Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation 2025

Snapper Grouper FMP

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 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 14 species being used in management of which 6 were reported as overfishing in the terminal year of the assessment and 7 were overfished. The NMFS report to Congress indicated 5 stocks were overfishing and 6 stocks were overfished. The differences were in Blueline Tilefish (new assessment), Red Grouper (rebuilding plan in place), and Red Porgy (rebuilding plan in place). For the stocks or complexes without assessments, stock status is unknown.

The overall trend in landings of the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Unit species since the 1990s has been decreasing. The lowest landings occurred in 2011. Since 2015 to 2024 (last ten years), landings of Snapper Grouper species has had a decreasing trend (Figure 1.1). The last five years have varied around the long-term average of 22 million pounds. The number of releases in the fishery (currently only recreational releases) has increased since 1990 reaching an all time high in 2016. Since 2016, the releases varied between 30 and 35 million fish released in the recreational sector.

Figure 1.1: Combined landings of all species and releases from the recreational fishery in the snapper grouper fishery management unit.

1.1 Top Species

The top species varied between the recreational and commercial sectors. The recreational sector top complexes or species for directed trips (targeted or landed) was the snappers complex (Cubera, Gray, and Lane) every year Table 1.1. Yellowtail Snapper ranked second or third in number of directed trips from 2020 to 2024. Mutton Snapper was in the top five for directed trips every year ranking third or fifth depending on year. Other top five complexes or species included: Black Sea Bass, Grunts, and Red Snapper.

Commercial top species or complexes was based on the ex-vessel value. Yellowtail Snapper and Vermilion Snapper ranked first and second in ex-vessel value from 2020 to 2024 Table 1.3. Tilefish (Golden Tilefish) ranked third from 2021 to 2024. Other species or complexes in the top five were Gag, Gray Triggerfish, Greater Amberjack, and Snowy Grouper.

Table 1.1: Table 1.2: Top five recreational complexes on directed trips (targeted or landed) in the South Atlantic region from 2020 to 2024 (ranked by summed trips)

Rank	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
1	SNAPPER	SNAPPER	SNAPPER	SNAPPER	SNAPPER
2	RED SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER
3	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	MUTTON SNAPPER	MUTTON SNAPPER	MUTTON SNAPPER	MUTTON SNAPPER
4	GRUNTS	GRUNTS	GRUNTS	GRUNTS	GRUNTS
5	MUTTON SNAPPER	VERMILION SNAPPER	BLACK SEA BASS	RED SNAPPER	RED SNAPPER

Table 1.3: Table 1.4: Top five commercial complexes based on ex-vessel value in the South Atlantic region from 2020 to 2024 (ranked by summed ex-vessel value)

Rank	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024
1	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER	YELLOWTAIL SNAPPER
2	VERMILION SNAPPER	VERMILION SNAPPER	VERMILION SNAPPER	VERMILION SNAPPER	VERMILION SNAPPER
3	GAG	GOLDEN TILEFISH	GOLDEN TILEFISH	GOLDEN TILEFISH	GOLDEN TILEFISH
4	GOLDEN TILEFISH	GAG	GREATER AMBERJACK	GAG	GREATER AMBERJACK
5	GRAY TRIGGERFISH	GREATER AMBERJACK	GAG	GREATER AMBERJACK	SNOWY GROUPER

1.2 State Landings

State specific landings are provided for the snapper grouper fishery. Florida and Georgia were included together due to issues with confidential data for Georgia. The recreational fishery primarily occurred off Florida with most year landing greater than 10 million pounds of snapper grouper based on the full implemented MRIP data (Figure 1.2) (NOTE: This includes FES estimate for Red Snapper but those are not used for monitoring the stock). Recreational landings increased after 2010 and have varied from 12 million to 15 million pounds. Recreational fisheries in North Carolina and South Carolina have landed less 2 million pounds in most years.

For the commercial sector, Florida and Georgia had the highest landings of snapper grouper species. In all states, commercial landings have decreased over the past 35 years.

Figure 1.2: 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 report includes information through 2020 for most species.

Data for this report are pulled from multiple sources including:

• Atlantic Coast Cooperative Statistics Program (ACCSP),
• recent SEDAR 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.

Table 2.1: Table 2.2: Stock status for fifteen snapper grouper species based on recent stock assessments and NOAA Fisheries 2025 Quarter 2 Report to Congress

	Stock Assessment				NOAA Fisheries
Species	SEDAR	Terminal Year	Overfishing	Overfished	Report to Congress	Overfishing	Overfished
Black Grouper	19	2008	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Black Sea Bass	56	2016	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Blueline Tilefish	50	2015	No	No	2025 Q2	Yes	No
FLK/EFL Hogfish	37	2012	Yes	Yes	2025 Q2	No	Yes
Gag	71	2019	Yes	Yes	2025 Q2	Yes	Yes
Greater Amberjack	59	2017	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Mutton Snapper	15U	2013	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Red Grouper	53	2015	Yes	Yes	2025 Q2	No	Yes
Red Porgy	60	2017	Yes	Yes	2025 Q2	No	Yes
Red Snapper	73	2020	Yes	Yes	2025 Q2	Yes	Yes
Snowy Grouper	36U	2019	Yes	Yes	2025 Q2	Yes	Yes
Tilefish	66	2018	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Vermilion snapper	55	2016	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Wreckfish	SSC Review	2010	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Yellowtail Snapper	64	2017	No	No	2025 Q2	No	No
Scamp	68	2020	No	Yes	2025 Q2	No	Unknown
Gray Triggerfish		NA			2025 Q2	No	Unknown

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

3.1 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.

3.1.1 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 3.1).

Figure 3.1: A. Combined landings of Black Grouper (lbs, whole weight) 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 (lbs, whole weight). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

3.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Black Grouper are provided in Table 3.1.

Table 3.1: Stock status determination criteria for Black Grouper.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB2008/SSBMSST	1.400
Overfishing Evaluation	F2006-2008/F MSY	0.500
MFMT	Proxy 30% static SPR	0.216
SSBMSY	SSBmsy 1000 lbs	5,920.000
MSST	75% SSB MSY	4,440.000
MSY	Yield 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 3.2).

Table 3.2: Fishing level recommendations for Black Grouper from the SSC based Amendment 29.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	NA	265,426
2023	NA	265,426
2024	NA	265,426

3.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

(Table 3.3).

Table 3.3: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Black Grouper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
Under review	Amendment 36	Establish a recreatoinal vessel limit
Under review	Amendment 36	Prohibit retention by captain and crew

3.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Black Grouper decreased from 1996 to 2010 and have stabilized since (Figure 3.2). Landings have decreased 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 3.2: Landings of Black Grouper from 1990 to 2024.

Released Fish

The number of Black Grouper recreational releases were relatively high from 2000 to 2016 (except 2005 and 2010) and low from 2016 to 2024 (Figure 3.3). The number of recreational releases has been decreasing over the past 10 years.

Figure 3.3: 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 3.4).

Figure 3.4: Index of abundance for Black Grouper from 1978 to 2008 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 19.

3.1.5 Sector Trends

The allocation of landings is 63.12% to the recreational sector and 36.88% to the commercial sector. Recreational landings have varied since 2015 ranging from approximately 50,000 lbs in 2019 to over 500,000 lbs in 2017 (Figure 3.5A.). The recreational landings have been highly variable but 2024 was the second lowest value in the past 10 years.

Commercial landings have been below the ACL from 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and generally increasing (light gray dashed line) (Figure 3.5B.). The commercial ACL increased in Amendment 29 when the method to determine the ABC was adjusted. The commercial fishery harvested less than 90,000 lbs per year. The commercial landings have been variable with a decreasing trend.

Figure 3.5: A. Black Grouper recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Black Grouper commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

3.1.6 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 varied with little trend over the past ten years (Figure 3.6A.). The ex-vessel value has varied with trend over the past ten years (Figure 3.6B.).

Figure 3.6: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Black Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Black Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

3.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Black Grouper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 3.4). 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.

Table 3.4: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial

3.1.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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3.2 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.

3.2.1 Assessment Information

The most recent stock assessment for Gag (SEDAR 71) evaluated trends in spawning stock biomass (SSB) and fishing mortality (F) through 2019 (Figure 3.7). The assessment indicated that Gag experienced substantial declines in SSB across the time series and that F frequently exceeded the level associated with maximum sustainable yield. The stock has been overfished, and overfishing occurred in many years prior to the assessment terminal year of 2019. A rebuilding plan focused on restoring SSB to the level corresponding to MSY through management measures was implemented in Amendment 53.

Figure 3.7: 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.

3.2.2 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 3.5). Amendment 53 revised stock status criteria and fishing level recommendations.

Table 3.5: Stock status determination criteria for Gag based on Amendment 53.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	0.15
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	2.15
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	0.37
SSBMSY	1000 lbs (female and male)	3448.00
MSST	75% SSB MSY	2586.00
MSY	1000 lbs	1455.10
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (2025 value 1000 lbs gw)	348.00

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) based on the results of SEDAR 71 (Table 3.6). OFL and ABC are in pounds gutted weight (gw) and discards are in number of moralities.

Table 3.6: Fishing level recommendations for Gag from the SSC based on SEDAR 71 (Amendment in development to implement).

Year	OFL	ABC
2023	367,325	175,632
2024	494,338	261,171
2025	605,227	348,352
2026	706,366	435,081
2027	808,266	524,624

3.2.3 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 3.7).

Table 3.7: Amendment 53 at Gag.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
9/22/2023	Amendment 53	Establish a rebuilding plan
9/22/2023	Amendment 53	Revise the ABC, ACL and OY
9/22/2023	Amendment 53	Revise sector allocations and catch limits
9/22/2023	Amendment 53	Reduce commercial trip limit
9/22/2023	Amendment 53	Establish a recreatoinal vessel limit
9/22/2023	Amendment 53	Prohibit retention by captain and crew
9/22/2023	Amendment 53	Revise recreational accountability measures

3.2.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Gag have continued declines in Gag landings through 2024, although regulatory closure impacted closure that year (Figure 3.8). Landings remained below historical levels and continued trending downward as management measures tightened in 2024. Annual catch limits will be increased in 2025 and 2026 as the stock is projected to be rebuilding (Amendment 53). These new landings limits remain below catches prior to 2020.

Figure 3.8: 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

Recreational releases of Gag varied over the past ten years, with lower release numbers in the mid‑2010s followed by increases in later years (Figure 3.9). Since 2019, there has been an increasing number of discards in the recreational sector. This could indicate an increasing population of Gag causing a higher number of interactions or increasing recreational effort. Commercial discard data are not yet available.

Figure 3.9: Number of released Gag by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

Indices of abundance from multiple fishery‑independent surveys show consistently low values across the period where data are available (Figure 3.10). Survey indices from the SERFS video program, headboat sampling, and chevron trap collections all reflect low relative abundance through the final observed years and no signs of increasing abundance. The chevron trap survey is the data from the trends report provided by SC DNR.

Figure 3.10: Index of abundance for Gag from 2010 to 2019 based on the headboat and video (SERFS) surveys from SEDAR 71. The chevron trap are the zero inflated negative binomial estimates included in the trends report developed by SC DNR.

3.2.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 49.00% to the recreational sector and 51.00% to the commercial sector. Recreational (Figure 3.11A) and commercial (Figure 3.11B) landings were around 200,000 lbs in 2021. Since, recreational landings remained around 200,000 lbs while the commercial landings landings to the lowest on record due to implementation of new annual catch limits in 2024. Each year the ACL for both sectors will increase by 40,000 lbs.

Figure 3.11: 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.

3.2.6 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 the recreational fishery have varied from over 100,000 trips in 2016 and 2018 to less than 60,000 trips in 2017 and 2021 (Figure 3.12A). Since the number of trips increased to approximately 75,000 trips. Ex-vessel value varied from 2016 to 2020 and since has declined to lowest value in the last ten years (Figure 3.12B).

