bluefish
Fisheries
of
the
Chesapeake
Bay.
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Species
Information
Bluefish
Pomatomus
saltatrix
Description
Fact
Sheet
Status
Summary
Commercial
Statistics
State
Regulations
Recreational
Statistics
Fishery­
Independent
Statistics
(
state
surveys)

Description
Commonly
known
as
chopper,
tailor,
snapper,
elf,
skipjack,
greenfish,
and
blue,
the
bluefish
(
Pomatomus
saltatrix)
inhabits
the
continental
shelf
waters
of
warm
temperate
zones.
Along
the
eastern
United
States,
it
is
found
from
Nova
Scotia
to
Texas
and
visits
the
Chesapeake
Bay
region
from
spring
to
autumn.
The
bluefish
is
abundant
in
the
lower
bay
and
common
most
years
in
the
upper
bay,
although
it
is
rare
north
of
Baltimore.

Schools
of
like­
sized
bluefish
can
cover
tens
of
square
miles
and
undertake
extensive
coastal
migrations.
Adults
overwinter
off
the
southeastern
coast
of
Florida
and
begin
a
northerly
migration
in
the
spring,
following
warmer
water
with
local
movements
into
and
out
of
bays
and
sounds.
Their
movement
patterns
are
complex
and
not
well
understood
and
younger
fish
appear
to
follow
different
migratory
routes
than
older
fish.

During
the
northward
migration,
a
spring
spawning
period
occurs
from
Florida
to
southern
North
Carolina.
A
second
spawning
occurs
off
the
mid­
Atlantic
coast
during
the
summer.
In
the
Chesapeake
Bay
area,
peak
spawning
is
in
July
and
occurs
over
the
outer
continental
shelf.
Most
bluefish
mature
at
age
2
and
have
high
fecundity
with
900,000
to
4,500,000
eggs
spawned
per
female.

After
the
spring
spawn,
bluefish
move
shoreward.
The
smaller
fish
generally
enter
Chesapeake
Bay
while
the
larger
fish
head
farther
north.
Early
juveniles
(
considered
such
after
fin
formation
has
occurred)
enter
the
lower
bay
and
its
tributaries
in
the
late
summer
and
fall
where
estuarine
areas
provide
protection,
food,
and
shelter.
In
the
early
autumn,
bluefish
begin
to
migrate
out
of
the
bay
and
move
south
along
the
coast.
Peak
abundance
near
the
bay
mouth
occurs
from
April
to
July
and
again
in
October
and
November.

Bluefish
are
voracious
sight
predators
and
will
feed
on
virtually
any
food
they
can
catch
and
swallow.
The
most
common
prey
are
butterfish,
menhaden,
herring,
sand
lances,
silversides,
mackerel,
anchovies,
sardines,
weakfish,

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bluefish
spotted
seatrout,
croaker,
and
spot.
In
estuarine
areas
like
Chesapeake
Bay,
bluefish
feed
on
bay
anchovies,
white
perch,
shad,
alewife
and
blueback
herring,
and
striped
bass.
They
have
few
predators
and
can
live
up
to
12
years,
growing
to
over
20
pounds.

Fishery
The
bluefish
commercial
fishery
in
Chesapeake
Bay
accounts
for
about
20%
of
the
total
U.
S.
landings
of
bluefish.
Commercial
landings
from
the
bay
were
generally
high
during
the
1930s,
modest
to
poor
from
the
1940s
through
the
1960s
and
again
high
from
the
early
1970s
through
the
mid­
1980s.
In
recent
years,
overfishing
has
become
a
concern.
Historically,
the
commercial
bluefish
harvest
has
been
more
important
in
Virginia
than
in
Maryland,
with
landings
exceeding
those
of
Maryland
about
10
times.
The
predominant
commercial
gear
type
used
in
harvesting
bluefish
from
the
bay
has
been
pound
nets,
with
other
gear
used
including
gill
nets,
otter
trawls,
haul
seines,
and
hand
lines.
Currently,
all
commercial
gears,
except
Virginia's
hook
and
line
fisheries,
are
required
to
have
a
license.

The
bluefish's
aggressive
feeding
habits
and
strong
spirited
fight
make
it
a
popular
and
important
sportfish.
Landings
from
the
recreational
fishery
exceed
commercial
landings
by
about
five
to
six
times.
In
the
Chesapeake
Bay,
bluefish
have
ranked
highest
in
both
number
and
weight
among
sport
fish
nearly
every
year
from
1970
to
1990.
Due
to
the
high
recreational
value,
the
conservation
effort
by
anglers
has
been
strong.

The
1994
Status
of
Fishery
Resources
of
the
Northeastern
United
States
cited
the
stock
as
overharvested.
Between
1980
and
1993,
fishing
mortality
(
F)
increased
from
0.20
to
0.45.
In
1989,
the
Atlantic
States
Marine
Fisheries
Commission
and
the
Mid­
Atlantic
Fishery
Management
Council
developed
a
management
plan
which
made
recommendations
for
management
in
both
state
and
federal
waters.
The
plan
specifies
F0.1
=
0.20
and
an
Fmax
=
0.30.

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Status
Summary
Longterm
Potential
Catch
Importance
of
Recreational
Fishery
Management
of
bluefish
Status
of
Exploitation
Age
at
50%
Maturity
Size
at
50%
Maturity
Assessment
Level
Overfishing
Definition
Fishing
Mortality
Natural
Mortality
137­
150
million
lb/
yr
for
all
Atlantic
coastal
states
Very
important
(
80­
90%
of
total
bluefish
harvest
in
MD
and
VA)
ASMFC
and
MAFMC
in
cooperation
with
NMFS
Fully
exploited
26­
33%
annually
29.5%
annually
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State
Regulations
(
State
regulations
are
links
to
pages
off
the
NCBO
server.
Please
bookmark
this
page
or
use
your
back
button.)

