Analysis of Populations of Sports and Commercial Fin-Fish in the Coastal Bays of Texas

Abstract

Juvenile food and game fish were sampled in all bay areas with 60-foot bag seines; adults were sampled with trammel nets and drag seines. Juvenile redfish, Sciaenops ocellata, were more abundant in 1965 than in 1964 in the Galveston Bay, Matagorda Bay, and Lower Laguna Madre areas, but were less abundant in Corpus Christi Bay and th Upper Lanuna Madre. Juvenile trout, Cynoscion nebulosus, numbers declined in Galveston Bay and the Laguna Madre and were more abundant in Aransas Bay and San Antonio Bay. Juvenile black drum, Pogonias cromis, were less abundant in all areas, while young flounder Paralichthys lethostigma, were generally more abundant. No increases were noted for adult black drum, and there was a decline in most areas. Redfish and trout became more numerous in the fresher water bays (Galveston, Matagorda, San Antonio), but generally decreased along the lower coasts, where sheepshead increased in numbers.