abundance based fisheries dependent and independent methods were used.  Our results indicate that connectivity exists between all spatially separated populations, however the degree of connectivity varies across estuaries. Second, why snook use reefs and rivers may be related to prey availability and reproduction, though more research is needed to conclusively identify mechanisms. Results from this study provide support that these non-estuary habitats, and snook that use those habitats may increase population resiliency to disturbance and stressors.