NOAA smalltooth sawfish monitoring survey-FY22: Relative abundance and essential fish habitat studies for smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata, in southwest Florida, USA

Life history characteristics, abundance, habitat use, movement, and migration patterns are necessary to facilitate the recovery of the U.S. Distinct Population Segment (DPS) of smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata. A multi-disciplinary approach focusing research on action items listed in the Smalltooth Sawfish Recovery Plan (NOAA 2009a) has occurred since 2009. One of the high priority tasks outlined in the plan is abundance and recruitment of juvenile sawfish. In addition, identifying habitat use and movements of both juvenile and mature sawfish are of high priority. One of the most important regions for young-of-the-year (YOY) and small juveniles is coastal southwest Florida (Seitz and Poulakis 2002, Poulakis and Seitz 2004, Simpfendorfer and Wiley 2005, Wiley and Simpfendorfer 2007). This report describes the results from the 2022 NOAA Fisheries Panama City Laboratory juvenile smalltooth sawfish monitoring survey in southwest Florida from Marco Island to Florida Bay as well as the large juvenile and mature sawfish survey conducted by Florida State University spanning Everglades National Park (including Florida Bay) and inshore/offshore of the Florida Keys, both conducted under protected species permit #ESA 22078, EVER-2021-SCI-0037, and EVER-2022-SCI-0021.

Kroetz, A. M., Carlson, J. K., & Grubbs, R. D. (2023). NOAA smalltooth sawfish monitoring survey-FY22: Relative abundance and essential fish habitat studies for smalltooth sawfish, Pristis pectinata, in southwest Florida, USA. https://doi.org/10.25923/kwev-5p06