Figure 3.12: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Gag in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024 (FES estimates).
B. Ex-vessel value from Gag for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

3.2.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Gag is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 3.8). 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 Gag in the last 6 years.

Table 3.8: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2021. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023	10/23/2023	10/23/2023
2024	6/15/2024	6/30/2024

When completing a Fishery Performance Report for Gag in September 2020, the Snapper Grouper AP agreed that the loss of infrastructure (docks, marinas, fish houses) is a very serious concern for Gag fishing and all commercial fishing in the South Atlantic. “The days of saying you are a grouper fisherman ended a few years ago”, observed a commercial representative from North Carolina. He claimed fishermen have had to shift further offshore to fish for Gray Triggerfish and Vermilion Snapper. “Grouper has become more of a bycatch. Seafood houses are simply buying more imported grouper.”

A recreational representative who fishes in the Beaufort/Hilton Head area observed that more people are purchasing boats, and marinas are filling up. However, he has noted a reluctance from marina owners to allow access to for-hire vessels.

A recreational representative from West Palm Beach, Florida, who works in the marine insurance business, maintained that customer demand has increased significantly in the months since the COVID-19 pandemic began. He observed that more people own boats now and it is common for marinas to charge from $500-$800 for dockage for a 30-foot boat.

A commercial AP member from Ponce Inlet, Florida, maintains that Gag is a prized catch and is important to all sectors and communities. He states that fishing infrastructure in Florida is being lost; not only commercial docks, but also recreational access (marinas), and these losses directly affect access to the fishery and its economics. He says that fishermen have adapted to changes in the fishery by changing what they target and changing their fishing gear and how/where they fish (e.g., using smaller hooks, fishing in the upper water column).

3.2.8 Additional Information

Fishery Overview

Ongoing Amendment

SEDAR 71

Essential Fish Habitat

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3.3 Nassau Grouper

Nassau Grouper, Epinephelus striatus, is a tropical grouper found on coral reefs and associated habitats in the tropical Western Atlantic, and range from Bermuda, the Bahamas, and Florida to southern Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico. Juveniles are common in seagrass beds.

Nassau Grouper is a medium-sized grouper (maximum 48 inches and 30 lbs maximum) that is famous for its large spawning aggregations that form at predictable times and places, primarily in winter. Unlike most other groupers, where some large females become males, Nassau Grouper have individuals that begin life as males, with some females having a potential for sex change. Male and female Nassau Grouper mature between 16 and 20 inches at ages between 4 to 8 years. The spawning season is associated with water temperature and the moon phase. At lower latitudes, spawning activity lasts for about one week per month during December through February.

3.3.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment has not been developed for Nassau Grouper. The SSC recommended an ABC of zero for Nassau Grouper due to past issues with overfishing and was listed by NMFS as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2016. Landings of Nassau Grouper were reported in the early 1990 but dropped in 1992 when Amendment 4 (1991) established a quota of 0 for Nassau Grouper . Only sporadic landings have occurred since. Recent landings (since 2011) have been infrequent with most years have no landings (Figure 3.13). There is little difference in the landings trend among survey type for Nassau Grouper but the landings did increase substantially in some years (e.g. approximately 15,000 lbs in 1991 and 2000).

Figure 3.13: A. Combined landings of Nassau Grouper (whole weight, ww) to the ABC for Nassau Grouper. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Nassau Grouper (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

3.3.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Nassau Grouper are provided in Table 3.9. Only the OY has a defined value. The SAFMC is lead for Nassau Grouper throughout the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic regions (Amendment 27 2014).

Table 3.9: Stock status determination criteria for Nassau Grouper.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 40% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	SSBMSY or SSB proxy based on 30% static SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	NA
MSY		NA
Y at 75% FMSY		NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	0

The SSC recommended an ABC 0 and Council adopted an ACL of 0 in Amendment 17B (Table 3.10).

Table 3.10: Fishing level recommendations for Nassau Grouper established in the Comp ACL Amendment (2012).

Year	OFL	ABC	Discard OFL	Discard ABC
2025	NA	0	NA	NA

3.3.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

No recent management actions have addressed Nassau Grouper (Table 3.11).

Table 3.11: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Nassau Grouper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change

3.3.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Nassau Grouper have been sporadic from 1990 to 2011. Landings were prohibited in Amendment 4 in 1991 and listed as threatened under the Endangered Species Act in 2016. Since 2011 only a small amount of landings of Nassau Grouper have been reported (Figure 3.14). Recreational data are very imprecise estimates.

Figure 3.14: Landings of Nassau 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 provided in the SAFE Report.

The number of Nassau Grouper recreational are provided from 2000 to 2020 (Figure 3.15). Most years there are very few reported releases of Nassau Grouper and the PSEs were above 50 for most years (indicative of very imprecise estimate). No releases were reported between 2015 and 2020.

Figure 3.15: Number of released Nassau Grouper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

There are no indices of abundance for Nassau Grouper.

3.3.5 Sector Trends

From 2011 to 2020, no non-confidential landings have been reported. Nassau Grouper have not been allowed to landed since 1992 (Figure 3.16A.).

Figure 3.16: A. Nassau Grouper recreational landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Nassau Grouper commercial landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2011 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

Due to limited data, lengths are not available for Nassau Grouper.

3.3.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Nassau 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. No directed trips in recreational fishery occurred from 2011 to 2020 (Figure 3.17A.). Since there has been no commercial landings from 2011 to 2020, no ex-vessel value is available (Figure 3.17B.).

Figure 3.17: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Nassau Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2011 to 2020.
B. Ex-vessel value of Nassau Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2011 to 2020 (2022 dollars).

3.3.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Nassau Grouper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities. 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. The recreational and commercial ACL is 0 Nassau Grouper stock and landings are not allowed.

3.3.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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3.4 Red Grouper

Red Grouper, Epinephelus morio, are associated with reef habitat, especially the adults, in the Western Atlantic from Massachusetts through the Gulf of Mexico and south to Brazil, with a disjunct distribution off the Atlantic coast. They are commonly caught off North Carolina, northern South Carolina and southern Florida but are rare from southern South Carolina to northern Florida. Red Grouper are reported to occur at depths of 80 - 400 ft. Red Grouper inhabits ledges, crevices, and caverns of rocky limestone reefs, and lower-profile, live-bottom areas. They are known to be important ecosystem engineers due to their creation of large depressions in the sea floor which become habitat for various species.

Red Grouper can live to over 25 years, with older fish reaching a size of 33 inches in length and 25 lbs. Red Grouper transition from female to male at an age of about 8 years and a length of about 28 inches. Female Red Grouper mature at an age of about 3 years, when they are about 20 inches in length. Red Grouper spawning season is from February through June, with a peak in April.

3.4.1 Assessment Information

Red Grouper were overfished and experiencing overfishing in most years based on the results of the SEDAR 53 assessment (Figure 3.18). Thus Red Grouper required a rebuilding plan, and the population must be rebuilt to the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at maximum sustainable yield (red line in graph A). The Council developed a rebuilding plan for Red Grouper in Regulatory Amendment 30 with projections for the stock to rebuild in 10 years.

Figure 3.18: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Red Grouper relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 53. 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 Red Grouper relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 53. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates the Maximum Fishing Mortality Threshold (MFMT); above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

3.4.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Red Grouper are provided in Table 3.12 based on the results of SEDAR 53.

Table 3.12: Stock status determination criteria for Red Grouper based on SEDAR 53

Criteria	Definition	Value
Rebuilding evaluation	SSB/SSB MSY	0.29
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSB MSST	0.38
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	1.54
MFMT	F MSYor proxy 30% static SPR	0.12
SSBMSY	1000 lbs	7018.00
MSST	75% SSB MSY	5264.00
MSY	1000 lbs	794.30
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	772.00
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (2020 value 1000 lbs)	162.00

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) based on the results of SEDAR 53 (Table 3.13). OFL and ABC are in pounds and discards are in number of mortalities.

Table 3.13: Fishing level recommendations (lbs ww) for Red Grouper from the SSC based on SEDAR 53 included in the SSC Report October 2017.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	202,000	162,000
2023	202,000	162,000
2024	202,000	162,000

3.4.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Recent changes that have occurred in the last 5 years included a reduction in the ACL, revising the rebuilding plan, decrease in the commercial trip limit, and a longer spawning season off North and South Carolina (Table 3.14).

Table 3.14: Recent management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Red Grouper

Date	Council Document	Management Change
8/17/2018	Abbreviated Framework 1	Adjustment to ACL
3/9/2020	Reg Amendment 30	Revised the rebuilding plan
3/9/2020	Reg Amendment 30	Reduced commercial trip limits
3/9/2020	Reg Amendment 30	Extended spawning season closure in NC and SC

3.4.4 Fishery and Population Trends

The recreational fishery is tracked in CHTS units. Combined recreational and commercial landings of Red Grouper from 2016 to 2024 were lower than previous years (Figure 3.19). The ABC was reduced to below 200,000 in 2018 through Abbreviated Framework 3 to rebuild the overfished population. The fishery has been below ABC each year except 2020. FES estimates of recreational catch are higher than CHTS estimates. From 2021 to 2024, there has been more of an increase in FES estimated landings when compared to CHTS estimated landings.

Figure 3.19: Landings of Red Grouper from 2015 to 2024 with the overfishing limit (OFL, thick dashed line) and acceptable biological catch (ABC, red line) from 2022 to 2026. The blue box indicates projected catch levels. Dashed vertical lines indicate changes in management for Red Grouper. In 2018, management included a reduction in the ACL and 2020 included a new rebuilding plan and increased the length of the spawning season closure in NC and SC.

Released Fish

The releases described below are estimated using the fully calibrated MRIP data. The number of Red Grouper recreational releases increased from 2015 to 2024 but were below number of releases prior to 2006 (Figure 3.20). Releases in 2023 and 2024 were higher than the previous ten years.

Figure 3.20: Number of released Red Grouper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available. The vertical dashed line indicates years when management changes occurred. In 2018, management included a reduction in the ACL and 2020 included a new rebuilding plan and increased the length of the spawning season closure in NC and SC.

Trend in Abundance

Abundance of Red Grouper has remained low since the terminal year of the last assessment (2015) based on the trap survey conducted from Florida through North Carolina each year (no data were collected in 2020) (Figure 3.21). The values presented in the figure are normalized (averaged) to a mean of 1 throughout the time series. Each index was less than 0.5 meaning it was less than half of the long-term average. The chevron trap index from 2014 to 2022 was less than 25% of the long-term average. The relative abundance of Red Grouper increased in 2023 to 2024.

Figure 3.21: Index of abundance for Red Grouper from 2010 to 2021 based on the commercial handline, headboat, and trap/video (SERFS) surveys from SEDAR 53. Chevron trap data are pulled from the latest trends report.

3.4.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 56.00% to the recreational sector and 44.00% to the commercial sector. Recreational landings have been varied from 1990 to 2024 with a peak from 2006 to 2008 (Figure 3.22A). Recreational landings in 2021 dropped in association with regulation changes and have increased since then.
Similar to recreational landings, commercial landings of Red Grouper peaked from 2007 to 2008 (Figure 3.22B). There was a decline in commercial landings after 2008 reaching a low in 2022. The commercial fishery has been below the ACL each year since 2012 when the first ACL was implemented.

Figure 3.22: A. Red Grouper recreational landings from 2015 to 2024. Recreational landings are based on the FES MRIP estimates.
B. Red Grouper commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) with sector ACL (dashed line). Blue box indicates future catches. The vertical dashed line indicates the ACL change and rebuilding plan were implemented. In 2018, management included reduced the ACL and 2020 included a new rebuilding plan and increased the length of the spawning season closure in NC and SC.

3.4.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Red Grouper are number of directed trips for the recreational sector based on FES MRIP data (primary target, secondary target, or landed) and ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery. The recreational economic trend is described using the fully calibrated MRIP data. Recreational directed trips decreased from 2015 to 2023 and then jumped in 2024 to the highest number of directed trips over the past ten years (Figure 3.23A). The commercial ex-vessel value decreased from 2015 to 2023 and increased in 2024 (Figure 3.23B).

