Red Snapper Research from Dauphin Island Sea Lab

Fishy Fridays

Weekly spotlight on fisheries science journal articles

 

Jeff Kopaska
AFS Executive Director
jkopaska@fisheries.org

I thoroughly enjoyed my first AFS Southern Division meeting last weekend, and I’ve spent a little time down south since that meeting.  Yesterday I took the opportunity to visit the Dauphin Island Sea Lab, and its associated Alabama Aquarium. What a wonderful place, located right at the intersection of Mobile Bay and the Gulf. The students, researchers and staff there were so kind and engaging, and they are doing outstanding work on a variety of topics. Today’s paper is a product of their work. They assessed Red Snapper CPUE across a variety of habitat types, natural and artificial. Their work showed once again how important habitat is to fish populations, and habitats such as oil and gas platforms and artificial reefs are vitally important to these fish. The machine learning modeling used showcases that biologists have been using AI tools for a long time. The research also has real world implications, providing data and analysis for policy guidance, such as the “Rigs to Reefs” bill introduced in the US House last October. Conversations at the lab also highlighted how the change from federal to state management of the Red Snapper fishery brought anglers and managers closers together, because they see and know each other. It was also cool to hear about the other research conducted here, great people talking about their passion and sharing their success stories. If you ever get a chance (like around next year’s Southern Division meeting in Mobile), take the opportunity to visit Dauphin Island. Special thanks to Crystal Hightower for sharing this article with me. Enjoy the paper!

Factors influencing catch per unit effort of Red Snapper in Mississippi waters