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ANADROMOUS FISHERIES RESEARCH PROGRAM TAR-PAMLICO RIVER 7 By Jess H. Hawkins North Carolina Department of Natural Resources and Community Development Division of Marine Fisheries Morehead City, NC 28557 May 1980 Attachment to Completion Report for Project AFCS-13 SH 221.5 N67 H39 '9,0 ABSTRACT Investigations into several aspects of the life histories of blueback herring, alewife, hickory shad, American shad, striped bass, and Atlantic sturgeon were continued during 1977-79, according to procedures initiated by anadromous studies during 1974-76 in the Tar-Pamlico River. Nursery areas of anadromous juveniles were monitored, as was growth, movement, and relative abundance. Year class composition and spawning repetition were determined for adult blueback herring and American shad, 1978-79. TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . STUDY AREA . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . MATERIALS AND METHODS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nursery Area Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Adult Fish Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 RESULTS AND DISCUSSION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Nursery Area Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Blueback herring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5 Alewife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 American shad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Hickory shad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Striped bass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Atlantic sturgeon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Adult Fish Sampling . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Blueback herring . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ... 19 Alewife . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 American shad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Hickory shad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 Striped bass . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 22 SUMMARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 25 LITERATURE CITED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 INTRODUCTION The 1977-79 Tar-Pamlico River anadromous investigation represents work conducted under Job 5 of Project AFCS-13 "Anadromous Fisheries Research Program- Neuse River." Activities included investigation of juvenile anadromous fish year class, strength, adult year class composition, and spawning repetition, when feasible. Marshall (1976) provided a complete introduction and description of@ the previous Tar-Pamlico River investigation (Project AFCS-10, 1974-76) after which this study was modeled. STUDY AREA Marshall (1976) provided a detailed description of the Tar-Pamlico River basin (Figure 1). MATERIALS AND METHODS Nursery Area Sampling Monthly nursery area sampling was conducted on the Tar-Pamlico River during May-December, 1977-79. A total of 23 stations (22 trawl, 1 seine) were chosen in 1977 for juvenile monitoring from the 54 established by Marshall (1976). Sampling locations are shown in Figure 2. In 1978, 28 trawl and seven seine stations were selected as juvenile monitoring sites for the Tar-Pamlico River. All seine stations during 1977-79 were pulled with the 60 ft (18.3 m) seine described earlier in this report. One seine haul equaled one unit-of-effort. All 1977 trawl stations were sampled with the 26 ft (7.9 m) head rope wing trawl, also described-previously. During 1978-79 only inland trawl stations (7) were pulled with the wing.trawl. The other 1978-79 trawl stations were monitored with a 1/4 in (primary stations) and 3/4 in (secondary stations) stretched mesh flat trawls described previously in the report. Primary stations were sampled for one minute at 1800.rpm and secondary stations, five minutes at 2200 rpm. A one minute tow was considered one unit-of-effort. 2 78 -r .90 COASTAL NORTH CAROLINA ALBEMARLE SOUND 36- OREGO14 I NL E-T 4f4 CIO PAMLICO SOUND CAPE HATTERAS OCRACOKE INLE-1 I DRUM INLET 70 CAPE LOOKOUT c4A A@ ATLANTIC OCEAN SCALE 34 to a so *0 WL90 . ? Be 40 KILOWTERS 7@7 Figure l.. PamliCo River basin. N 0 > 0 0 PUNCG;O 0 3) 0 P,4 4f, 1CO A41XOiV CR WRIG T R it V'rp Stations 1977 -seine 1977 Wing.tiawl.. ra 1978-79 primary trawl 1978-79 secondary trawl 1978-79 seine Figure 2. - Monthly (May-December) juvenile sampling stations in the Pamlico Nver, 1977-1979. CANNON Swp C'* R1 ER WASHINGTON TAR GREENVILLE rn 0 r% miles 0 T 1977-79 wing trawls Figure 2. cont"inued. 