Figure 3.23: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Red Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Red Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

3.4.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Red Grouper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 3.15). 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. Public comment has indicated that closures are having a negative impact on the fishery. ACL related closures occurred in the recreational fishery in 2018 and 2019.

Table 3.15: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016
2017
2018	12-Dec
2019	25-Sep
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024

3.4.8 Additional Information

Abbreviated Framework 1

Regulatory Amendment 30

SEDAR 53

Essential Fish Habitat

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3.5 Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper

Scamp, Mycteroperca phenax, can be found along the Atlantic Coast of the U.S. from North Carolina to Key West, FL, in the Gulf of Mexico, and along the southern shores of the Caribbean. Scamp inhabits low-profile live-bottom areas, areas of living Oculina coral (off Florida east coast), and over ledges and high-relief rocky bottoms in waters between 75 to 300 feet deep. Scamp can be aggressive ambush predators preying on crabs, shrimp, and fish.

Scamp can live up to 30 years and reach lengths to over 40 inches in length and weighing more than 35 lbs. Scamp are protogynous hermaphrodites transitioning from female to male at the age of 5 to 9 when they are 20 to 30 inches in length. Female Scamp mature at an age of 1 to 2 years, when they are about 14 inches in length. Scamp spawn from February to August with a peak in March through May.

3.5.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment (SEDAR 68) has completed for Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper as a complex. Prevsiously, the SSC recommended an ABC for Scamp using the ORCS approach and was implemented in Amendment 29 (373,049 lbs). The overfishing level was unknown (Figure 3.24). Since 2006, the biomass of Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper has been declining. The stock was not experiencing overfishing.

Figure 3.24: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 68. 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 Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 68. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates the Maximum Fishing Mortality Threshold (MFMT), above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

3.5.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper Complex are provided in Table 3.16.

Table 3.16: Stock status determination criteria for Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper Complex.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfishing Evaluation	F/Fmsy	0.91
MFMT	Fmsy or proxy 40% SPR	0.28
SSBMSY	SSBmsy or SSB proxy based on 40% SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (metric tons)	802.00
MSY		372.00
Y at 75% FMSY		345.00
Optimum Yield	OY=0.95*MSY	354.00

Fishing level recommendations were adopted in Amendment 55 (2024) (Table 3.17).

Table 3.17: Fishing level recommendations for Scamp from the SSC based on Amendment 55.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	0	373,049
2023	0	373,049
2024	0	373,049
2025	88,000	67,450
2026	109,000	72,200
2027	157,000	75,050
2028	210,000	77,900
2029	252,000	79,800

3.5.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Amendment 55 was initiated in March 2023 to implement the catch level recommendations from the SSC based on the results of SEDAR 68 (2023) (Table 3.18). Management will need to address several issues associated with the stock including developing a new complex that includes Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper and starting a rebuilding plan for the complex.

Table 3.18: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
12/6/2024	Amendment 55	Eatablish status determination criteria, started a rebuilding plan, and established a ACL for the complex

3.5.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper have increased from 1990 to 2020. Combined landings were fairly stable from 1990 to 2008. However, since 2008, landings steadily decreased with the exception of 2014 when there was a spike in landings (Figure 3.25). The lowest landings occurred in 2022. Since 2023 and 2024, the landings have increased.

Figure 3.25: Landings of Scamp from 1990 to 2024.

Released Fish

The number of Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper recreational releases decreased from 2011 to 2020 (Figure 3.26). Some years there are no reported releases of Scamp and the PSEs were above 50% for most years (indicative of very imprecise estimate). SEDAR 68 used a cubic spine to estimate discards. An example of the results of the spline are provided below. Since 2015, the estimate of discards has been increasing but note these estimates are highly uncertain.

Figure 3.26: Number of released Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

SEDAR 68 included an index of abundance based on the combined video/trap survey, commercial handline, and recreational survey (Figure 3.27). Scamp have been decreasing since 2005 to a low around 2020. Since there has been a slight increase in the number of Scamp caught. The SERFS Trap/Video and chevron trap index were developed using trap data and should not be viewed as two indices. The chevron trap video is provided between assessment and compares well with the SERFS Trap/Video Index used in SEDAR 68.

Figure 3.27: Index of abundance for Scamp from 1981 to 2024 based on the trap/video survey (SERFS) from SEDAR 68. No samples were taken in 2020.

3.5.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 34.66% to the recreational sector and 65.34% to the commercial sector. The recreational fishery increased from 2015 to 2024 primarily due to the high estimate in 2023 (Figure 3.28A.). From 2018 to 2021 there was a series of years with low numbers of Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper landed. In 2023 and 2024, the number of recreationally landed Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper increased.

Commercial landings were below the ACL (dark dashed line) from 2015 to 2024. The commercial fishery had a decreasing trend in pounds landed. The commercial fishery declined from 2015 to 2022 and 2023. There was a slight increase in 2024 (Figure 3.28B.).

Figure 3.28: A. Scamp recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Scamp commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Scamp in the recreational fishery was 24 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022. Most landed Scamp (97%) were between 18 and 30 inches fork length.

The median length of Scamp in the commercial fishery was 22 inches (mixture of fork and total length estimates) from 2013 to 2022. Most commercially landed Scamp (96%) are between 18 and 30 inches. From 2013 to 2018, Scamp 18 to 20 inches were frequently more common than other lengths. Since, these smaller fish have not been observed.

Figure 3.29: Expanded length distribution of Scamp recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 3.30: Length distribution of Scamp commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period and the red dashed line representing the minimum size limit. Fish are grouped into 2-inch size bins.

3.5.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Scamp 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 were variable with the highest values occurring in 2016, 2023, and 2024. The lowest number of trips occurred from 2017 to 2022 (Figure 3.31A.). The ex-vessel value has decreased from 2015 to 2023 to the lowest in the time series (Figure 3.31B.). There was an increase in 2024.

Figure 3.31: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Scamp in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Scamp for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

3.5.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Scamp is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 3.19). 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 recreational or commercial ACL closures for the Scamp stock.

Table 3.19: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2015 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial

3.5.8 Additional Information

SEDAR 68

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3.6 Snowy Grouper

Snowy Grouper, Hyporthodus niveatus, is a large deepwater reef-associated species. Snowy Grouper occur in the western Atlantic from Massachusetts to Brazil, including Bermuda, Cuba, the Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico. Within the Atlantic waters off the southeastern U.S., Snowy Grouper can be found on the outer continental shelf and upper slope at depths greater than 150 feet in habitats characterized by ridges, terraces, and precipitous cliffs; or on wrecks and artificial reefs. Snowy Grouper is a bottom fish that ambushes bottom-dwelling prey. The most common diet items are deepwater crabs, but finfish are also eaten.

Snowy Grouper is relatively long-lived and may reach a maximum age of 56 (South Atlantic) to 80 (Gulf of Mexico) years and a weight of 70 lbs. Snowy Grouper begin to transition from female to male at age 10 when they are about three feet long. Female Snowy grouper mature at an age of 5 to 6 years, when they are about 24 inches in length. The spawning season is from January through October, with a peak in May to August.

3.6.1 Assessment Information

Snowy Grouper were overfished and experiencing overfishing in most years based on the results of the SEDAR 36 2020 Update assessment (Figure 3.32). Snowy Grouper have been in a rebuilding plan since 2006, and the population must be rebuilt to the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at maximum sustainable yield (red line in graph A). The population is expected to be rebuilt by 2042.

Figure 3.32: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Snowy Grouper relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 36 2020 Update. 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 Snowy Grouper relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 36 2020 Update. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates overfishing, above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

3.6.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Snowy Grouper are provided in Table 3.20 based on the results of SEDAR 36 2020 Update.

Table 3.20: Stock status determination criteria for Snowy Grouper based on SEDAR 36 Update. Values will be implemented through Amendment 51.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	0.48
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	1.13
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	0.09
SSBMSY	SSB MSY or SSB proxy based on 40% static SPR	4206.00
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	3155.00
MSY	1000 lbs	532.00
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	518.50
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	123.00

Fishing level recommendations (lbs gw) based on the results of SEDAR 36 2020 Update including OFL, ABC, Discard OFL, and Discard ABC (lbs gw) (Table 3.21).

Table 3.21: Fishing level recommendations for Snowy Grouper from the SSC based on SEDAR 36 Update. Values will be implemented through Amendment 51.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	265,744	218,848
2023	156,844	119,654
2024	156,035	121,272
2025	155,227	122,889
2026	151,993	122,889

3.6.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Recent management change was the creation of a commercial split season in Regulatory Amendment 27. New management actions were developed as part of Amendment 51.

Table 3.22: Recent management amendment, implementation date, and management change for Snowy Grouper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
2/26/2020	Reg Amendment 27	Created commercial split season and create seasonal commercial quotas
11/30/2023	Amendment 51	Revise ABC, ACL, and OY
11/30/2023	Amendment 51	Revise allocations and sector ACLs
11/30/2023	Amendment 51	Modify recreational season
11/30/2023	Amendment 51	Modify recreational accountability measures

3.6.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Snowy Grouper ranged from 140,000 lbs (2021) to 175,000 lbs (2016) (Figure 3.33). Reductions in the landings were implemented in Amendment 51 to end overfishing and continue to rebuild the stock.

Figure 3.33: Landings of Snowy Grouper from 2015 to 2024 with the overfishing limit (OFL, thick dashed line) and acceptable biological catch (ABC, thinner dashed line) from 2023 to 2026. The blue box indicates projected catch levels. The vertical dashed line indicates the implementation of the commercial split season in 2020 and management measures from Amendment 51 in 2023.

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 Snowy Grouper recreational releases has been below 5,000 fish most years since 2012 (Figure 3.34). Since 2016, the recreational fishery has averaged releasing less than 500 Snowy Grouper per year.

Figure 3.34: Number of released Snowy Grouper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

Abundance of Snowy Grouper below is scaled to an index of 1, indicating that the population is below the long-term average abundance based for the survey. Since the terminal year in the assessment, the chevron trap and short bottom longline surveys have collected Snowy Grouper. Little change has occurred in the relative abundance in these surveys and remain well below the long-term average.

Figure 3.35: Index of abundance for Snowy Grouper from 2010 to 2018 based on the headboat, MARMAP longline, and trap (SERFS) surveys from SEDAR 36 Update. The chevron trap and short bottom longline values (2010 to 2022) are the zero inflated negative binomial estimates included in the recent trends report developed by SC DNR.

3.6.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 17.00% to the recreational sector and 83.00% to the commercial sector. Recreational landings have increasing trend from 2015 to 2024 mainly due to the single high estimate in 2023 (Figure 3.36A). The recreational ACL is specified in numbers of fish. Commercial landings have been at or slightly above the ACL since 2012 (Figure 3.36B). New sector ACLs were developed in Amendment 51 and the new commercial ACL resulted in a decrease in landings. This reduction caused a downward trend in the commercial sector landings.

Figure 3.36: A. Snowy Grouper recreational landings (solid line) from 2012 to 2021. Blue box indicates future catches. Recreational landings are based on fully implemented MRIP estimates.
B. Snowy Grouper commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) with sector ACL (dashed line). Blue box indicates projections. The vertical dashed line indicates the implementation of the commercial split season in 2020.

3.6.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Snowy 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. Recreational directed trips have been variable from 2015 to 2024 with an increasing trend likely due to a high estimate in 2023 (Figure 3.37A). The commercial revenue had an increasing trend from 2016 to 2019 but has fallen since (Figure 3.37B).

Figure 3.37: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Snowy Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Snowy Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

3.6.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Snowy Grouper is sector closures which affects fishing opportunities (Table 3.23). 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. Public comment has indicated that closures are having a negative impact on the fishery. Closures occurred in the commercial fishery from 2016 to 2020 and 2024. No ACL related closure occurred in 2021 to 2023.

