Assessment of Habitat Requirements and Recruitment Dynamics for Young-of-the-year Bonefish Within Bear Cut Preserve, Florida

Bonefish (Albula vulpes) are spectacular sportfish capable of extreme speeds
when hooked. They occur worldwide in warm subtropical and tropical coastal
waters, from the nearshore extremely shallow flats environments through
offshore coral reefs. The south Florida recreational fishery for bonefish is
world renowned. Since the 1950s the region has offered the greatest potential
for encountering large bonefish (GT 221; TL and 12 lbs), and now accounts for
more than half of the world records for bonefish listed by the International
Game Fish Association (IGFA 2002). Despite the large interest in south
Florida's bonefish fishery, very little is known about habitat requirements and
recruitment dynamics of juvenile bonefish. Concomitantly, Florida's marine
fisheries are undergoing extensive changes due to rapidly growing regional
human populations and recreational fishing fleets, as well as increased
exploitation and environmental changes due to coastal development. Anecdotal
evidence suggests the Florida bonefish fishery may be declining (Ault et al.
2002). One of the significant factors to the decline of the bonefish stock
could be degradation of habitat for young-of-the-year (YOY) bonefish.
Insufficient habitat for YOY bonefish will reduce their chances for survival,
thus reducing the entire bonefish stock. Management organizations cannot
protect habitat for YOY bonefish because their habitat requirements are
unknown. In fact, habitat and recruitment dynamics have not been adequately
described for any of the age classes of bonefish. Understanding habitat
requirements and recruitment dynamics of bonefish is paramount to ensure the
survival of future populations. Gather data on recruitment and habitat
requirements for young of the year (juvenile) bonefish through use of seine
nets off Bear Cut Preserve, Key Biscayne, FL Habitats sampled randomly,
monthly. Data from other fish species caught in seine nets will be collected.