5 Adult Fish Sampling Adult anadromous fish commercial landings were sampled at six locations in Pamlico River and northern Pamlico Sound to determine species composition and age-class structure of anadromou s fishes during 1978-79 (Figure 3). Each sample site was visited weekly beginning in mid-February and continued until catches became insignificant. Gill nets of various mesh sizes were also set in the main stem and tributaries to collect adults. Fork lengths of adults were measured to the nearest millimeter. Scales of clupeids were taken from the left side, below the insertion of the dorsal. fin, and just above the mid- line as suggested by Rothschild (1963) and Marcy (1969). Striped bass scales were taken just behind the tip of the pectoral fin. Approximately 20 were taken from each fish, and the scales were read on a microfiche reader. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Nursery Area Sampling During May-December, 1977-79, a total of 14,974 juvenile anadromous fishes were captured in the Tar-Pamlico River. The most abundant juvenile anadromous fish ca ught was blueback herring (14,541),,far surpassing American shad (207), al ewife (189), hickory shad (6), and striped bass (37). Juveniles were captured with wing trawls, seines, flat trawls and other supplemental gears. As on the Neuse River, wing trawls and seines were more effective than flat trawls as juvenile anadromous sampling devices (Table 1). The wing trawl was by far the most effective sampling gear, catching 99% of the total juveniles sampled in the Tar-Pamlico River. Wing trawl stations were located furthest upstream near areas frequently inhabited by anadromous juveniles. This characteristic probably influenced the high catch-per-unit-effort values obtained with the wing traw 1. Blueback herring The large number (14,541) of juvenile blueback herring captured permitted verification of the nursery areas described by Marshall (1976). Juvenile blueback herring were caught throughout the Tar-Pamlico River (Figure 4), but 6 TS -17 76 36 COASTAL NORTH CAR IOLINA ALBEMARLE SOUND OREGON A sample site 4f4 '?/V PAMLICO 4e CAPE SOUND HATTERAS OCRACOKE INLET 35- -35 P DRUM INLET 7-0 'tke 0 CAPE LOO KOUT ID ATLANT[C OCEAN, SCALE 34 34- Figure 3. Commercial adult fish sampling sites in the Pamlico River, NC, 1978-79. Table 1. - Relative catch of juvenile anadromous fish by gear for Tar-Pamlico River, NC, 1977-1979. .Gear Wing trawl 1/4" Flat trawl Seine Year 1977 1978 1979 1977-79 1977 1978 1979 1977 -79 1977 1978 1979 1977-79 Effort 354 175 190 719 0 166 9 175 3 34 31 68 - Blueback herring Catch 5927 2397 6 8330 0 7 0 7 0 11 0 11 CPUE 16.7 13.7 .03 11.6 0.0 .04 0 .04 0.0 .32 0.0 .16 Percent 100 99 100 99 0 <1 0 <1 0 <1 0 <1 American shad Catch 36 153 6 195 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CPUE .1 .9 .03 .27 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Percent 100 100 100 100 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Alewife Catch 0 0 0 0 0 18 0 18 0 0 0 0 CPUE 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0 .1 0.0 .1 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Percent 0 0 0 0 0 100 0 100 0 0 0 0 Hickory shad Catch 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 CPUE 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 Percent 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 Striped bass Catch 0 0 0 0 0 5 0 5 0 26 0 26 CPUE 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 0.0 .03 0.0 .03 0.0 .76 0.0 .38 Percent 0 0 0 0 0 16 0 16 0 84 0 84 Total Catch B525 30 37 CPUE 11.9 0.2 .5 Percent by Gear 99 .4 .5 8 favored the area from Blounts Creek to Greenville.- These areas are characterized by deep, black swamp water drainage, mud bottoms, and low salinity, all of which were noted by Marshall (1976). Juvenile blueback herring were generally distributed throughout the nursery areas after spawning. Juveniles were caught both in tributaries and the main stem, apparently utilizing the main section as a migration route to estuarine waters. Juvenile movement.from inland areas appeared to begin in August when catch-per-unit-effort values dropped significantly (Figure 5). Marshall (1976) also noted juvenile movement into estuarine waters in the fall, and documented movement into Pamlico Sound during December, January, and February. Growth curves for the 1977, 1978, and 1979 year classes of juvenile blueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River have been plotted (Figure 6). Growth curves for the 1977 and 1978 year classes appear very similar, both being