Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation
Snapper Grouper FMP
Prepared by SAFMC Staff
2023-4-10
1 Summary
This report summarizes information for species in the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan. Each FMP is required to have a stock assessment and fishery evaluation (SAFE) report. This is the first update of the SAFE report since 2004.
This Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report provides background material for the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the South Atlantic Region. It contains detailed information upon which the FMP and its amendments are based. In particular, this SAFE Report includes information on the biology of species in the FMP, recent harvest regulations, landings data, and recent stock assessments.
The fishery management unit include 51 species/stocks and 5 ecosystem species including Grouper (17), Snapper (10), Porgy (7), Jacks (5), Grunt (5), Sea Bass (3), Tilefish (3), Hogfish (2 stocks), Triggerfish (2), Spadefish (1), and Wreckfish (1). There are stock assessments for 15 species (Scamp and Yellowmouth has not been accepted through an amendment) of which 7 were reported as overfishing in the terminal year of the assessment and 6 were overfished. Stock status is unknown for the remainder of the species in the unit.
The overall trend in landings since the 1990s have been a decreasing trend but from 2011 to 2020, landings have increased from an overall low in 2011 (Figure 1.1). The number of releases in the fishery has increased since 1990 reaching an all time high in 2016. Since 2016, the releases have decreased.
1.1 Table definitions
Overfished Large + = Stock Biomass >=90% BMSY, Small + = Stock Biomass >= MSST, Small - = Biomass >= 50% MSST but less the MSST, Large + = Biomass <50% MSST Overfishing - Large + = F/FMSY <=0.6 , Small + = F/FMSY <= 0.9, Small - = F/FMSY >= but <= 1.2, Large - F/FMSY >1.2 ACL - Large + = F/FMSY <=0.6 , Small + = F/FMSY <= 0.9, Small - = F/FMSY >= but <= 1.2, Large - F/FMSY >1.2 OY - l+ 110% OY 90%, sm+ , sm - <75% OY, lg - <50% oy Landings vs 10 yr average - lg+ greater than average and increasing trend, sm+ increasing trend, sm- decreasing trend, lg- less than average + decreasing trend Landings vs 20 year average - lg+ greater than average and increasing trend, sm+ increasing trend, sm- decreasing trend, lg- less than average + decreasing trend Index - lg+ greater than average and increasing trend, sm+ increasing trend, sm- decreasing trend, lg- less than average + decreasing trend Rec Landings -lg+ greater than average and increasing trend, sm+ increasing trend, sm- decreasing trend, lg- less than average + decreasing trend Rec Economics - Rec Social - , Com Landings - lg+ greater than average and increasing trend, sm+ increasing trend, sm- decreasing trend, lg- less than average + decreasing trend Com Economics - price per pound Com Social - No ACL closures past 10 years, 1 ACLclosure in past 5 years, 2 ACL closures in past 5 years, 3 or more ACLclosures
Figure 1.1: Combined landings of all species and releases from the recreational fishery in the snapper grouper fishery management unit.
2 Introduction
This report summarizes information for species in the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan that are overfished or overfishing. Each FMP is required to have a stock assessment and fishery evaluation (SAFE) report. SAFE reports should include information useful for determining annual catch limits (ACL); documenting trends or changes in the resource, ecosystem, and fishery; and assessing success of relevant state and federal FMPs. Information included in the report describes stock status, catch level recommendations, projections (when available), landings and releases by sector (where available), social and economic trends by sector, and essential fish habitat. This reports includes information through 2020 for most species.
Data for this report are pulled from multiple sources including:
- Accumulative Landings System (ALS),
- recent stock assessments,
- NMFS Marine Recreational Information Program,
- Southeast Region Headboat Survey,
- SAFMC’s Essential Fish Habitat Mapper, and
- past and ongoing amendments.
