White Seabass

Management and History of the White Seabass Fishery

The white seabass is an economically important species that has historically been targeted by commercial and recreational fisheries throughout their functional range.  Over the past 100 years of exploitation, it has become apparent that white seabass are highly susceptible to overfishing, with stocks plummeting on at least three different occasions.  This susceptibility is likely due to a combination of factors, including relatively slow growth, the long-lived nature of the species, variability in recruitment success and the aggregating behaviors displayed by this specie during the spawning season.  

Since 2005, PIER has engaged in several research projects focused on improving white seabass management.  The goal of this work has been to strategically address data poor areas and help managers better sculpt regulations that translate into a sustainable future for the white seabass fishery. 

Tracking the Movement Patterns of White Seabass

In 2006 PIER launched a comprehensive multi-year project to better understand the vertical and horizontal movement patterns, catch rates, and temperature preferences of the white seabass.

This project is a multi-phased study that uses electronic tags to document depth distribution, temperature preferences and migration patterns of white seabass along the California and Baja California coastlines.  The work partners with Mexican colleagues at CICESE and has been the focus of two independent doctoral dissertations.  

Adult white seabass are tagged and released during the spring and summer months in areas where spawning aggregations are targeted by the recreational fleet.  To date, the PIER team has deployed over 500 archival tags in white seabass ranging from 28 to 60 inches (7 to 65 lbs).

Chairman Tom Pfleger tagging a white seabass at Catalina Island

PIER has now published three different manuscripts on the movements, depth preferences and catch rates of white seabass tagged off the West Coast.  The team is now focused on age and growth, size at first maturity and age validation.  

The success of this project continues to be dependent upon fisher involvement through the return of recaptured tags. The return of a recaptured tag receives a reward of $250 and a tagging project T-shirt. Reward and contact information are labeled on all tags.

This work has been generously supported by the George T. Pfleger Foundation and the Offield Family Foundation.

PIER continues to recognizes the importance of documenting accurate age and growth parameters for sustainable management of white seabass.  PIER is currently collaborating with Partners in

Mexico as well as the California Department of Fish and Wildlife on studies documenting the age at first maturity, age validation and understanding differences in growth rates along the range of this species. 

Passive Acoustic Detection of White Seabass Spawning Aggregations

BIOLOGY AND SOUND PRODUCTION

Since 2008, PIER has maintained a long-term passive acoustic array that monitors and records white seabass spawning sounds in the wild.  This work uses Loggerhead Instruments Acoustic Data loggers to record sound production and spawning activity within several of the newly appointed Southern California Marine Protected Areas (MPAs).

MPA sites are continuously monitored throughout the Spring and Summer spawning seasons and compared with acoustic records from sites situated within similar, non-reserve habitats.  Recorders are periodically serviced by a dive team and downloaded for subsequent analysis in the PIER laboratory.

To validate the acoustic recordings the PIER team also performs periodic egg trawls and actively samples mature white seabass to verify fish spawning condition.

This work is supported by the George T. Pfleger Foundation, the Offield Family Foundation and Southern California Edison.