generally flat after July. The growth curves were considerably flatter than those found by Marshall (1976) and also those plotted for blueback herring in the Neuse River during 1977-79. Juvenile blueback herring from the Tar-Pamlico River were consistently smaller than those sampled in the Neuse River during corresponding time periods. The average difference in juvenile size for each corresponding month was about 6 mm. This difference could be related to variations in food availability, feeding selectivity, differing growth efficiencies, length of stay in the nursery areas or other factors. Juvenile wing trawl sampling was conducted according to standard procedures in order to compare relative numbers of juveniles each year. Table 2 exhibits relative abundance of juvenile blueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River, 1977- 1979. Strong juvenile year classes are evident in 1977 and 1978 relative to 1979. Juvenile blueback herring catches in 1979 indicate that that particular year produced one of the poorer blueback herring year classes since juvenile sampling began in 1974. Alewife Only 181 juvenile alewife were collected from the Tar-Pamlico River during 1977-79. Most of these juveniles were caught in the lower Pamlico and Pungo River area during the fall (Figure 7). These estuarine waters are character-.- istically much saltier than the upstream areas of the Tar-Pamlico. The alewife WASHINGTON BELHAVEN PUNco C:7_ P4 JC0 cl@ Capture site AURORA Figure 4. rapture sites of juvenile hlueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River, 1977-1979. 10 CANNOOV SwP jP TAR RI R WASHINGTON GREENVILLE % 71@ 0 5 m;les ':A A Capture site Figure 4. continued. 1977 1978 50 - 1979 40- 30- 20- 10- ------------ "I" May June July Aug Sept Oct Nov Month Figure 5. J@venile blueback herring catch-per-unit-effort by month (May-Nov) in the Tar-Pamlico River, NIC, 1977-79. 1977 1978 ............ 1979 60 50 V n= 6 n=786 40 0 114 n=447 30 oo de U June July Aug Sept Oct Month Figure 6. Mean fork length of juvenile blueback herring by month, June-Oct, in the Tar-Pamlico River, NC, 1977-79. 13 Table 2. - Relative abundance of juvenile blueback herring captured by wing trawls in the Tar-Pamlico River, NC, May-October, 1977-1979. (Only similar 1977-1979 wing trawl stations are used for datQ Tar-Pamlico River 1977 1978 1979 N CPUE N CPUE N CPUE May 0* 0.0 0 0.0 0* 0.0 June 1575 42.6 232 6.62 4 .11 July 2775 39.1 1712 48.91 0* 0.0 August 324 3.9 116 3.31 2 .06 September 369 4.1 150 4.28 0 0.0 October 884 12.3 187 5.34 0 0.0 Total 5927 16.7 2397 11.4 6 .03 No sampling performed WASHINGTON BELHAVEN PUN(;0 P4 Jeo 0 LA cl@ Z Capture site AURORA Figure 7. Capture sites of juvenile alewife in the Tar-Pamlico River, NC, 1977-79. 15 ranged in size from 35-125 mm and were caught from June through November. One yearling mal-e alewife (125 mm) with developed gonads were captured 12 May 1978 near Broad Creek on the Tar-Pamlico, a phenomenon previously reported by Foerster and Goodbred (1978)in Upper Chesapeake Bay and also noticed in Albemarle Sound (Harrel B. Johnson, personal communication). American shad Marshall (1976) reported capturing juvenile American shad in the Tar-Pamlico River from Hardee Creek to Tranter's Creek; however, only 11 juveniles were caught, preventing nursery area identification. Far more juvenile American shad (204) were caught in the Tar-Pamlico River during 1977-79, which allowed delineation of nursery areas for the first time. Approximately 90% of the shad were caught from Hardee Creek to the Cannon Swamp area during July and August. Juvenile shad were also caught in the lower reaches of the Tar River and in the Pamlico River near Washington (Figure 8). The juvenile American shad ranged in size from 29-67 mm, with most of the fish being caught during July and August. Hickory shad Only six juvenile hickory shad were caught in the Tar-Pamlico River during 1977-79. All juveniles were caught upstream from Chocowinity Creek (Figure 9). Fork lengths ranged from 36-62 mm, with all the juveniles being caught in June. Striped bass Monthly juvenile sampling during 1977-79 yielded 37 striped bass juveniles, with a size range of 35-165 mm. All the young striped bass were caught in 1978 and 1979. A majority (88%) of these fish were caught in July at a size range of 35-65 mm. Four were caught in August (range: 75-85 mm), and one in November (165 mm). In addition, two yearling stripers were caught near Bath Creek during May 1979 at 245and 275 mm. Juvenile stripers were caught from above Washington in the Tar River to the Pungo Creek area in the Pungo River (Figure 10) at salinities of 0-4.5 ppt. Highest catches were recorded from Broad Creek and South Creek. 