Table 3.23: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2021. No date indicates the sector did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016		14-Jun
2017		22-Jun
2018		24-Jul
2019		3-Aug
2020		12-Dec
2021
2022
2023
2024		6/4/2024

3.6.8 Additional Information

On Going Amendment 51

Regulatory Amendment 27

SEDAR 36 2020 Update

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3.7 Speckled Hind

Speckled Hind, Epinephelus drummondhayi, is a warm-temperate species, occurring from the Yucatan Peninsula throughout the Gulf of Mexico, around the Florida peninsula northward to Cape Hatteras, North Carolina and Bermuda. It is absent from the tropical continental and insular Caribbean Sea and Bahama Islands. They commonly inhabit mid-shelf to upper continental slope reef habitats at depths ranging from 65 to 600 feet. Speckled Hind is usually found inshore of more typical deepwater reef fish such as Tilefish, and Snowy, Warsaw, and Yellowedge groupers. Yellow phase juvenile Speckled Hind have been observed on shelf-edge Oculina coral reefs off east central Florida, and on shelf-edge hard-bottom reefs off South Carolina. Speckled Hind is considered piscivorous and generally engulf their prey whole.

Speckled Hind can reach a maximum age of 35 years, and can weigh over 50 pounds (the world record is 64 lbs caught off North Carolina). Speckled Hind are protogynous hermaphrodites spawning over a prolonged period from April to October with a peak in May to August. Females transition to male at 6 years of age or older and at a length of 1.5 to 2.0 feet. Female Speckled Hind mature at an age of 4 to 6 years, when they are about 1.5 feet long. In the Atlantic waters off the southeast U.S., Speckled Hind is managed by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council under the Snapper Grouper FMP. Speckled Hind are caught on shelf edge and continental slope reefs using hook-and-line gear including electric reels and bottom longlines.

3.7.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment has not been developed for Speckled Hind. The SSC recommended an ABC of zero for Speckled Hind due to past issues with overfishing although the overfishing level is unknown. Landings of Speckled Hind spiked in the 1990s and then decreased. Amendment 6 (1993) eliminated sale of Speckled Hind. Recent landings (since 2011) have been infrequent with many years have no landings (Figure 3.38). There is little difference in the landings trend for Speckled Hind.

Figure 3.38: A. Combined landings of Speckled Hind (whole weight, ww) to the ABC for Speckled Hind. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Speckled Hind (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

3.7.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Speckled Hind are provided in Table 3.24. Only the OY has a defined value.

Table 3.24: Stock status determination criteria for Speckled Hind.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	SSB MSY or SSB proxy based on 40% static SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	NA
MSY		NA
Y at 75% FMSY		NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	0

Fishing level recommendations using ORCS and adopted in Amendment 37 (2016) (Table 3.25).

Table 3.25: Fishing level recommendations for Speckled Hind from the SSC based Amendment 29.

Year	OFL	ABC	Discard OFL	Discard ABC
2025	NA	0	NA	NA

3.7.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Several actions were developed in Amendment 37 (2016) including establishing the Georgia through North Carolina stock (Table 3.26). There was concern for the stock based on stakeholder feedback. The Council increased the minimum size limit and established a commercial trip limit and recreational bag limit.

Table 3.26: Recent and upcoming management amendements, implementation date, and management changes for Speckled Hind.

Date	Council Document	Management Change

3.7.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Speckled Hind increased from 1980 to 1990 and then decreased. Amendment 6 prohibited sale Speckled Hind. Since 2011 only three years have landings that could be reported (Figure 3.39). Most years recreational data would be considered a very imprecise estimate.

Figure 3.39: Landings of Speckled Hind 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 provided in the SAFE Report.

The number of Speckled Hind recreational are provided from 2000 to 2020 (Figure 3.40). Most years there are no reported releases of Speckled Hind and the PSEs were above 50 for most years (indicative of very imprecise estimate).

Figure 3.40: Number of released Speckled Hind by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

There are no indices of abundance for Speckled Hind.

3.7.5 Sector Trends

From 2011 to 2020, landings were reported in 2011, 2013, 2015, and 2020. Speckled Hind have not been allowed to landed since 2012 and some landings could be coming from the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 3.41A.).

Figure 3.41: A. Speckled Hind recreational landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Speckled Hind commercial landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2011 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

Due to limited data, lengths are not available for Speckled Hind.

3.7.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Speckled Hind 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 ranged from 0 (most years) to 4,800 trips from 2011 to 2020 (lowest in the time series) (Figure 3.42A.). The ex-vessel value has ranged from 0 (most years) to almost $10,000 from 2011 to 2020 (Figure 3.42B.).

Figure 3.42: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Speckled Hind in the South Atlantic region from 2011 to 2020.
B. Ex-vessel value of Speckled Hind for the commercial fishery from 2011 to 2020 (2022 dollars).

3.7.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Speckled Hind is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities. 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. The recreational and commercial ACL is 0 Speckled Hind stock.

3.7.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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3.8 Warsaw Grouper

Warsaw Grouper, Hyporthodus nigritus, is a warm-temperate cool water species with permanent breeding populations in deep reefs along the continental shelf edge and deep slope from Cape Hatteras, North Carolina to east central Florida and the Gulf of Mexico. The Warsaw Grouper has been consistently observed in small groups typically with a single very large (80 inches in length) individual around deep Oculina coral reefs and shipwrecks at depths from 180 to 1,722 ft on the east central coast of Florida. The warsaw’s huge mouth enables it to engulf prey whole after capturing it.

Warsaw Grouper are protogynous hermaphrodites. Females mature 40 inches at 9 years. Female to male transition size is unknown, but the largest reported females were 45 inches. while the smallest male was 47 inches and 10 years old. The oldest and largest males are reported to be 41 years and 92 inches. The maximum age is estimated at 44 to 46 years. The Warsaw Grouper spawning activity has not been documented in the Atlantic waters off the southeastern U.S., but is estimated to occur from spring into summer based on post-larval collections and aging and is known to spawn August - October in the Gulf of Mexico, and during April and May off Cuba.

3.8.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment has not been developed for Warsaw Grouper. The SSC recommended an ABC of zero for Warsaw Grouper due to past issues with overfishing although the overfishing level is unknown. Landings of Warsaw Grouper spiked in the 1990s and then decreased. Amendment 6 (1993) eliminated sale of Warsaw Grouper. Recent landings (since 2011) have been infrequent with many years have no landings (Figure 3.43). There is little difference in the landings trend among survey type for Warsaw Grouper but the landings did increase substantially in some years (e.g. over 50,000 lbs in 1991 and 2009).

Figure 3.43: A. Combined landings of Warsaw Grouper (whole weight, ww) to the ABC for Warsaw Grouper. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Warsaw Grouper (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

3.8.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Warsaw Grouper are provided in Table 3.27. Only the OY has a defined value.

Table 3.27: Stock status determination criteria for Warsaw Grouper.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	SSB MSY or SSB proxy based on 40% static SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	NA
MSY		NA
Y at 75% FMSY		NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	0

The SSC recommended an ABC 0 and Council adopted an ACL of 0 in Amendment 17B (Table 3.28).

Table 3.28: Fishing level recommendations for Warsaw Grouper from the SSC Amendment 17B.

Year	OFL	ABC	Discard OFL	Discard ABC
2025	NA	0	NA	NA

3.8.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

No recent management actions have addressed Warsaw Grouper (Table 3.29).

Table 3.29: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Warsaw Grouper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change

3.8.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Warsaw Grouper generally decreased from 1990 to 2011 when landings were prohibited in Amendment 17B. Amendment 6 prohibited sale Warsaw Grouper. Since 2011 only three years have landings that could be reported (Figure 3.44). Most years, recreational data would be considered a very imprecise estimate.

Figure 3.44: Landings of Warsaw 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 provided in the SAFE Report.

The number of Warsaw Grouper recreational are provided from 2000 to 2020 (Figure 3.45). Most years there are no reported releases of Warsaw Grouper and the PSEs were above 50 for most years (indicative of very imprecise estimate).

Figure 3.45: Number of released Warsaw Grouper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

There are no indices of abundance for Warsaw Grouper.

3.8.5 Sector Trends

From 2011 to 2020, non-confidential landings were observed in 2011, 2014, 2015, and 2016. Warsaw Grouper have not been allowed to landed since 2011 and some landings could be coming from the Gulf of Mexico (Figure 3.46A.).

Figure 3.46: A. Warsaw Grouper recreational landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Warsaw Grouper commercial landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2011 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

Due to limited data, lengths are not available for Warsaw Grouper.

3.8.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Warsaw 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 ranged from 0 (most years) to 4,000 trips from 2011 to 2020 (Figure 3.47A.). The ex-vessel value has ranged from 0 (most years) to almost $3,000 from 2011 to 2020 (Figure 3.47B.).

Figure 3.47: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Warsaw Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2011 to 2020.
B. Ex-vessel value of Warsaw Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2011 to 2020 (2022 dollars).

3.8.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Warsaw Grouper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities. 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. The recreational and commercial ACL is 0 Warsaw Grouper stock and landings is not allowed.

3.8.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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4 Hogfish

4.1 Hogfish - Florida Keys/East Coast Florida Stock

Hogfish, Lachnolaimus maximus, occur in the Western Atlantic from Nova Scotia (Canada) to northern South America, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, although it is most commonly found in the Caribbean. Hogfish are primarily found in warm subtropical and tropical waters. Genetic analysis indicates there are three stocks in U.S. waters, which include the Gulf of Mexico, Florida/Florida Keys, and Carolinas. Hogfish are usually found in loose aggregations around hard-bottom areas, such as coral reefs, rocky ledges and wrecks. They occur at depths of 10 to 98 ft over open bottom or coral reef; however, hogfish have occasionally been captured in monitoring programs at depths ranging from 75 to 174 ft and have been observed during submersible dives off South Carolina at depths of 171 ft.

Maximum reported size is 36 inches in length (male) and 22 lbs. Maximum reported age varies by region in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is 23 years and 13 years in the Florida Keys. Hogfish form haremic spawning aggregations, with males setting up territories that can include multiple females (10 to 15 females). Hogfish change from female to male. Off the Florida Keys, spawning occurs from September to April with a February and March peak. Off the southern coast of NC, spawning occurs from April through July.

4.1.1 Assessment Information

The Florida Keys/East Florida (FLK/EFL) stock of Hogfish was designated as overfished and experiencing overfishing based on the results of SEDAR 37 assessment (Figure 4.1). The FLK/EFL stock of Hogfish are expected to be rebuilt by 2026 based on the rebuilding plan.

Figure 4.1: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Hogfish relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 37. The red line at 1 indicates the rebuilding target.
B. The estimate of fishing mortality rate (F) of Hogfish relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 37. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates the Maximum Fishing Mortality Threshold (MFMT): above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

4.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Florida Keys/East Coast of Florida Hogfish are provided in Table 4.1 based on the results of SEDAR 37. Values were reported in Table 2.2.1 in Amendment 37.

Table 4.1: Stock status determination criteria for Hogfish based on SEDAR 37.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	0.466
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	1.593
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	0.138
SSBMSY	1000 lbs (female and male)	2300.000
MSST	75% SSB MSY	1725.000
MSY	1000 lbs	346.100
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=95%ABC (2025 value 1000 fish)	32.000

Fishing level recommendations (Numbers of fish) based on the results of SEDAR 37 including OFL, ABC, Discard OFL, and Discard ABC (Numbers) (Table 4.2).

Table 4.2: Table 4.3: Fishing level recommendations in numbers of fish for FLK/EFL Hogfish from the SSC based on revised projection for SEDAR 37 included in Amendment 37 (Appendix K)

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	67,119	39,027
2023	73,662	44,162
2024	79,808	49,254
2025	85,486	54,183
2026	90,657	58,878

4.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Hogfish were split into different management stocks based on genetic differences along the Atlantic Coast. The Florida Keys/East Florida stock of Hogfish were added to the Snapper Grouper Complex in Amendment 37 along with actions to rebuild the overfished stock and end overfishing (Table 4.4).

