LAUSR

Abstract Shoal bass Micropterus cataractae are endemic to the Apalachicola River system in Alabama, Georgia, and Florida, USA. Despite maintaining popular fisheries, little is known about their biology and ecology. Fecundity of this species was estimated from the lower Flint River, Georgia, to better understand egg production of this species and relation with length and weight. Further, these data were used to estimate the spawning potential ratio (SPR) of this population under the current 305-mm minimum-length limit (MLL) and a more restrictive 381-mm MLL. An age-structured model was used to examine changes in yield and SPR across a range of exploitation at three levels of natural mortality. Fecundity of shoal bass ranged from 909−35,502 oocytes with a mean estimate of 10,424 ± 1089 (SD), and increased with length (r2 = 0.46; P