SEASTARS
Site Fidelity and Dispersion of Reef Fishes Tagged at Unreported Artificial Reef Sites off Pensacola
Author(s): Dustin T. Addis , William F. Patterson , Michael A. Dance
Abstract:
A fish tagging study was conducted at unpublished artificial reefs (n=9) located 15-20
miles south of Pensacola, FL. Fish (n = 3,110) were tagged with anchor tags on quarterly
tagging trips from March 2005 to December 2007 to estimate species-specific site fidelity
and movement. The most frequently tagged species were red snapper (n = 2,114), red porgy
(n = 422), gray triggerfish (n = 267), and gag (n = 96). Eighty-six tagged individuals
were recaptured at tagging reefs on subsequent trips and fishers reported a total of 225
fish caught away from reefs. Mark-recapture modeling results indicate that red snapper
displayed low site fidelity (21% y-1), while higher site fidelity was observed but not
quantified for groupers and gray triggerfish...