MEPS prepress abstract   -  DOI: https://doi.org/10.3354/meps14718

ABSTRACT: Understanding larval transport pathways and retention is important for fisheries management and predicting recruitment variability. We investigated how mesoscale circulation patterns influence the retention and dispersal of larval rockfish (Sebastes spp.) within the California Current System off the western coast of the United States. Using a 25-year record of satellite-derived geostrophic and Ekman velocity fields, Lagrangian particle tracking simulations were implemented to find pathways of passively drifting virtual particles representing rockfish larvae. Statistical fates of particles were averaged to reveal mean spatial and temporal patterns in retention and distance traveled. Yearly retention values were compared to observed pelagic juvenile rockfish abundance collected on annual surveys. Retention patterns varied spatially throughout the region, with the Southern California Bight emerging as a highly retentive region. Interannual variability in overall retention was positively related to the abundance of pelagic juvenile rockfish collected in the same year. Our analyses provide evidence supporting the successful implementation of the geographic placement of the Cowcod Conservation Areas, which were spatial closures implemented in the early 2000s to rebuild overfished rockfishes, and illustrate the utility of numerical simulations for understanding retention and transport of pelagic larvae such as rockfish.