Table 4.4: Table 4.5: Recent management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for FK/EFL Hogfish.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Establish Florida Keys/East Florida stock
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Created MSY, MSST, ABC, ACL, ACT
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Establish a rebuilding plan
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Develop allocations
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Increase minimum size limit
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Establish commercial trip limit

4.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Hogfish (number of fish) dropped after 2017 when the ACL was put in place (Figure 4.2). Since the catch levels have remained below the ABC. The catch levels have been less than 50% of the combined ACL.

Figure 4.2: Landings of Hogfish from 2017 to 2024 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 catch levels. The vertical dashed line indicates starting management of the FLK/EFL stock of Hogfish, established a rebuilding plan, increased the minimum size limit, and created a commercial trip limit.

Released Fish

The releases described below are estimated using the fully calibrated MRIP data (Figure 4.3). Most recreational data in this report are in CHTS values. The number of Hogfish recreational releases from the Florida Keys and East Coast of Florida has ranged from approximately 5,000 fish to 30,000 fish. Released fish are exceeding landed catch in some years.

Figure 4.3: Number of released Hogfish by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available. The vertical dashed line indicates starting management of the FLK/EFL stock of Hogfish, established a rebuilding plan, increased the minimum size limit, and created a commercial trip limit.

Trend in Abundance

Indices of abundance for Hogfish have not been provided to the SAFMC since the stock assessment (Figure 4.4).

Figure 4.4: No Index of abundance for Hogfish is provided.

4.1.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 90.37% to the recreational sector and 9.63% to the commercial sector. Recreational landings have increased from 2019 to 2021 but remain well below the recreational ACL (Figure 4.5). Commercial landings have been below the ACL since 2019.

Figure 4.5: A. Hogfish recreational landings (solid line) from 2017 to 2024. Recreational landings are based on CHTS MRIP estimates.
B. Hogfish commercial landings from 2017 to 2024 (solid line) with sector ACL (dashed line). Blue box indicates projected landings. The vertical dashed line indicates management of the FK/EFL stock, establishment of a rebuilding plan, increased minimum size limit, and created a commercial trip limit.

4.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Hogfish 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. Both measures generally decreased over the time period examined from 2015 to 2024 __(Figure 4.6 A and B)_. The recreational economic trend is described using the fully calibrated MRIP data. Most recreational data in this report are in CHTS values.

Figure 4.6: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Hogfish off the Florida Keys and East Coast of Florida from 2016 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel revenue from Hogfish for the commercial fishery from 2016 to 2024.

4.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Hogfish is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 4.6). 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. Closures occurred in the recreational and commercial fisheries in 2017 and commercial fishery in 2018. No ACL related closures have occurred since 2018.

Table 4.6: Table 4.7: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016	**
2017	24-Aug	24-Aug
2018		16-Nov
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024

4.1.8 Additional Information

Amendment 37

SEDAR 37

Essential Fish Habitat

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4.2 Hogfish - Florida Keys/East Coast Florida Stock

Hogfish, Lachnolaimus maximus, occur in the Western Atlantic from Nova Scotia (Canada) to northern South America, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, although it is most commonly found in the Caribbean. Hogfish are primarily found in warm subtropical and tropical waters. Genetic analysis indicates there are three stocks in U.S. waters, which include the Gulf of Mexico, Florida/Florida Keys, and Carolinas. Hogfish are usually found in loose aggregations around hard-bottom areas, such as coral reefs, rocky ledges and wrecks. They occur at depths of 10 to 98 ft over open bottom or coral reef; however, hogfish have occasionally been captured in monitoring programs at depths ranging from 75 to 174 ft and have been observed during submersible dives off South Carolina at depths of 171 ft.

Maximum reported size is 36 inches in length (male) and 22 lbs. Maximum reported age varies by region in the eastern Gulf of Mexico is 23 years and 13 years in the Florida Keys. Hogfish form haremic spawning aggregations, with males setting up territories that can include multiple females (10 to 15 females). Hogfish change from female to male. Off the Florida Keys, spawning occurs from September to April with a February and March peak. Off the southern coast of NC, spawning occurs from April through July.

4.2.1 Assessment Information

The Georgia to North Carolina (GA-NC) stock of Hogfish was included in SEDAR 37 assessment but the assessment was not approved for use in management. The SSC used a data limited method to recommend an ABC.

4.2.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Since there is not an assessment for the Georgia to North Carolina Hogfish stock, values for many of the status determination criteria are not available Table 4.8 based on Amendment 37.

Table 4.8: Stock status determination criteria for Hogfish based on SEDAR 37.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	SSB MSY or SSB proxy based on 40% static SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	NA
MSY		NA
Y at 75% FMSY		NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	33.9

ABC (whole weight) for GA to NC Hogfish based on Amendment 37 (Table 4.9).

Table 4.9: Table 4.10: Fishing level recommendations in numbers of fish for FLK/EFL Hogfish from the SSC based on revised projection for SEDAR 37 included in Amendment 37 (Appendix K)

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	NA	35,716
2023	NA	35,716
2024	NA	35,716

4.2.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Hogfish were split into different management stocks based on genetic differences along the Atlantic Coast. The Georgia to North Carolina stock of Hogfish were added to the Snapper Grouper Complex in Amendment 37 along with actions to establish ACLs, trip limits, and bag limits (Table 4.11).

Table 4.11: Table 4.12: Recent management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for FK/EFL Hogfish.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Establish Georgia-North Carolina stock
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Created MSY, MSST, ABC, ACL, ACT
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Develop allocations
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Increased minimum size limit to 17 inches FL
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Establish commercial trip limit (500 lbs)
8/24/2017	Amendment 37	Established recreational bag limit (2 per person)

4.2.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Hogfish (number of fish) was put in place in Amendment 37 (Figure 4.7). Catch levels have remained below the ABC and have not exceeded 25,000 lbs wwt since 2017. Landings in CHTS and FES values were similar in some years due to the low recreational catch. In 2017, 2020, and 2024, when landings were reported in the recreational fishery, the landings were scaled higher than the CHTS combined landings with 2024 being the highest landings since 2017 (Figure 4.7B).

Figure 4.7: Landings (CHTS MRIP) of Hogfish from 2017 to 2024 with the acceptable biological catch (ABC, thinner dashed line) from 2022 to 2026. The blue box indicates projected catch levels. The vertical dashed line indicates starting management of the FLK/EFL stock of Hogfish, established a rebuilding plan, increased the minimum size limit, and created a commercial trip limit.

Released Fish

The releases described below are estimated using the fully calibrated MRIP data (Figure 4.8). The number of Hogfish recreational releases from Georgia to North Carolina was near zero for most years except 2019.

Figure 4.8: Number of released Hogfish (FES values) by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available. The vertical dashed line indicates starting management of the GA-NC stock of Hogfish, established a rebuilding plan, increased the minimum size limit, and created a commercial trip limit.

Trend in Abundance

Indices of abundance for Hogfish have not been provided to the SAFMC since the stock assessment (Figure 4.4).

Figure 4.9: No Index of abundance for Hogfish is provided.

4.2.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 30.87% to the recreational sector and 69.13% to the commercial sector. Many years the recreational landings were close to zero with some years exceeding 1000 fish (Figure 4.10). Commercial landings have been below the ACL since 2019.

Figure 4.10: A. Hogfish recreational landings (MRIP FES solid line) from 2017 to 2024.
B. Hogfish commercial landings from 2017 to 2024 (solid line) with sector ACL (dashed line). Blue box indicates projected landings. The vertical dashed line indicates management of the GA-NC stock, increased minimum size limit, and created a commercial trip limit.

4.2.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Hogfish 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. In the recreational fishery, there were many years with zero or close to zero directred trips. In 2023 and 2024, the two highest number of directed trips occurred. Both measures generally decreased over the time period examined from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 4.11 A). The commercial fishery had a declining trend in ex-vessel value from 2017 to 2024 (Figure 4.11 B).

Figure 4.11: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Hogfish off Georgia to North Carolina from 2017 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel revenue from Hogfish for the commercial fishery from 2017 to 2024.

4.2.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Hogfish is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 4.13). 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. Closures occurred in the recreational and commercial fisheries in 2017 and commercial fishery in 2018. No ACL related closures have occurred since 2018.

Table 4.13: Table 4.14: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021		11/10/2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

4.2.8 Additional Information

Amendment 37

SEDAR 37

Essential Fish Habitat

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5 Jacks

5.1 Greater Amberjack

Greater Amberjack, Seriola dumerili, is a pelagic and epibenthic warm-temperate species in the family Carangidae. This large jack is distributed from Nova Scotia to Brazil and throughout the Pacific, Indian, and Eastern Atlantic Oceans as well as the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean Sea, and the Mediterranean Sea. Greater Amberjack often are found near reefs, rocky outcrops, or wrecks off the southeastern United States, with a relatively broad depth range of 50 to 780 ft.

Greater Amberjack has a fast growth rate and reaches a maximum size of 74 inches, maximum weight of 178 pounds, and maximum age of 13 years. Females are generally larger at age than males. This species is gonochoristic with a spawning season from January to June with a peak in April and May. Spawning appears to be more prevalent off south Florida and the Florida Keys compared to locations further north along the Atlantic coast. They mature at 1 year of age and 29 inches in length.

5.1.1 Assessment Information

Based on the results of SEDAR 59 (2020), Greater Amberjack was not overfished and overfishing was not occuring (Figure 5.1). The results indicated the population has been increasing in abundance since 1998. Overfishing has not been observed since the early 1990s. Fishing mortality relative to MSY has decreased since 1990.

Figure 5.1: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Greater Amberjack relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 59. Red points indicate when the population was overfished indicating the population is below the minimum stock size threshold. The red horizontal line indicates maximum sustainable yield.
B. The estimate of fishing mortality rate (F) of Greater Amberjack relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 59. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates the maximum fishing mortality threshold (MFMT): above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

Landings of Greater Amberjack reported below are on an annual basis and will not match fishing year estimates. The landings can provide relative insight into catch levels. The recreational estimates developed using the Coastal Household Telephone Survey indicated a gradual decrease in landings since the early 1990s and average under 2 million lbs per year. The recreational estimates developed using the Fishery Effort Survey indicates a more stable time series of landings after 1990 and average over 2 million lbs per year. Landings relative to future projections indicate landings are below the optimum yield for the fishery (equal to ACL).

Figure 5.2: A. Combined landings of Greater Amberjack (lbs, whole weight) to the ACL (red solid line) and OFL (black dashed line) for Greater Amberjack. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Greater Amberjack (lbs, whole weight). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey. The blue box contains projections for the 2025 to 2026 ACLs (red line) and OFLs (black dashed line)

5.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Greater Amberjack based on the results of SEDAR 59 (2020) are provided in Table 5.1.

Table 5.1: Stock status determination criteria for Greater Amberjack.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB2006/MSST	2.10
Overfishing Evaluation	F2006/FMSY	0.40
MFMT	FMSY	0.69
SSBMSY	Spawning Stock Biomass (1000 lbs)	7,255.00
MSST	75% SSB MSY	5,441.00
MSY	1000 lbs whole weight	2,342.00
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (2025 value 1000 lbs)	2,699.00

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) were approved by the Council in Amendment 49 (2023) but have not been implemented (Table 5.2).

Table 5.2: Fishing level recommendations for Greater Amberjack provided by the SSC.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	4,615,000	4,380,000
2023	3,283,000	3,233,000
2024	2,839,000	2,818,000
2025	2,719,000	2,699,000
2026	2,691,000	2,669,000

5.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Amendment 49 (2023) adjusted the recommended catch levels for Greater Amberjack based on the results of SEDAR 59 (2020) (Table 5.3). Amendment 49 also included changes to the allocation, reducing the commercial minimum size limit, increasing the recreational minimum size limit, and increasing the commercial trip limit.

