Symposium review: biology, ecology and life history of bluefish

摘要

Bluefish are harvested by recreational and commercial fishers in several areas of the world and populations fluctuate dramatically in abundance The recent decline in bluefish landings on the U S east coast initiated the Bluefish Research Program (NMFS/Rutgers University) beginning in 1997. The number of projects investigating the biology and ecology of bluefish has increased as a result of this funding program. On August 20-21, 2002, Jeff Buckel (NC State). Fred Scharf (NMFS, NEFSC), and Francis Juanes (University of Massachusetts) convened a symposium on the biology, ecology and life history of bluefish as part of the 132nd annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society. The objectives of this symposium were to allow researchers funded by this program as well as others working on bluefish in the U.S. or other areas of the world to present their latest research and discuss findings. A total of 21 presentations were made that encompassed a variety of themes and which included both domestic and international researchers. The symposium began with a review of global patterns in bluefish biology (Juanes) and detailed overviews of the status of bluefish populations in South Africa (Govender, University of Cape Town), Australia (Butcher, Queensland Department of Primary Industry) and Brazil (Haimovici, University of Rio Grande). These talks were followed by five others that focused on various aspects of bluefish biology and ecology in North America starting with a comprehensive review of the population ecology of the species in the western North Atlantic (Conover, SUNY Stony Brook).