PAUL MEDDERS AND A. G. WOODWARD, Georgia Department of Natural Resources, One Conservation Way, Brunswick, Georgia 31523, USA

Harvest restrictions, temporal/spatial aspects of angling effort, and variable distribution of red drum all introduce bias in the fishery-dependent data used in age-structured assessments of Atlantic Coast red drum. Monofilament trammel nets were used to collect subadult red drum from St. Simons and Altamaha estuaries in coastal Georgia during 1994-1996. A total 1,482 fish were captured of which 1,269 were marked with external tags and released. The length composition of trammel net samples and fishery-dependent data from the Marine Recreational Fishery Statistics Survey were dissimilar. The 19% angler return rate for tagged subadult red drum <450 mm was significantly greater than that observed for larger fish (7%). These data indicate that larger subadults are more abundant and escapement to the spawning biomass may be greater than previously estimated. Consequently, trammel net data can be used with regional stock assessments to more accurately describe the status of Atlantic Coast red drum.