Table 5.3: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Greater Amberjack.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
2/26/2020	Reg Amendment 27	Created commercial split season and seasonal commercial trip limits
9/18/2023	Amendment 49	Revise the ABC, ACL and OY
9/18/2023	Amendment 49	Revise sector allocations and ACLs
9/18/2023	Amendment 49	Increase recreational minimum size limit
9/18/2023	Amendment 49	Reduce commercial minimum size limit
9/18/2023	Amendment 49	Increase commercial trip limits
9/18/2023	Amendment 49	Revise spawning season closure

5.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Greater Amberjack increased in the 1980s and then decreased in the 1990s. Since then, landings have remained fairly stable between 1 and 3 million lbs per year. From 2011 to 2020, there was a decrease in overall landings (Figure 5.3). Landings in 2023 and 2024 showed an increase.

Figure 5.3: Landings of Greater Amberjack from 1990 to 2024. Grey dashed line shows trend from 2015 to 2024.

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 Greater Amberjack recreational releases were typically around 50,000 fish per year prior to 2014 (except 2008 and 2009) (Figure 5.4). From 2011 to 2020, there has been an increasing trend in recreational releases. After 2014, the average number of releases was over 100,000 fish per year in most years. The number of discards in 2022 to 2024 were similar to the number of discards from 2000 to 2007.

Figure 5.4: Number of released Greater Amberjack by year from the recreational fishery. Grey dashed line shows trend from 2015 to 2024. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

The indices of abundance from SEDAR 59 ended in 2018 (Figure 5.5).

Figure 5.5: Index of abundance for Greater Amberjack from 1980 to 2018 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 59.

5.1.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 59.34% to the recreational sector and 40.66% to the commercial sector. The majority of the landings are harvested by the recreational sector. Recreational landings (numbers of fish) were relatively higher in 2015 and 2016 and then decreased to around 50,000 to 100,000 fish from 2017 to 2024 (Figure 5.6A.). The recreational fishery has had a decreasing trend in landings since 2015.

Commercial landings have been trending down with a dramatic drop between 2017 and 2019 (Figure 5.6B.). The ACL was exceeded from 2012 to 2017. Since then, the commercial fishery has been below the optimum yield (ACL).

Figure 5.6: A. Greater Amberjack recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Greater Amberjack commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Greater Amberjack in the recreational fishery was 32 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022 but 28 inches fork length was the most common length. Greater Amberjack ranged from 12 inches to 53 inches (Figure 5.7). Most fish (76%) were between 27 and 42 inches fork length. Few fish over 40 inches were observed in the recreational fishery.

The median length of Greater Amberjack in the commercial fishery was 38 inches (mixture of fork and total length estimates) from 2013 to 2022. Commercially caught Greater Amberjack ranged from 12 to 69 inches with most fish (76%) being between 34 inches and 45 inches. The size distribution has been pretty consistent over the past 10 years.

Figure 5.7: Expanded length distribution of Greater Amberjack recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 5.8: Length distribution of Greater Amberjack commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

5.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Greater Amberjack 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 was highest in 2016. Since the lowest number of directed trips in 2021 there has been an increase (Figure 5.9A.). The ex-vessel value was highest from 2015 to 2017. The ex-vessel value decreased from 2017 to 2020 and relatively high value in 2021 and 2022 (Figure 5.9B.). The ex-vessel values were lowest in 2023 and 2024.

Figure 5.9: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Greater Amberjack in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Greater Amberjack for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

5.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Greater Amberjack is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 5.4). 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. Recreational and commercial fisheries have not closed since 2017 fishing season.

Table 5.4: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2021. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial Season 1	Commercial Season 2
2016	11/30/2016	10/4/2016
2017	10/31/2017	10/18/2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

5.1.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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5.2 Bar Jack

The Bar Jack, Caranx ruber, occurs in the Western Atlantic from New Jersey to southern Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and throughout the Caribbean Sea. Fish less than 11 inches long have dark band from eye to first dorsal fin and six prominent bars on body; larger fish are bluish, greenish, or brown with white tipped tail-lobe.

It is commonly found in clear insular areas or coral reef habitats off mainland coasts, from depths of 10 to 115 ft. Juveniles frequent areas with Sargassum and appear to be common in shallow water (0 to 49 ft) reef habitats, but probably move to the outer margins of the shelf at or before maturity. Bar Jack are founds in nearshore and offshore waters over hard-bottom, generally in shallower water than other amberjacks. Young are associated with weed lines or floating debris and may follow sharks and other large fish. Bar Jack are sometimes solitary, but usually forms schools, possibly associated with spawning events. Prey items include fishes, shrimps, and other invertebrates.

Maximum reported size is 28 inches and 18.2 lbs. The minimum size of maturity for both males and females off Jamaica is 9 inches. The mean length at maturity is 10 inches for both sexes, and most fish are probably mature when they reach 10 inches in length. Spawning occurs during all year with peak spawning during April and October. Peak spawning off Cuba occurs during April and July.

5.2.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment has not been completed for Bar Jack in the South Atlantic Region. The SSC developed an ABC for the species but indicated the overfishing level was unknown. (Figure 5.10). Landings of Bar Jack have remained below the ACL and optimum yield. In 2015, the ACL and optimum yield were increased with the adoption of the only reliable catch series methodology (ORCS). Since the fishery has not harvested half of the optimum yield. The change from the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to the Fishery Effort Survey (FES) changed the average landings estimate from near 10,000 lbs to between 5,000 and 65,000 lbs. The change in the survey has resulted in more variable landings since 2010 with a negative trend in landings since 2011.

Figure 5.10: A. Combined landings of Bar Jack (whole weight, ww) and the ABC for Bar Jack. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Bar Jack (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

5.2.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Bar Jack are provided in Table 5.5.

Table 5.5: Stock status determination criteria for Bar Jack.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	SSB MSY or SSB proxy based on 30% static SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	NA
MSY	Yield at F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (1000 lbs ww)	62.2

Fishing level recommendations using ORCS and adopted in Amendment 29 (2014) (Table 5.6).

Table 5.6: Fishing level recommendations for Bar Jack from the SSC based Amendment 29.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	NA	62,249
2023	NA	62,249
2024	NA	62,249

5.2.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

A maximum of 10 Bar Jack in the 20-fish aggregate was adopted in 2020 (Table 5.7). No changes have occurred in the commercial fishery.

Table 5.7: Recent and upcoming management amendements, implementation date, and management changes for Bar Jack.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
3/20/2020	Reg Amendment 26	Set maximum of 10 Bar Jack in 20-fish aggregate

5.2.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Since 1994 combined landings have typically been around 5,000 to 30,000 lbs with the exception of a few years where landings jumped to around 60,000 lbs. These high landings were always preceded and followed by a series of much lower landings values. The highest landings occurred in 2023 and lowest landings occurred in 2020 (Figure 5.11). Landings have increased from 2015 to 2024 but the slope of the decrease is highly influenced by the 2023 and 2024 values.

Figure 5.11: Landings of Bar Jack from 1990 to 2024. Empty catch indicates either no catch or confidential data.

Released Fish

The number of Bar Jack recreational releases varied from 2000 to 2024 (Figure 5.12). The highest number of releases occurred in 2011 with over 125,000 fish being released. The lowest value occurred in 2002. The number of releases has been increasing over the past ten years.

Figure 5.12: Number of released Bar Jack by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

A trend in abundance for Bar Jack has not been developed.

5.2.5 Sector Trends

The allocation of landings is 78.75% to the recreational sector and 21.25% to the commercial sector. Recreational landings of Bar Jack averaged 28,000 lbs per year from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 5.13A.). The highest landings occurred in 2023 in number of fish (51,000) and pounds of fish (104,000). Overall the recreational trend in landings has been increasing 2015 to 2024.

Commercial landings have been below their ACL most years from 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) (Figure 5.13B.). The commercial fishery average landings was less than 5,000 lbs and has been increasing.

Figure 5.13: A. Bar Jack recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Bar Jack commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

Due to the low number of samples, length estimates from 2013 to 2022 were aggregated. The median length of Bar Jack in the recreational fishery was 15 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022. Observed lengths ranged from 5 to 22 inches fork length. Seven percent of the estimate of Bar Jack were greater than 16 inches.

There were not lengths of Bar Jack recorded in TIP from 2013 to 2022.

Figure 5.14: Expanded length distribution of Bar Jack recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

5.2.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Bar Jack 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 increased from from 2015 to 2024 with a spike in 2022 (Figure 5.15A.). The ex-vessel value has increased from 2015 to 2024 matching the increase in landings (Figure 5.15B.).

Figure 5.15: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Bar Jack in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Bar Jack for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

5.2.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Bar Jack is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 5.8). 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 Bar Jack.

Table 5.8: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial

5.2.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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6 Sea Basses

6.1 Black Sea Bass

Black Sea Bass, Centropristis striata, is a temperate species with permanent reproducing populations from Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to Cape Canaveral, Florida, and in the northeastern Gulf of Mexico. Larval Black Sea Bass settle in coastal and estuarine waters often near structure and migrate to inshore and mid-shelf reefs when they grow larger and mature. Once settled on (offshore) reefs, site fidelity is very high. Black Sea Bass are opportunistic feeders eating whatever is available, preferring crabs, shrimp, worms, small fish and clams.

Black Sea Bass can reach a maximum age of about 11 years, but can live longer (up to 20 years) in others regions, and grow to 24 inches or 6 pounds. Black Sea Bass are protogynous hermaphrodites, transitioning from female to male at about 4 years of age and a length of about 10 inches. Females can mature within their first year and around 6 inches in length (larger elsewhere). The spawning season extends from February through September, but peaks in the cooler months of February through April. Females spawn multiple times during the spawning season with the number of eggs produced during the spawning season ranging from 30,000 to 500,000 depending on fish size.

6.1.1 Assessment Information

Based on the results of SEDAR 56, Black Sea Bass was not overfished and overfishing was not occuring in the last two years of the assessment (2015 and 2016). However, the results indicated a downward trend in population abundance with the biomass approaching the minimum stock size threshold (definition for overfished. Prior to 2015 and 2016, overfishing was occuring in most years for Black Sea Bass. Based on the fishery performance report, developed in conjunction with the Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel, indicated the trend in abundance for Black Sea Bass continued to decline.

A new assessment (SEDAR 76) has been completed for Black Sea Bass but has not been adopted into management (Figure 6.1). The results of the assessment indicated the stock is overfished and overfishing is occurring. The stock has had lower than normal recruitment leading to declining in the population. The low population levels have resulted in higher fishing mortality rates (F) even if removals (landings plus a fraction of released fish estimated to die) remained at similar levels.

Figure 6.1: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Black Sea Bass relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 56. 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 Black Sea Bass relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 76. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates overfishing, above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

Landings of Black Sea Bass have remained below the ACL and optimum yield and continued to decrease. The change from the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to the Fishery Effort Survey resulted in a higher estimate of landings. Landings of Black Sea Bass have steadily declined since 2014.

Figure 6.2: A. Combined landings of Black Sea Bass (lbs, wwt) to the ACL (red solid line) and OFL (black dashed line) for Black Sea Bass. Landings include commercial lbs whole weight and recreational lbs whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Black Sea Bass (lbs, wwt). Landings include commercial lbs whole weight and recreational lbs whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

6.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Black Sea Bass based on the results of SEDAR 56 (2018) are provided in Table 6.1.

Table 6.1: Stock status determination criteria for Black Sea Bass.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	1.15
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	0.64
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	0.31
SSBMSY	Billions of Eggs	300.00
MSST	Billions of Eggs	186.00
MSY	1000 lbs whole weight	935.00
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs whole weight	701.25
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (1000 lbs ww)	643.00

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) were approved by the Council in Abbreviated Framework 2 (2018) (Table 6.2). Due to concern with the declining trends in abundance, the SSC recommended reassessing Black Sea Bass in 2021 (see May 2018 SSC Report). A new assessment for Black Sea Bass has been presented to the SSC but not adopted into management. The Council is proposing to reduce the ACT in 2026 due to concerns about the stock’s decline, particularly off Florida.

