Relationship between reported commercial landings and abundance of young striped bass in Chesapeake Bay, Maryland

The ability to predict subsequent landings of striped bass Morone saxatilis from the indices of abundance of juveniles (young of the year) determined annually by the Maryland Department of Natural Resources was evaluated by multiple‐regression techniques. About 57% of the variation in reported landings could be accounted for by the juvenile indices 2, 3, 4, and 5 years prior to the year of the landings for the period 1959–1983. Elimination of the first 4 years of record (1959–1962) increased the R² to 0.83. The regressions of reported landings on the indices of ages 2–5 striped bass for the periods 1964–1973 and 1974–1983 indicated that mortality in the fishable stock increased between the two periods. These results support the use of the juvenile indices for monitoring recruitment into the population and as a basis for management decisions.