JUVENILE TARPON HABITATS

Project Title: Defining juvenile tarpon habitats

Knowing the habitats needed by juvenile fishes is essential to fisheries conservation. In many cases, the loss of juvenile habitats is a major factor in the decline of fish populations. In fact, although overfishing has generally been blamed for the inability of many fish populations to recover, it has become clear that loss of habitat is equally important. Although the general habitat requirements of juvenile tarpon are known (backwater habitats such as mangrove marshes and coastal streams), which habitats are most important, where these habitats are located, and which juvenile habitats produce the most adult tarpon are unknown.

Long-lived fish like tarpon (tarpon live at least 60 years) are especially susceptible to population crashes from juvenile habitat loss. For example, even if no new juveniles grow up and enter the population because their habitats have been damaged, the population can remain the same size as the existing adults age. Then, as the older adults begin to die off naturally (perhaps decades later), the population size suddenly decreases. Unfortunately, by this point things are decades behind in efforts to restore the stocks.

Based on very limited information to date, it is likely that the Everglades is the most important nursery habitat for tarpon in the continental United States. Yet there are virtually no scientific data on juvenile tarpon in the Everglades. Considerably more effort must occur in the Florida Everglades to understand what habitats are most important and how they are used by juvenile tarpon. This information can then be applied to research in other locations in the Caribbean-Western Atlantic to identify important juvenile tarpon habitats.

This research will identify juvenile tarpon habitats, determine spatial and temporal patterns of this habitat use, and determine which habitats are most important to tarpon populations.

• Total Project Cost: $75,000
• Matching Funds: $30,000
• Requested Funds: $40,000