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Artificial reefs may be created within estuaries for multiple reasons, including habitat enhancement, oyster production, or recreational fishing. While traditional sampling in this environment is difficult due to complex structures and the high turbidity of estuaries, acoustic imaging sonar provides an effective alternative to measure abundance and size spectra of the fish community. We sampled eight artificial reefs in Pamlico Sound, North Carolina, that are designated as oyster sanctuaries. At each oyster sanctuary, we sampled 26 boat positions along two transects using ARIS imaging sonar, which included control areas outside of the sanctuaries over featureless bottom. We found that fish abundance and mean length were greater within the oyster sanctuary boundaries, but did not observe any significant differences among artificial substrate types within the sanctuaries. Further, we found that fish abundance dropped to near background levels within 25 m outside of the oyster sanctuary edge. Size spectra analysis revealed that abundance was higher in the sanctuaries versus control areas for every length bin of the fish community (5 to 50 cm). However, the differences in abundance were greatest for 10 to 30 cm fishes. Our results can be coupled with previous research on species composition data to more fully understand the potential role that the Pamlico Sound oyster sanctuaries, and estuarine artificial reefs in general, serve as habitat and recreational fishing enhancement. 

Abstract Achieving long‐term retention of pop‐up satellite archival tags (PSATs) has proven difficult for all fishes but is particularly challenging for small migrant species due to the relatively large size of tags. In this study, the authors tested the latest and smallest PSAT model on the market, the mark‐report satellite tag (mrPAT), and developed a simple, cost‐effective method of tag attachment on sheepshead Archosargus probatocephalus (Walbaum 1792), a small marine fish. During laboratory trials, the method of tag attachment used in this study outperformed the existing methods with two c . 40 cm fish retaining their tags for 3 months (the duration of the laboratory study). During field deployments, data were successfully obtained for 17 of the 25 tagged fish [37–50 cm fork length (FL)]. Of these, 14 tags (82%) remained on the fish until the pre‐programmed release date resulting in tag retention times of up to 172 days (mean: 140 days). The investigation represents the first extensive study into the feasibility of PSATs for monitoring fishes in this size range. The authors demonstrate that their method of attachment and this latest PSAT model are feasible for c . 5‐month deployments on fishes that are relatively small ( c . 45 cm FL). These results with A. probatocephalus represent a potentially significant advance in PSAT methodology for fishes of this size. Future investigations are needed to determine if this method is transferrable to other species in the same size range.