Evaluation of the 1960, 1965, and 1970 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Salt-Water Angling Survey Data for Use in the Stock Assessment of Red Grouper (Southeast US Atlantic) and Black Grouper (Southeast US Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico)

摘要

Historical recreational fishing data in the Southeast U.S. is very limited prior to 1981. Recreational landings were recognized as a major source of removals from stocks and the National Survey of Fishing and Hunting was expanded to estimate landings of saltwater species starting in 1960. The recent trend for stock assessment models is to take landings back to the time when there is little exploitation. The Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) provides landings starting in 1981, well after initial exploitation of the snapper-grouper complex. Three separate documents exist that provide estimates of recreational grouper landings from 1960, 1965, and 1970 (Table 1). This document evaluates the use of these estimates for red grouper in the Atlantic waters of the Southeast U.S. and for black grouper in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic waters of the Southeast U.S.