Table 6.2: Fishing level recommendations for Black Sea Bass from the SSC based Abbreviated Framework 2.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	703,000	643,000
2023	703,000	643,000
2024	703,000	643,000

6.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Abbreviated Framework 2 adjusted the recommended catch levels for Black Sea Bass based on the results of SEDAR 56 (2018) (Table 6.3). No other management changes were developed for Black Sea Bass specifically.

Table 6.3: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Black Sea Bass.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
5/9/2019	Abbreviated Framework 2	Increased the ABC, ACL and OY
On Going	Reg Amendment 37	Address depleted status of black sea bass in the South Atlantic
On Going	Amendment 56	Respond to the most recent assessment for Black Sea Bass (SEDAR 76)

6.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Black Sea Bass decreased from the 1980s to the 1990s. Landings varied from 1995 to 2010 and have decreased since 2014 (Figure 6.3). The landings in 2020 were the lowest throughout the time series and landings in 2024 were the second lowest. The decreasing trends in landings have occurred despite no management action restricting harvest; however, there has been a high number of released fish in the recreational fishery.

Figure 6.3: Landings of Black Sea Bass from 1990 to 2024.

Released Fish

The number of Black Sea Bass recreational releases were high from 2011 to 2017 averaging over 10 million fish (peak at over 16 million fish). Since 2017, the number of released fish is around levels from 2004 to 2010 (Figure 6.4). The number of recreational releases has been decreasing over the past 10 years. From 2018 to 2024, the number of releases has been between 6 and 8 million fish.

Figure 6.4: Number of released Black Sea Bass by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

Indices of abundance from SEDAR 56 through 2016 and the trends report provided by SC DNR (Figure 6.5).

Figure 6.5: Index of abundance for Black Sea Bass from 1978 to 2024 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 56 and trends report by SC DNR. Chevron trap data are pulled from the latest trends report

6.1.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 57.00% to the recreational sector and 43.00% to the commercial sector. Since 2015, recreational landings were highest in 2016 (787,000 fish) and decreased to the lowest value in 2024 (231,000 fish) (Figure 6.6A.).

Commercial landings were similar to recreational numbers with highest landings in 2015 to 2017 decreasing to their lowest point in 2024. The commercial landings were below the ACL from 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) (Figure 6.6B.). The commercial ACL decreased in Abbreviated Framework 2.

Figure 6.6: A. Black Sea Bass recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Black Sea Bass commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2012 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Black Sea Bass in the recreational fishery was 13 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022 and was the most common estimated length. Black Sea Bass ranged from 4 inches to 21 inches. Seven percent of the expanded recreational estimates were estimated to be 16 inches or larger. NOTE: Minimum size limit is 13 inches total length and not directly comparable.

The median length of Black Sea Bass in the commercial fishery was 13 inches (mixture of fork and total length estimates) from 2013 to 2022. Commercially caught Black Sea Bass ranged from 4 to 30 inches with most fish (90%) being between 11 inches and 16 inches. Since 2017, there has been very few observations of fish below 11 inches (11 inches total length is the commercial minimum size limit).

Figure 6.7: Expanded length distribution of Black Sea Bass recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period and the red dashed line representing the minimum size limit.

Figure 6.8: Length distribution of Black Sea Bass commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period and the red dashed line representing the minimum size limit.

6.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Black Sea Bass 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 decreased from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 6.9A.). The ex-vessel value has decreased since 2015 with the 2024 ex-vessel value about 25% of the ex-vessel value in 2015 (Figure 6.9B.).

Figure 6.9: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Black Sea Bass in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Black Sea Bass for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

6.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Black Sea Bass is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 6.4). 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 Sea Bass.

Table 6.4: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2021. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial

6.1.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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7 Snappers

7.1 Mutton Snapper

Mutton Snapper, Lutjanus analis, is found in the Western Atlantic from Massachusetts to southeastern Brazil, including the Caribbean Sea and the Gulf of Mexico. It is most abundant around the Antilles, the Bahamas, and off southern Florida. Mutton snapper can typically be found in both brackish and marine waters at depths of 82 to 312 ft, although they have been captured on mud slopes at depths of 328 to 656 ft. Juveniles generally occur closer to shore, over sandy, vegetated bottom habitats, while large adults are commonly found offshore among rocks and coral habitat. Mutton snapper feed on fishes, shrimps, crabs, cephalopods, and gastropods.

Mutton Snapper has a reported maximum size of 37 inches in length (male) and 35 lbs. Maximum age of Mutton Snapper is 29 years. Mutton Snapper are gonochorists (separate sexes). Size at 50% maturity is 13 inches in length and 16 inches in length for males and females, respectively; all males and females are probably mature by 17 inches in length and 18 inches length, respectively. Spawning occurs in aggregations. Individuals have been observed in spawning condition February through July. Some spawning occurs during February to June, but spawning peaks during the week following the full moon in April and May. Spawning aggregations are known to occur north of St. Thomas, USVI, and south of St. Croix, USVI, in March, April, and May. Spawning at Riley’s Hump off south Florida peaks in June.

7.1.1 Assessment Information

Based on the results of SEDAR 15A Update (2015), Mutton Snapper was not overfished and overfishing was not occurring (Figure 7.1). This stock assessment assessed the population as one unit in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic region. The results indicated the population increased in abundance from 1994 to 2012 when the spawning stock biomass remained at around 1.15 of the maximum sustainable yield. SEDAR 79 was completed in 2025 and will be included in future reports.

Figure 7.1: . The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Mutton Snapper relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 15A Update. Red points indicate when the population was overfished indicating the population is below the minimum stock size threshold. The red horizontal line indicates maximum sustainable yield.

Landings of Mutton Snapper in the South Atlantic region have not exceeded the total ACL (established in 2012). The recreational estimates developed using the Coastal Household Telephone Survey indicated decreasing in landings from the 1990s to the 2024 (Figure 7.2A.). Since 1995 landings were variable but seemed stable and well below the ABC and OFL. The recreational estimates developed using the Fishing Effort Survey had a different trend for landings since 2011 with an increasing trend (Figure 7.2B.). The Fishery Effort Survey has resulted in higher landings estimates with the landings being as much as 2 times the previous value and estimates the 2024 landings being the second highest value over the last 35 years.

Figure 7.2: A. Combined landings of Mutton Snapper (lbs ww) to the ACL (red solid line) and OFL (black dashed line) for Mutton Snapper. Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Mutton Snapper (lbs ww). Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

7.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Mutton Snapper based on the results of SEDAR 15A Update (2015) combined for both regions are provided in Table 7.1.

Table 7.1: Stock status determination criteria for Mutton Snapper.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/MSST	1.33
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F30% SPR	0.65
MFMT	F30% SPR	0.18
SSBMSY	Female biomass (1000 lbs)	4,649.00
MSST	75% SSB MSY	3,487.00
MSY	Y at F30% SPR	912.50
Y at 40% SPR	Y at 40% SPR (1000 lbs)	874.00
Optimum Yield	ACL = OY = ABC	654.00

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) for the South Atlantic region were approved by the Council in Amendment 15 (2013) (Table 7.2). A new stock assessment (SEDAR 79) is expected to be completed in 2024.

Table 7.2: Fishing level recommendations for Mutton Snapper provided by the SSC.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	912,500	654,257
2023	912,500	654,257
2024	912,500	654,257

7.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Amendment 41 (2017) adjusted the recommended catch levels for Mutton Snapper based on the results of SEDAR 15A Update (2015) (Table 7.3).

Table 7.3: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Mutton Snapper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Specified an MSY of 912,500 lbs ww
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Specified MSST = 3,486,900 lbs ww.
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Revised ACL = OY = ABC = 129,150 fish for 2017, Com ACL = 100,015 lbs ww (for 2017), Rec ACL = 116,127 fish (for 2017).
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Set rec ACT = 85% rec ACL = 98,708 fish.
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Increased min size limit from 16in to 18in TL.
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Designated April-June as spawning months and the rest of the year as the regular season.
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Kept mutton in the 10-snapper aggregate but reduced the bag limit within the aggregate to 5/p/d year round.
2/8/2018	Amendment 41	Reduced the commercial trip limit to 500 lbs during the regular season and 5/p/d or 5/p/trip whichever is more restrictive during the spawning season.
On Going	Amendment 44	Revise the ABC, ACL and OY
On Going	Amendment 44	Revise regional apportionment and sector allocations

7.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Mutton Snapper in the South Atlantic region were variable from 1990 to 2018 (Figure 7.3). Since 2018, landings have been increasing going from a low in 2011 to the second highest value in 2024.

Figure 7.3: Landings of Mutton Snapper from 1990 to 2024 (FES Estimates).

Released Fish

The number of Mutton Snapper recreational releases ranged from 40,000 fish (2011) to over 2.5 million fish (2024) (Figure 7.4). Since 2019, the number of recreational releases has increased each year.

Figure 7.4: Number of released Mutton Snapper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

The indices of abundance from SEDAR 15A Update ended in 2013 (Figure 7.5). In general, the indices had an increasing trend in the population since 2000 with most indices being above 1 in their last year (above the long-term average).

Figure 7.5: Index of abundance for Mutton Snapper from 1991 to 2016 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 15A Update.

7.1.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 82.98% to the recreational sector and 17.02% to the commercial sector. The majority of the landings are harvested by the recreational sector. The number of recreationally harvested Mutton Snapper ranged from 203,000 fish in 2011 to almost 500,000 fish landings in 2024 (Figure 7.6A.). The landings in 2024 was the highest over the past ten years.

Commercial landings had high landings in 2015 (Figure 7.6B.). The commercial fishery landings dropped from over 100,000 lbs to approximately 50,000 lbs. The commercial fishery has been below the ACL for the past ten years.

Figure 7.6: A. Mutton Snapper recreational landings (FES) from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Mutton Snapper commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Mutton Snapper in the recreational fishery was 16 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022 and the most common length ranged between 14 and 18 inches fork length. Mutton Snapper ranged from 8 inches to 38 inches (Figure 7.7). Most fish (91%) were between 12 and 30 inches fork length.

The median length of Mutton Snapper in the commercial fishery was 22 inches (mostly fork length measurements with some total length measurements included) from 2013 to 2022. Commercially caught Mutton Snapper ranged from 8 to 31 inches with most fish (94%) being between 15 inches and 30 inches. The size of commercially caught Mutton Snapper shifted to larger fish when the size limit was increased.

Figure 7.7: Expanded length distribution of Mutton Snapper recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 7.8: Length distribution of Mutton Snapper commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

7.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Mutton Snapper 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 decreased from 2015 to 2020 and then increased from 2020 to 2023 (Figure 7.9A.). Overall, the ex-vessel value decreased from 2015 to 2024 and then dropped 2016 (Figure 7.9B.).

Figure 7.9: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Mutton Snapper in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Mutton Snapper for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

7.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Mutton Snapper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 7.4). 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. Commercial and recreational closures have not occurred since 2016.

Table 7.4: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2022. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial

7.1.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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7.2 Red Snapper

Red Snapper, Lutjanus campechanus, is distributed in warm-temperate waters throughout the Gulf of Mexico south to the Yucatan Peninsula and in United States Atlantic waters north to North Carolina. Adult Red Snapper are associated with structured habitats such as coral reefs, wrecks, artificial reefs, rocky outcroppings, and live-bottom habitats in relatively shallow waters (typically <250 ft) in the Atlantic waters off the southeastern U.S. Juveniles occur in shallow waters over sandy or muddy bottom.

