302 NOAA First U.S. Commissioner National Marine Fishery Bulletin established 1881 of Fisheries and founder Fisheries Service of Fishery Bulletin Abstract—We used scuba over fixed- width strip transects to monitor sea- Seasonal changes in abundance and compelling sonal abundances of brown rockfish evidence of migration for 2 rockfish species (Sebastes auriculatus) and copper rockfish (S. caurinus) on a nearshore (Sebastes auriculatus and S. caurinus) inhabiting artificial reef in Puget Sound, Wash- ington, over a 7-year period. Spring a nearshore, temperate-water artificial reef and fall abundances were intermedi- ate and marked transitional phases Larry L. LeClair (contact author) between seasons of highest (sum- Ocean Eveningsong mer) and lowest (winter) abundance for both species. Analyses of length Jesse M. Schultz classes indicated that the numbers of seasonal juvenile recruits were Email for contact author:
[email protected] not sufficient to account for the marked differences in abundance Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife between summer and winter. For 600 Capitol Way North both species, the proportion of large Olympia, Washington 98501 fish (≥20 cm in total length) to the total number observed in summer and winter was significantly greater during the winter. Late-stage gravid brown rockfish occurred in greatest abundance during the spring and late-stage gravid copper rockfish Understanding fish movement is par- epis) also undergo seasonal migra- were observed only in the summer. amount to the design and implemen- tions (St-Pierre2), and establishment We examined auxiliary data from tation of effective resource conser- of the commercial fishery season by a genetics study of brown rockfish vation and management strategies.