The SAFMC managed species in this report had an assessment that indicated the stock was overfished, experiencing overfishing, or both or NOAA Fisheries reported to Congress that a stock was overfished or overfishing had occurred. Stock status is provided on both the latest stock assessment, which is updated when a new stock assessment is completed and can be several years old, and NOAA Fisheries Report to Congress, which is updated annually. Overfishing is determined in the report to Congress if landings exceeds the overfishing limit Table 2.1.
| Species | SEDAR | Terminal Year | Overfishing | Overfished | Report to Congress | Overfishing | Overfished |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Grouper | 19 | 2008 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| Black Sea Bass | 56 | 2016 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| Blueline Tilefish | 50 | 2015 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| FLK/EFL Hogfish | 37 | 2012 | Yes | Yes | 2022 Q4 | No | Yes |
| Gag | 71 | 2019 | Yes | Yes | 2022 Q4 | Yes | Yes |
| Greater Amberjack | 59 | 2017 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| Mutton Snapper | 15U | 2013 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| Red Grouper | 53 | 2015 | Yes | Yes | 2022 Q4 | No | Yes |
| Red Porgy | 60 | 2017 | Yes | Yes | 2022 Q4 | No | Yes |
| Red Snapper | 73 | 2020 | Yes | Yes | 2022 Q4 | Yes | Yes |
| Snowy Grouper | 36U | 2019 | Yes | Yes | 2022 Q4 | Yes | Yes |
| Tilefish | 66 | 2018 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| Vermilion snapper | 55 | 2016 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| Wreckfish | SSC Review | 2010 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
| Yellowtail Snapper | 64 | 2017 | No | No | 2022 Q4 | No | No |
Information specific to each of these snapper grouper species is featured below. The information includes:
- brief description of the species and life history,
- assessment information,
- stock status and fishing level recommendations,
- recent or upcoming management actions,
- fishery and population trends,
- sector trends ,
- economic trends,
- social trends, and
- additional information.
If there are any questions on the SAFE report, please send an email with SAFE Report in the subject line.
3 Groupers
4 Black Grouper
Black Grouper, Mycteroperca bonaci, is a large reef fish that is grayish or dark brown, with irregular coppery spots (some spots join to form chain-like streaks). Black Grouper is often confused with Gag; however, the most noticeable color difference is the coppery spots on Black Grouper that do not occur on Gag. The tail of Gag is slightly concave, whereas the tail of a Black Grouper is squared off.
Black Grouper occur off North Carolina to Florida, around Bermuda, and in the Gulf of Mexico, West Indies, and from Central America to southern Brazil. Adults are found over hard- bottom such as coral reefs and rocky ledges. Black Grouper occur at depths of 30 to 100 ft. Juveniles sometimes occur in estuarine seagrass and oyster habitat, or on shallow patch reefs. Black Grouper live for at least 33 years and attain sizes as great as five feet. Black Grouper change sex from female to male, and approximately 50% of females are sexually mature by 2.7 ft and 5.2 years of age. At a length of 4 ft and an age of 15.5 years, approximately 50% of the females have become males. Black grouper are in spawning condition throughout the year; however, peak spawning of females occurs from January to March.
4.1 Assessment Information
The 2010 stock assessment has not been updated for Black Grouper in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic Regions. At that time the stock was not overfished and not experiencing overfishing. The SSC developed an ABC for the species but did not provide an overfishing level due to limited data. (Figure 4.1).
Figure 4.1: A. Combined landings of Black Grouper (whole weight, ww) to the ABC for Black Grouper. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Black Grouper (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.
4.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations
Values to evaluate the stock status of Black Grouper are provided in Table 4.1.
| Criteria | Definition | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Overfished Evaluation | SSB2008/SSBMSST | 1.400 |
| Overfishing Evaluation | F2006-2008/Fmsy | 0.500 |
| MFMT | Proxy 30% static SPR | 0.216 |
| SSBMSY | SSBmsy 1000 lbs | 5,920.000 |
| MSST | 75% SSB MSY | 4,440.000 |
| MSY | Yeild at proxy 30% static SPR | 520.000 |
| Y at 75% FMSY | 1000 lbs whole weight | 162.000 |
| Optimum Yield | ACL=OY=ABC (1000 lbs ww) | 265.000 |
Fishing level recommendations (lbs) were approved by the Council in Comprehensive ACL Amendment (2012) (Table 4.2).
| Year | OFL | ABC | Discard OFL | Discard ABC |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 289,426 | 265,426 | NA | NA |
4.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes
(Table 4.3).| Date | Council Document | Management Change |
|---|---|---|
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Establish a recreationl vessel limit |
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Prohibit retention by captain and crew |
4.4 Fishery and Population Trends
Combined recreational and commercial landings of Black Grouper decreased from 1996 to 2010 and have stabilized since (Figure 4.2). The trend in landings has been decreasing over the past 10 years; however, the landings have been extremely variable. NOTE: The landings plot includes recreational landings estimated using the Fishery Effort Survey and is not comparable to the ABC or ACL.