16 q CANNON SwP C'# TAR R ER WASHINGTON GREENVILLE C'# L miles Capture site Figure fapture sitesof juvenile American shad in the Tar-Pamlico River,NC, f977-1979.. 17 CANNON SwP TAR RIVER ASHINGTON GREENVILLE r% 5 ---------- miles 0 10 capture site Figure 9. Capture sites of juvenile hickory shad in the Tar-Pamlico River, NC, 1977-79. WASHINGTON BELHAVEN co PUNG P4 R ICO 0 0 .A cl@ JT capture site AURORA Figure 10. Capture sites of juvenile and young-of-the-year striped bass in the Tar-Paml 1977-79. The juvenile striped bass appeared to show no preference for fresh or brackish water. Interestingly, most (70%) of the young striped bass from the Tar-Pamlico River were caught with seine, usually over sandy bottoms and near grass beds. Although striped bass juvenile numbers were low, the catch in 1978 appears to be significant. No young striped bass had been reported since 1974, when a stocking program influenced juvenile catches. The capture of juvenile striped bass in 1978 provides the first possible.picture of young striped bass nursery areas in the Tar-Pamlico River. The juvenile catches in the Tar-Pamlico appear indicative of a successful spawning season in 1978, relative to previous years and 1979. Atlantic sturgeon No young Atlantic stu rgeon were caught in the study area during 1977-79. Adult Fish Sampling Blueback herring Gill net sampling and commercial fish house sampling produced 245 blueback herring scale samples for age examination. Results from 1979 are shown in Tables 3 and 4, while Tables 5 and 6 show the results from 1978-79. No blueback herring were sampled for age analysis in 1977. Age structure closely resembles that from the Neuse River and previous Tar-Pamlico River studies. The predominant male ages were four and five, and the females, four, five and six. Fifty-five percent of the female blueback herring were repeat spawners, while only 22 percent of the males spawned previously. Reasons for the discrepancy between sexes are unknown, for Marshall (1976).found that 59 percent of the females and 71 percent of the males ;howed evidence of repeat spawning in the Tar-Pamlico River after examining 1,099 blueback herring scale samples. Alewife Very few..alewife (35) were examined for age analysis during 1977-79. The majority of the fish sampled were four and five years old and had not spawned previously. Alewife were very rarely encountered when sampling commercial fish houses on the Tar-Pamlico River. 20 Table 3. Age and spawning frequency of blueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River, 1979. Spawning marks 0 1 2 3 4 Total Sex M F M F M F M F M F M F Age 111 1 1 0 IV 66 13 66 13 11 38 13 24 5 64 18 VI 6 4 1 C! 13 1 1 17 1 R VII 2 1 3 4 5 5 VIII 1 0 1 Total 105 26 30 9 14 14 4 5 0 1 151 55 Percent 69 47 20 16 9 26 2 9 0 2 jable 4. Size and age composition of blueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River, 1979. Total Percent of Mean fork Age number samples length(mm) Lengthrange(mm) M F !j F M F M F 111 1 0 1 0 232 - - IV 66 13 43 24 242 253 229-268 245-2P2 V 64 lF 42 33 255 259 235-270 247-277 VI 17 le 11 261 270 240-274 242-2PS VII 5 5 3 264 2F5 242-274 278-292 VIII 0 1 0 2 - 290 - - T -5 3 -75-- 21 Table 5. Age and spawning frequency of biueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River, 1978-1979. Spawning marks 0 1 2 3 4 Total Sex M F N F M r7 04 Age 111 1 1 0 IV 81 19 81 19 V 43 26 8 12 4 1 55 39 VI 7 4 11 15 1 1 19 21 VII 2 1 3 4 5 4 VIII 1 0 1 Total 125 45 15 16 17 17 4 6 161 P4 Percent 7P 54 9 19 11 20 2 7 Table 6. Size and age composition of blueback herring in the Tar-Pa'mlico River, 1978-1979. Total Percent of Mean fork Age number samples length(mm) Length range(mm) M F M F M F M F 111 1 0 1 0 232 - - - IV '01 19 50 23 244 254 229-268 245-282 V 55 39 34 46 256 264 235-270 247-282 VI 19 21 12 25 261 270 240-268 242-274 VII 5 4 3 5 264 285 242-274 278-292 VIII 0 1 0 1 - 290 - - T _61- @4 22 American sha d A total of 280 American shad were sampled for age determination in the Tar- Pamlico River during 1978-79. Results from 1979 are presented in Tables 7 and 8, and the results from 1978-79 are presented in Tables 9 and 10. Age structure is very similar to that found in the Pamlico River area by Marshall (1976) and also to that seen in the Neuse River. Most (82%) of the male shad were four and five years old, while the majority (90%) of the females were five and six. Two percent of the total sample were repeat spawners, much smaller than the 19% reported by Marshall (1976). Hickory shad Very few hickory.shad (30) were sampled for age determination on the Tar- Pamlico River. The commercial fishery for hickory shad is insignificant on the Tar-Pamlico. The majority of the fish sampled were three and four years old. Striped bass The number of striped bass encountered in the commercial fish house sampling were too small to make any statement pertaining to age structure in the Tar- Pamlico River. 