Stock Status - Overfished -The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission (ASFMC) has classified the coastwide tautog population as overfished. Spawning stock biomass is low and fishing mortality exceeds the management target from Massachusetts to Virginia. No estimates of stock size or mortality are available for tautog in North Carolina.

Average Commercial Landings and Value 1995-2004 - 688 lbs./$292

2004 Commercial Landings and Value - 84 lbs./$46

Average Recreational Landings 1995-2004 -18,951 lbs., 2004 – 41,987 lbs.

Average Number of Award Citations 1995-2004 – 3, 2004 – 0

Status of Fishery Management Plan - In North Carolina, tautog is currently included in the Interjurisdictional Fisheries Management Plan, which defers to ASMFC FMP compliance requirements. The ASMFC Interstate Tautog Fishery Management Plan (FMP) has been in effect since 1996. ASMFC requires 14-inch minimum size regulations for both commercial and recreational fishing sectors, as well as state-by-state management restrictions needed to achieve the target fishing mortality for the Atlantic population. The ASMFC currently grants de minimis status to North Carolina due its limited tautog harvest, which exempts the state from monitoring and harvest reductions outlined in the plan. The recreational fishery accounts for approximately 90 percent of the total coastwide harvest. A peer reviewed stock assessment has been completed, and is pending review by the Stock Assessment Review Committee (SARC), Stock Assessment Workshop (SAW 41), June 2005.

Research and Data Needs - Improved fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data from the southern half of its range (DE, MD, VA, NC, SC, GA). Age structure of the stock in both the commercial and recreational fisheries. Long-term monitoring surveys to provide size distributions and abundance throughout its range.

Current Minimum Size Limit (2005) - No restrictions

Harvest Season (2005) - No restrictions

Size and Age at Maturity - 11 inches/3 years

Historical and Current Maximum Age - 30 + years

Juvenile Abundance Indices - None Available.

Habits/Habitats - Tautog are slow growing, long-lived reef fish found from Nova Scotia to Georgia. Adults use submerged hard-structure as habitat, including offshore and inshore wrecks, artificial reefs, rocky reefs, breakwaters, and pier areas. Young-of-the-year tautog rely primarily on shallow, estuarine areas and eelgrass beds as nursery habitat. In its northern range, adult tautog undergo a spring migration from offshore wintering locations to inshore habitats for feeding and spawning, then return offshore in the fall as water temperatures drop. The extent of this migration may be less pronounced in the southern portion of its range. The spawning period extends from late April to early June. Tautog are highly vulnerable to overfishing because of their slow growth to maturity and small, within-season home ranges.