Figure 4.2: __Landings of Black Grouper from 1990 to 2020.
Released Fish
Staff from NMFS and Council are working on methods to develop annual estimates of commercial discards. Once methods have been developed discards will be included in the SAFE Report.
The number of Black Grouper recreational releases were relatively high from 2011 to 2016 and low from 2017 to 2020__(Figure 4.3)__. The number of recreational releases has been decreasing over the past 10 years.
Figure 4.3: Number of released Black Grouper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.
Trend in Abundance
The indices of abundance have not been updated since 2008 (Figure 4.4).
Figure 4.4: Index of abundance for Black Grouper from 1978 to 2008 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 19.
4.5 Sector Trends
Recreational landings have varied since 2011 ranging from approximately 20,000 lbs in 2014 to over 250,000 lbs in 2017 (Figure 4.5A.). Although the trend line is indicating a significant increase in recreational landings since 2011, the recreational landings have been highly variable.
Commercial landings have been below the ACL from 2011 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and generally increasing (light gray dashed line) (Figure 4.5B.). The commercial ACL increased in Amendment 29 when the method to determine the ABC was adjusted. The commercial fishery generally harvests less than 90,000 lbs per year.
Figure 4.5: A. Black Grouper recreational landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Black Grouper commercial landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2012 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).
4.6 Economic Trends
Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Black Grouper are number of directed trips in the recreational sector based on MRIP data (primary target, secondary target, or landed) and ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery. Directed trips in recreational fishery have generally increased but is likely due to high effort estimate in 2015 and 2016 (Figure 4.6A.). The ex-vessel value has (Figure 4.6B.).
Figure 4.6: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Black Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2011 to 2020.
B. Ex-vessel value of Black Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2011 to 2020 (2021 dollars).
5 Gag
Gag, Mycteroperca microlepis, is a warm temperate species, from the Yucatan Peninsula throughout the Gulf of Mexico, around the Florida peninsula northward to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina. Gag are usually found shallower than 375 ft on sponge-coral habitat and rock ledges. Larvae and/or juveniles migrate to specific estuarine seagrass and oyster reef habitats at depths less than 3 ft and leave for shallow coastal shelf reefs in the fall and winter of their first year. They prey on crabs, shrimp, lobster, octopus, squid and fish that live close to reefs.
Gag can grow to over 5 feet in length and live over 30 years. Gag transition from females to male at an age of about 10 years and a length of about 39 inches. Female Gag mature at an age of 3 to 4 years, when they are about 28 to 31 inches long. Spawning occurs from December through May, with a peak between February and April, at which time they may make annual spawning migrations to specific locations where they may form spawning aggregations. Adult spawning aggregations have been reported on shelf edge reefs at depths of 240 to 300 ft.
5.1 Assessment Information
Gag have been overfished since 2008 and overfishing occurred most years from 1984 to 2019 based on the results of SEDAR 71 (Figure 5.1). Rebuilding plans require the population to be rebuilt to the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at maximum sustainable yield (red line in graph A). The Council is developing a rebuilding plan for Gag in Amendment 53 with projections for the stock to rebuild in 10 years.
Figure 5.1: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Gag relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 71. Red points indicate when the population was overfished indicating the population is below the minimum stock size threshold. The red horizontal line indicates the rebuilding target, MSY.
B. The estimate of fishing mortality rate (F) of Gag relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 71. Red dots indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates overfishing, above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.
