KEVIN R. PINER AND CYNTHIA M. JONES, Old Dominion University, Applied Marine Research Institute, 1034 West 45th Street, Norfolk, Virginia 23529, USA

Spot are an important component of the Virginia commercial catch. Little management directed information exists that is specific to Chesapeake Bay spot. The objectives of this research were to model spot growth, estimate spot mortality rates and model spot yield-per-recruit under likely mortality and growth scenarios and interpret the results in the context of Sciaenid life history. Spot observed lengths at age were highly variable. The Von Bertalanffy growth model was a good fit to both male and female spot. No difference between sexes was found and a Von Bertalanffy model was fit to combined sex data. Total annual instantaneous mortality (Z) estimated from maximum age ranged from 1.5 to 2.3. Yield-per-recruit modeling indicates that under conservative scenarios, spot harvest levels in the Chesapeake Bay are below maximum potential harvest levels.