Red Snapper: Ecology and Fisheries in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico

Section Overview

Gary R. Fitzhugh

doi: https://doi.org/10.47886/9781888569971.ch1

The papers in this symposium session were varied in regard to problems, approaches, and applications of red snapper research but are linked by the theme of ontogeny of red snapper from the larval to the young adult stage. They come broadly under the heading of life history and ecology. In aggregate, these papers recognize that a better understanding of behavior and habitat use during early life history is needed to inform some key policy and management issues. A further theme to emerge from these studies is that developments in gear and technology have been, and remain to be, instrumental in advancing this understanding.

Gulf of Mexico fisheries management and policy information needs are extending well beyond basic data feeding single species stock assessments. For example, new questions are being asked such as what is the potential for larval entrainment at liquefied natural gas facilities (LNG), and can LNG activities become a significant source of additive mortality? Lyczkowski-Shultz and Hanisko present a larval survey time-series (SEAMAP) helping to address such questions but further point to current limitations in the survey. There continues to be a scientific discussion on the ecological and fisheries role of artificial reefs. Do artificial reefs that mimic natural low relief hard bottom habitat and much larger petroleum platforms, which fill the water column, contribute to fisheries production and by how much? Increasingly, the retirement age of petroleum platforms is being reached in the Gulf and decisions will need to be made regarding whether to remove or ‘reef’ these structures. This attraction-production debate is being informed by several papers in this session including Geary et al., McCawley and Cowan, Westmeyer et al., and Wells and Cowan. One of the most important and controversial commercial gears in the Gulf—shrimp trawls—presents a large challenge for red snapper management and contributions by Geary et al., Parsons and Foster, and Wells and Cowan will help to inform policy here. Efforts are required to further minimize bycatch mortality. What are the stage-based habitat transitions that inform our knowledge of gear effects? In particular, the studies by Geary et al., Parsons and Foster, and Wells and Cowan ask what are the habitats and life history stages to be avoided and behavioral traits to be capitalized on in designing fishing gear and bycatch reduction devices? Rummer’s paper in this section focuses our attention on the realization that as fishing pressure increases in some sectors, management methods relying on catch and release may be underestimating the mortality impacts of discards; if so, more direction towards spatial management (rather than catch limits) could be warranted.