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bluefish
Virginia
Regulations
­
Virginia
Marine
Resources
Commission
(
VMRC)
Commercial
|
Recreational
Maryland
Regulations
­
Maryland
Department
of
Natural
Resources
(
DNR)
Commercial
|
Recreational
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Commercial
Statistics
Commercial
Landings
data
have
been
collected
by
a
variety
of
sources
over
the
years.
Prior
to
1929,
commercial
landings
data
was
collected
by
the
Department
of
the
Interior's
Bureau
of
Commercial
Fisheries
through
Market
house
surveys.
During
the
period
1929­
1944,
catch
and
effort
statistics
for
Maryland
and
Virginia
were
derived
from
correspondence
or
interview
between
captains
of
licensed
fishing
vessels,
wholesale
fisheries
firms,
and
packing
and
canning
houses.
From
1944
through
the
present,
all
Maryland
watermen
have
been
required
by
law
to
maintain
daily
records
of
catch
and
effort
and
report
them
to
the
Maryland
Department
of
Natural
Resources.
Additional
information
for
unlicensed
gear
were
obtained
as
annual
estimates
through
correspondence
and
personal
interviews.
Virginia
continued
with
the
survey
method
through
the
Virginia
Marine
Resources
Commission
and
the
Virginia
Institute
of
Marine
Science
until
January
1,
1993
when
mandatory
reporting
was
passed.
In
1922
(
the
Potomac
River
Fisheries
Commission
began
collecting
fisheries
statistics
in
the
main
stem
of
the
Potomac
River,
leaving
tributaries
to
the
states.
These
organizations
in
turn
send
the
data
(
by
water
water
code,
gear
type,
and
species)
to
the
National
Marine
Fisheries
Service
where
it
is
compiled
annually
by
region.

All
data
from
1880­
1977
was
taken
directly
from
Fisheries
Statistics
of
the
United
States
(
NMFS).
After
1977,
the
Service
stopped
publishing
Chesapeake
Bay
data
by
species.
The
remainder
of
this
database
was
compiled
from
Chesapeake
Bay
general
water
codes.
Prior
to
1952,
Chesapeake
Bay
statistics
were
lumped
by
state
and
included
coastal
bays
and
estuaries.
From
1952
on,
this
database
contains
only
Chesapeake
Bay
mainstem
and
tributary
landings.

Chesapeake
Bay
commercial
statistics
are
available
from
this
site
in
both
summarized
and
detailed
formats.
Summarized
data
contain
graphs
and
tables
of
annual
landings
by
state
and
total
Bay
and
dockside
values.

l
Review
summary
table
and
figure
of
annual
landings
­
baywide.

l
Review
summary
table
and
figure
of
annual
landings
­
Maryland
|
Virginia
You
may
also
download
a
comma­
delimited
ascii
file
containing
detailed
data
by:
species,
year,
state,
pounds
and
value.

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top
Recreational
Statistics
Estimates
of
recreational
catch
and
landings
from
the
Chesapeake
Bay
are
available
for
the
years
1988­
1996.
These
data
have
been
extracted
from
the
National
Marine
Fisheries
Service,
Marine
Recreational
Fishery
Statistics
Survey
(
MRFSS)
data
base
and
provide
estimates
of
fish
caught
within
Maryland
and
Virginia
waters
of
the
Chesapeake
Bay.
Recreational
fishery
statistics
for
all
Maryland
and
Virginia
water,
as
well
as
other
coastal
states
throughout
the
United
States
may
be
obtained
from
the
NMFS
MRFSS
Homepage.
Information
about
this
survey,
its
history
and
how
the
survey
is
conducted
and
the
estimates
derived
are
also
available
at
that
site.
Chesapeake
Bay
recreational
statistics
are
available
from
this
site
in
both
summarized
and
detailed
formats.
Summarized
data
contain
graphs
and
tables
of
annual
landings
or
harvest
data,
by
state
and
total
Bay.
Landings
are
based
on
fish
observed
during
the
survey.
Harvest
is
total
catch
in
pounds,
including
landings
(
whole
and
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bluefish
fillets)
and
fish
released
dead,
i.
e.
all
losses
due
to
fishing.

l
Review
summary
table
and
figure
of
annual
landings
in
numbers.

l
Review
summary
table
and
figure
of
annual
landings
in
pounds.

l
Review
summary
table
and
figure
of
annual
harvest
in
pounds.

You
may
also
download
a
comma­
delimited
ascii
file
containing
detailed
data
by:
species,
year,
state,
area,
and
mode.

Return
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top
Fishery­
independent
Surveys
(
state
surveys)

l
Virginia
Juvenile
Trawl
Survey
­
The
primary
goal
of
the
survey
is
to
develop
indices
of
abundance
for
a
number
of
juvenile
recreationally,
commercially,
and
otherwise
ecologically
important
species.
These
indices
measure
the
relative
size
of
each
year
class
for
the
target
species.
Calculation
of
the
index
is
basically
an
average
catch­
per­
tow
computation,
after
the
data
are
statistically
treated
to
minimize
the
effect
of
extremely
high
and
low
catches.

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Return
to
NOAA
Chesapeake
Bay
Office
Fisheries
noaa
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452520
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For
more
information
contact:
Derek
Orner
NOAA
Chesapeake
Bay
Office
410
Severn
Avenue,
Suite
107
A
Annapolis,
MD
21403
(
410)
267­
5660
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