The Movement Patterns of Tournament Captured Spotted Seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus): Implications and Consequences of Catch-and-Release Tagging

This study was conducted to examine the catch and release mortality and movement patterns of tournament captured spotted seatrout (Cynoscion nebulosus) among South Texas estuaries.  Concerns over the declining spotted seatrout populations have prompted many tournament organizers to adopt a live release format.  Tournament fish are subjected to greater stresses than typical catch and release activities which necessitates an investigation of post capture survival.  Movement information is important to elucidate the potential sub population mixing effects of releasing fish from unknown regions in one single body of water. Specifically, the null hypothesis was that the chances of survival would be lower in tournament captured spotted seatrout compared to traditionally caught specimens after surgical tagging.  Twenty fish from two different tournament events were surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters and released into the Upper Laguna Madre.  The movements of tagged fish were tracked with stationary receivers placed throughout the Upper and Lower Laguna Madre and passes connecting these systems with the Gulf of Mexico.  To date, fifteen of the twenty fish have been detected on receivers indicating a 75% survival rate.   Movement patterns indicate that tournament released trout moved unpredictably throughout the acoustic array.  Our results suggest that there is potential for genetic drift to occur due to the introduction of seatrout from differing subpopulations into non-natal estuaries.  To clarify impacts of mixing subpopulations future studies should include genetic analysis of captured and released fish.  The movement study is an ongoing project and we anticipate tracking seatrout movements for an additional year.