Red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) research at Dauphin Island Sea Lab

Dr. John Dindo, Dauphin Island Sea Lab

OUTLINEPART I: Red

snapper and a history of the fishery

PART II: Habitat creation and restoration

PART III: Red snapper population assessment

Overview of Red Snapper Fishery

History of the Red Snapper Fishery

Clay E. Porch, Stephen C. Turner, and Michael J. Schirripa. 2004. The commercial landings of red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico from 1872 to 1962. SEDAR7-AW-22 (data 1880-1962).John R. Poffenberger and Stephen C. Turner. 2004. Documentation on the preparation of the database for the red snapper stock assessment SEDAR workshop. SEDAR7-AW-17rev. (data 1962-2003)

2007 New Snapper Regulations???

U.S. Landings of Red Snapper in U.S. Waters 1880-2003

1880 1890 1900 1910 1920 1930 1940 1950 1960 1970 1980 1990 20000

1000000

2000000

3000000

4000000

5000000

6000000

7000000

Com

mer

cial

Lan

ding

s (lb

s)

EastWest

Beginning of oil exploration in western gulf

big drop as fleet spends more effort off Campechemove to Campeche complete

increasing local catch by “boats” (vessels <5 tons)Great Depression

World War IIBoat building boom

Table 1: Commercial and recreational red snapper fishery regulations, 1984-2009. C stands for commercial, R for recreational

C R C R C R C R R only1984-1989 13 13 365 365 na na na no bag limit

1990 13 13 365 365 3.1 na 2.65 3.09 71991 13 13 236 365 2.04 1.96 2.21 1.36 71992 13 13 95 365 2.04 + 1.96 3.11 2.1 71993 13 13 94 365 3.06 2.94 3.37 3.62 71994 14 14 77 365 3.06 2.94 3.22 5.57 71995 15 15 52 365 3.06 2.94 2.93 4.53 51996 15 15 87 365 4.65 4.47 4.31 3.69 51997 15 15 73 330 4.65 4.47 4.81 3.47 51998 15 15 72 272 4.65 4.47 4.68 4.37 41999 15 16 70 240 4.65 4.47 4.88 4.35 42000 15 16 66 194 4.65 4.47 4.84 4.35 42001 15 16 79 194 4.65 4.47 4.63 3.33 42002 15 16 91 194 4.65 4.47 4.78 3.56 42003 15 16 94 194 4.65 4.47 4.41 4.87 42004 15 16 105 194 4.65 4.47 4.65 4.6 42005 15 16 131 194 4.65 4.47 4.1 5.02 42006 15 16 126 194 4.65 4.47 4.65 - 42007 13 16 365 IFQ 194 3.315 3.185 3.18 - 22008 13 16 366 IFQ 65 2.55 2.45 2.48 - 22009 13 16 367 IFQ 75 2.55 2.45 2.55 4.27 2

Daily Bag Limit (Fish)Year

Size Limit (inches TL) Calendar Days Open Quota(C)/Allocation(R) (million pounds)

Harvest (million pounds)

Alabama’s Artificial Reef System

LA

ALMS FL

Total Area = 3,108 km2

Estimated over 20,000 structures deployed since 1958

Corp of Engineers pre-permitted since 1987

Hugh Swingle Area• MRD Reefs consist of

Liberty ships, tanks, barges, toppled rigs, and concrete bridge rubble

• Recreational fisherman can deploy “private” reefs with pre-approved materials

• USA deploys and maintains concrete aggregate research modules within Hugh Swingle

Courtesy ALMRD

Habitat Creation & Restoration• Builds on 10 year tagging program: existing reefs installed

1998

• Primary study units: ~ 18 ”private” reef complexes (reef balls, grouper ghettos)

• Additional artificial reefs sampled: 12 public reefs (tanks, ships, barges, bridge rubble)

Abundant Target Species

Gag Grouper ScampVermilion Snapper

Red GrouperRed Snapper Grey Triggerfish

Sampling Methods

• 8 stations fished 30 min each

• Fishing effort: 10 anglers with bottom & sow rigs

• Size measurements (FL/TL)

• Target fishes are tagged & released, & condition index is recorded

• Recapture information gathered from fishermen

Fishers’ Recoveries

Net movement from NCG to east, southeast

Little observed movement to west

slide courtesy of Will Patterson

ROV Work

Red snapper population assessment• Multi-gear sampling

program designed to address critical data needs for future stock assessment

Side scan sonarBottom trawlROVVertical longlineBottom longline

8 9 8 8 8 72 9

3 0

3 1

M S

M o b i l e B a y , A L

F L

M a r c h 2 0 1 0A p r i l 2 0 1 0 M a y 2 0 1 0 J u n e 2 0 1 0 A u g u s t 2 0 1 0

Size class (mm FL)

50 -

100

101

- 150

151

- 200

201

- 250

251

- 300

301

- 350

351

- 400

401

- 450

451

- 500

501

- 550

551

- 600

601

- 650

651

- 700

701

- 750

751

- 800

801

- 850

851

- 900

Siz

e Fr

eque

ncy

0

25

50

75

150

175

200

225

250

275

Bottom longlineTrawlVertical longline

Red snapper size by gear type

0

0.05

0.1

0.15

0.2

0.25

0.3

0.35

0.4

0.45

Red

Snap

per/

hook

/5 m

in.

Month

MarchAprilMay *August *

Red snapper CPUE by month (2010)

Acknowledgements

Captains Mike and Skipper Theirry and the crew of the boats “Lady Ann” and “Escape”

Tech Support, boat time, fishing volunteers and graduate students