23 Table 7. Age and spawning frequency of American shad in Pamlico Sound and River, 1979. Spawning marks 0 1 2 3 Total Sex M F M F M F M F M F Age IV 19 20 19, 20 V 19 148 4 19 152 VI P 56 3 8 59 VII 1 1 1 0 3 Total 46 229 0 .9 0 0 0 1 46 234 Percent 100 96 0 3 0 0 0 1 Table 8. Size and age composition of American shad in Pamlico Sound and River, 1979. Total Percent of Mean fork Age number samples length(mm) Length range(mm,_) F M F M F F IV 19 20 41 9 404 429 360-435 340-458 V 19 152 41 65 425 464 390-490 420-506 VI 9 59 17 25 452 486 430-510 450-575 VII 0 3 0 1 - 523 - 510-530 46 234 24 *Table 9. Age and spawning frequency of American shad in Pamlico Sound and River, 1973-1979. Spawning marks 0 1 2 3 Total Sex M F M F M F M F M F Age 111 2 2 0 IV 12 2 8 1 33 28 V 94 257 6 9 90 266 VI 12 F7 1 3 2 15 90 VII. 9 1 1 0 4 Total 130 374 8 13 2 0 0 1 140 388 Percent 93 96 6 3 1 0 0 1 Table 10. -Size and age composition of American shad in Pamlico Sound and River, 197P-1979. Total Percent of Mean fork Age number samples length(mm) Length range(mm) I h! 'i F F M F !i 111 2 0 1 0 395 - 375-415 IV 33 28 24 7 408 435 350-435 340-371 V 90 266 64 69 428 464 390-490 417-520 VI 15 90 11 23 451 472 430-510 439-524 VII 0 4 0 1 - 515 490-530 T40 "@_a 8 25 SUMMARY 1. Nursery areas for juvenile blueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River ranged from the Hardee Creek area to Blounts Creek. 2. Catch-per-unit-effort values indicate that juvenile blueback herring in the Tar-Pamlico River appeared to initiate movement into estuarine waters during August, 1977 and 1978. 3. Growth curves were plotted for juvenile blueback herring year-classes in the Tar-Pamlico River during 1977-79, being much flatter than those found previously in the Tar-Pamlico and also in the Neuse River during the corresponding time period. 4. Catch-per-unit-effort data indicate that the 1977 and 1978 year classes of juvenile blueback herring were significantly larger than the year class of 1979. 5. A majority of the juvenile alewife sampled in the Tar-Pamlico River came from the Pungo River, apparently preferring the higher salinity are as of the river system. 6. One sexually mature male alewife (125 mm)was captured in the Tar-Pamlico River in 1978, a phenomena also reported in Chesapeake Bay. 7. Juvenile American shad nursery areas were ident.ified in the Tar-Pamlico River for the first time, extending from the Hardee Creek area to Washington. 8. Tentative juvenile striped bass nursery areas were identified in the Tar.- Pamlico River during 1978, based on the distribution of 37 juveniles. These striped bass represent the first collection of naturally-occurring juveniles in the Tar-Pamlico River. Highest catches were recorded at Broad and South Creeks. 9. Adult blueback herring sampled in the Tar-Pamlico River during 1978-79 ranged in age from three to eight years. Males were predominantly four and five, ind females, four, five, and six. Twenty-two percent of the males and 55% of the female blueback herring were repea t spawners. 10. Adult American shad sampled in the Tar-Pamlico River during 1978-79 ranged in age from three to seven years. Males were dominated (82%) by.four and five year olds and females (90%) by five and six year old fish. Two percent of the total sample were repeat spawners. LITERATURE CITED 26 Foerster, J. W. and S. L. Goodbred. 1978. Evidence for a resident alewife population in northern Chesapeake Bay. Estuar.Coast. Mar. Sci., 7: 437-444. Marcy, B. P., Jr. 1969. Age determinations from scales of Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson) and Alosa aestivalis (Mitchill) in Connecticut waters. Trans. Am. Fish. Soc., 98(4): 622-630. Marshall, M. D. 1976. Anadromous fisheries research program-Tar River, Pamlico River, and northern Pamlico Sound. Completion report for Project AFCS-10, N.C. Dept. Nat. Econ. Res., Div. Mar. Fish., 90p. Rothschild, B., J. 1963. A critique of the scale method for determining the ages of the alewife, Alosa pseudoharengus (Wilson). Trans. Am. Fish. Soc., 92(4): 409-413. 3 6668 14108 7686