5.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations
Values to evaluate the stock status of Gag are provided in the table below based on the results of SEDAR 71 (Table 5.1). Amendment 53 will revise stock status criteria and fishing level recommendations.
| Criteria | Value |
|---|---|
| Overfished Evaluation | SSB/SSBMSST |
| Overfishing Evaluation | F/Fmsy |
| MFMT | Fmsy or proxy 30% static SPR |
| SSBMSY | 1000 lbs (female and male) |
| MSST | 75% SSB MSY |
| MSY | 1000 lbs |
| Y at 75% FMSY | 1000 lbs |
| Optimum Yield | ACL=OY=ABC (2023 value 1000 lbs gw) |
Fishing level recommendations (lbs) based on the results of SEDAR 71 (Table 5.2). OFL and ABC are in pounds gutted weight (gw) and discards are in number of moralities.
| Year | OFL | ABC |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | 825,000 | 773,000 |
| 2024 | 494,000 | 262,000 |
| 2025 | 605,000 | 348,000 |
| 2026 | 706,000 | 435,000 |
| 2027 | 808,000 | 525,000 |
5.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes
The Council is developing an amendment for Gag (see Amendment 53 for more information). No other management actions have been developed to target catch or retention of Gag in the last five years (Table 5.3).
| Date | Council Document | Management Change |
|---|---|---|
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Establish a rebuilding plan |
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Revise the ABC, ACL and OY |
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Revise sector allocations and catch limits |
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Reduce commercial trip limit |
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Establish a recreationl vessel limit |
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Prohibit retention by captain and crew |
| On Going | Amendment 53 | Revise recreational accountability measures |
5.4 Fishery and Population Trends
Combined recreational and commercial landings of Gag from 2019 to 2021 (years since the assessment) were lower than previous years (Figure 5.2). Landings will be further reduced from the current level to 175,632 pounds (gw) in 2023 (ABC is the thinner dashed line below) when Amendment 53 is enacted to aid in rebuilding the overfished population.
Figure 5.2: Landings of Gag from 2014 to 2021 with the overfishing limit (OFL, thick dashed line) and acceptable biological catch (ABC, thinner dashed line) from 2022 to 2026. The blue box indicates projected landings levels.
Released Fish
Staff from NMFS and Council are working on methods to develop annual estimates of commercial discards. Once methods have been developed discards will be provided in the SAFE Report.
The number of Gag releases decreased from 2016 to 2019 (Figure 5.3). Since 2019, there has been an increase in the number of releases.
Figure 5.3: Number of released Gag by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.
Trend in Abundance
The trend in abundance for Gag is not available since the terminal year of the last assessment (2019) based on the video survey (no data were collected in 2020) (Figure 5.4). An estimate of abundance has not been developed for 2021.
Figure 5.4: Index of abundance for Gag from 2010 to 2019 based on the headboat and video (SERFS) surveys from SEDAR 71.
5.5 Sector Trends
Recreational (Figure 5.5A) and commercial (Figure 5.5B) landings both were around 200,000 lbs in 2021. The ABC for 2023 for both sectors combined will be 175,632 lbs gw based on the SSC’s recommendation. Allocations and ACLs for each sector are being developed in Amendment 53.
Figure 5.5: A. Gag recreational landings (solid line) from 2012 to 2021. Recreational landings are based on the fully implemented MRIP estimates and are not comparable to previous landings estimate.
B. Gag commercial landings from 2012 to 2021 (solid line). Blue box indicates projected landings but sector ACLs are being developed in Amendment 53.
5.6 Economic Trends
Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Gag are the number of directed trips in the recreational sector based on MRIP data (primary target, secondary target, or landed) and ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery. Directed trips in recreational fishery have varied from over 100,000 trips in 2016 and 2018 to less than 60,000 trips in 2017 and 2021 (Figure 5.6A). Ex-vessel value varied from 2016 to 2021 (Figure 5.6B).
Figure 5.6: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Gag in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2021.
B. Ex-vessel value from Gag for the commercial fishery from 2016 to 2021 (2021 dollars).
4.7 Social Trends
One proxy for social trends for Black Grouper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 4.4). While the negative effects of seasonal closures are usually short-term, if closures persist, they may induce indirect effects through changes in fishing behavior or business operations that could have long-term social effects, such as increased pressure on another species, or fishermen having to stop fishing altogether due to regulatory closures. There have been no ACL related closures of Black Grouper.