Life history data for spotted seatrout was collected to support fisheries management in six northwest Florida bay systems: Apalachicola, St. Joseph, St. Andrew, Choctawhatchee, Pensacola, and Perdido Bay. The dataset was compiled by NOAA's National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI) and contains processed information on age, growth, mortality, and spawning. Data collection concluded in August 1996.
Use Cases
- Modeling age-growth relationships using otolith-derived age and length data.
- Estimating mortality rates and spawning seasonality from demographic time series.
- Comparing age and size at maturity across six different estuary systems.
- Analyzing the age-size composition of the recreational fishery catch.
Strengths
- Focuses on six specific estuary systems for comparative analysis.
- Contains processed demographic parameters (age, growth, mortality, spawning) ready for analysis.
- Data supports specific management objectives for a key recreational species.
Limitations
- Exact sample size (number of fish) is unknown.
- Data is temporally limited, covering a period ending in 1996.
- Geographic scope is restricted to northwest Florida, not the entire Gulf of Mexico.
Provenance
- Source
- NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI Accession 0156765).
- Collection Method
- Field sampling and laboratory processing (e.g., otolith reading) for demographic parameters.
- Time Range
- 1994 to 1996.
- Freshness
- Data collection concluded in 1996; it is a historical snapshot.
- Geography
- Six estuary systems in northwest Florida: Apalachicola, St. Joseph, St. Andrew, Choctawhatchee, Pensacola, and Perdido Bays.