Red Snapper reach a maximum length of about 40 inches and maximum reported age over 50 years. They spawn April through October in the Atlantic, with a peak June through September. They begin to mature under 2 years of age for males and females. Females reach larger sizes than males.

7.2.1 Assessment Information

Red Snapper have been overfished since 1982 and overfishing occurred almost all years from 1982 to 2019 based on the results of SEDAR 73. Rebuilding plans require the population to rebuild to the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at maximum sustainable yield. The rebuilding target year is 2046. The population has shown dramatic recovery over the past decade and the number of fish in the population is close to the number of fish at MSY; however, most of these Red Snapper are less than 3 years old see SEDAR 73 Figure 14.
An update assessment was completed in 2024 (SEDAR 73 Update) and a secretarial amendment (Amendment 59) modified the MSY proxy benchmark and OFL, ABC, and ACLs. The figures below reflects the findings of the update assessment (Figure 7.10A and B). Amendment 53 changed the Fmsy proxy so that the stock is no longer experiencing overfishing.

Figure 7.10: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Red Snapper relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 73 Update. 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 Red Snapper relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 73. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates the Maximum Fishing Mortality Threshold (MFMT), above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing. NOTE: Amendment 59 modified these benchmarks and overfishing is no longer occurring.

7.2.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Red Snapper are provided in Table 7.5.

Table 7.5: Stock status determination criteria for Red Snapper based on SEDAR 73 Update and Amendment 59.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB2023/SSB MSST	1.01
Overfishing Evaluation	F2021-2023/F MSY proxy (F 2021-2023)	1.00
MFMT	Fishing mortality consistent with maintaining the Amendment 17A rebuilding plan	0.33
SSBMSY	100 million eggs	702,270.00
MSST	75% SSB MSY	526,703.00
MSY Landings	1000 lbs	621.00
MSY Discards	1000 dead fish	140.00
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	608.00
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	28.00

Fishing level recommendations (lbs ww) based on the results of SEDAR 73 Update and Secretarial Amendment 59 (Table 7.6). The OFL in 2026 and 2027 include total removals as listed in Secretarial Amendment 59 and ABC is based on landed fish in all years.

Table 7.6: Fishing level recommendations for Red Snapper from the SSC based on SEDAR 73 Update and Amendment 59. The ABC in 2026 and 2027 are for only the landed portion of the ABC. Previous recommendations were for total removals.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	53,000	50,000
2023	53,000	50,000
2024	53,000	50,000
2025	53,000	50,000
2026	551,000	34,000
2027	551,000	34,000

7.2.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

The Council changed the process to develop the ACL for Red Snapper and allowed the recreational sector to be opened if the projected season would be less than three days (Table 7.7). The Council is in the process of changing regulations for Red Snapper through Regulatory Amendment 35. Links to past amendments can be found in Additional Information section.

Table 7.7: Recent management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Red Snapper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
11/2/2017	Emergency Action	Revise process to determine ACL and set to 42,510 fish
7/26/2018	Amendment 43	Removed process to determine ACL and specified ACL
11/13/2020	Reg Amend 33	Allows recreational Red Snapper season to occur if projected to be less than 3 days
11/13/2020	Reg Amendment 33	Removed the minimum 3-day requirement for recreational Red Snapper season to open
12/15/2023	Reg Amendment 35	Stopped work on the amendment
7/11/2025	Amendment 59	Secretarial Amendment to increase ACL of Red Snapper, modify the fishing year, and change MSY proxy
On Going	Amendment 62	Joint Federal-State management of recreational Red Snapper

7.2.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Landings for Red Snapper from 2017 to 2024 have been constrained due to the current rebuilding plan (Figure 7.11). The landings below are provided in numbers of fish since that is how the OFL has been tracked since 2017. Number of fish landed from 2020 to 2023 was similar to number of fish landed in the mid-90s.

Figure 7.11: Landings (numbers of fish) of Red Snapper from 2012 to 2023. NOTE: Catch levels provided above are based on number of fish, which was used to track Red Snapper landings relative to the OFL from 2017 to 2024. Catch in 2024 is not finalized. Emergency action was taken in 2017 to revise the process to set the ACL and created a 42,510 fish ACL. In 2018, the actions in the Emergency Action were established through the amendment process. In 2025, NMFS took action to change the ACL. Commercial landings were converted to number of fish by dividing pounds by 9.6 lbs (the recent average weight for the commercial fishery.

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 Red Snapper recreational releases have been generally increasing over the past decade (Figure 7.12). The number of recreational releases exceeded 3 million fish in 2018 and 2020 and exceeded 1.5 million fish every year since 2016.

Figure 7.12: D. Number of released Red Snapper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available. The vertical dashed line represent management action taken by the Council. Emergency action was taken in 2017 to revise the process to set the ACL and created a 29,656 fish recreational ACL. In 2018, the actions in the Emergency Action were established through the amendment process.

Trend in Abundance

Red snapper trends in abundance has been increasing since 2010 (Figure 7.13). Abundance trends based on the trap survey decreased from 2018 to 2019 and was slightly higher in 2021 (no data from 2020).

Figure 7.13: Index of abundance for Red Snapper from 2010 to 2021 based on the headboat survey and trap/video survey (SERFS) from SEDAR 73. The SERFS values from 2021 are based on estimates include in the trends report. These are rough approximations of the values in the report. Emergency action was taken in 2017 to revise the process to set the ACL and created a 29,656 fish recreational ACL. In 2018, the actions in the Emergency Action were established through the amendment process. In 2020, the requirement for a mini-season to be longer than three days was removed.

7.2.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 71.93% to the recreational sector and 28.07% to the commercial sector. Federal harvest of Red Snapper was not allowed in 2015 and 2016. The federal Red Snapper season was opened late in 2017 through emergency action. Since 2018, the recreational sector exceeded the ACL except for 2022 when there was bad weather in most of the region (Figure 7.14A and B). The recreational ACL is tracked in numbers of fish. The commercial ACL is tracked and has been close to the ACL each year. New sector ACLs were developed through Secretarial Amendment 59.

Figure 7.14: A. Red Snapper recreational landings (numbers, solid line) and annual catch limit (dashed line) from 2015 to 2021.
B. Red Snapper commercial landings (pounds, solid line) and annual catch limit (dashed line) from 2015 to 2021. Blue box indicates future catches and new ACLs are being developed in Regulatory Amendment 35. The vertical dashed line indicates management actions taken by the Council. Emergency action was taken in 2017 to revise the process to set the ACL and created a recreational and commercial ACL. In 2018, the actions in the Emergency Action were established through the amendment process. In 2020, the requirement for a mini-season to be longer than three days was removed.

7.2.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Red Snapper 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 been variable over from 2015 to 2024 but decreasing after 2018 (Figure 7.15A.). The ex-vessel value has generally increased over the same time series although 2024 was lower when a more restrictive ACL was put in place (Figure 7.15B.).

Figure 7.15: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Red Snapper in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2021.
B. Ex-vessel value of Red Snapper for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

7.2.7 Social Trend

One social trend for Red Snapper is fishing opportunity, which has been reduced since 2010 due to limited catch levels and short or no seasons. The short seasons or absence of a fishing season for red snapper in recent years has been highly controversial with negative effects on recreational anglers, for-hire businesses, retail businesses, and commercial vessels. The short seasons have led to distrust in science and management due to inconsistency in what fishermen see on the water versus the scientific models.

Table 7.8 shows the number of days the recreational season was open and dates for commercial closures (season opens 2nd Monday in July) from 2016 to 2021.

When completing a Fishery Performance Report for Red Snapper in September 2020 the Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel discussed dependence on the fishery and a charter captain from southern South Carolina recounted that “it (dependence) crested early on, back in 2010.” He recalled catering to a lot of tournament fishermen, especially when the recession hit in 2008 and 2009 and people were getting rid of “those go-fast boats.” He stated that word of the impending Red Snapper closure hurt the charter business in his area. It was the norm, he recalled, to run out and catch a handful of snapper and then move on and go catch something else. When that was eliminated, it was devastating to both the tackle shops and to the charter businesses. Nowadays, ten years later, Red Snapper are “not even mentioned, other than they’re in the way.” He indicated that charters can no longer count on catching Black Sea Bass anymore (they catch fifteen or twenty snappers instead) and customers – who often come from out of state for events held at the base on Parris Island – get frustrated, and that continues to affect the charter and tackle businesses.

A commercial fisherman from northeast Florida reiterated that the initial closure on the harvest of Red Snapper and subsequent short seasons have been devastating to the coastal communities that depend on reef fish. He recounted that Red Snapper once was “our bread-and-butter for our entire life, and then it was taken away, and so it’s been devastating, not only for the commercial side of it and the consumer access, but also your charter boats, your private recreational, industries that are associated with all of this.”

Table 7.8: Recreational season length and commercial ACL closure date from 2016 to 2021. *Indicates the federal season was not open and no date indicates the sector did not harvest its ACL.

Year	Recreational Season Length (Days)	Commercial Closure Date
2016	*	*
2017	6
2018	6	17-Nov
2019	5	30-Aug
2020	4	5-Sep
2021	3	14-Sep
2022	2	31-Aug
2023	2	18-Aug
2024	1	8/6/2024
2025

7.2.8 Additional Information

Fishery Overview

Ongoing Amendment

Regulatory Amendment 33

SEDAR 73

Essential Fish Habitat

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7.3 Vermilion Snapper

Vermilion Snapper, Rhomboplites aurorubens and comonly called beeliners, is a warm-temperate and tropical Snapper occurring from North Carolina and Bermuda, throughout the West Indies and Gulf of Mexico, and south to southeastern Brazil. Off the Atlantic waters of the southeastern U.S., Vermilion Snapper is a schooling fish that is commonly associated with patches of sponge/coral habitat, rocky outcrops, and rocky ledges on the continental shelf and shelf-break (85-180 ft), as well as the upper-slope reef habitats (~330 ft). Young fish occur in shallower waters than the adults (typically < 85 ft), where they also form large schools. They feed on fishes, shrimps, crabs, polychaetes, other benthic invertebrates, cephalopods, and planktonic organisms.

Vermilion Snapper is relatively small, reaching maximum lengths of 24 inches and maximum ages greater than 20 years old. They are gonochoristic and spawn off the Atlantic waters off the southeastern U.S. from April to September, with a peak between June and August. They mature at a young age (nearly all are mature at 1 year old) and small size (beginning around 6 inches in length). There is also a skewed sex ratio, with more females present than males.

7.3.1 Assessment Information

Based on the results of SEDAR 55 (2018), Vermilion Snapper was not overfished and overfishing was not occuring (Figure 7.16). The results indicated the population decreased in abundance from 1950 to 1990 when the spawning stock biomass remained at around 1.25 of the maximum sustainable yield. Overfishing was only indicated in 5 years since the start of the assessment (1946). The most recent years indicated fishing mortality was much less than fishing mortality at maximum sustainable yield.

Figure 7.16: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Vermilion Snapper relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 55. Red points indicate when the population was overfished indicating the population is below the minimum stock size threshold. The red horizontal line indicates maximum sustainable yield.
B. The estimate of fishing mortality rate (F) of Vermilion Snapper relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 55. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates overfishing, above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

Landings of Vermilion Snapper exceeded the ACL in 2014 and 2016 but remained below the OFL in all years. The recreational estimates developed using the Coastal Household Telephone Survey (CHTS) indicated an increase in landings from the 1980s to the 1990s and then landings remained around 1.5 million lbs (Figure 7.17A.). Since 2010, landings have been around 1.25 million lbs with a decrease in landings after 2020. The recreational estimates developed using the Fishery Effort Survey (FES) had a similar trend in landings except for the last five years where the estimates increased compared to landings from 2010 to 2013 (Figure 7.17B.). In both data series, the 2024 data point was one of the lowest landings estimates. The FES estimates were generally higher than the CHTS values.

Figure 7.17: A. Combined landings of Vermilion Snapper (lbs ww) to the ACL (red solid line) and OFL (black dashed line) for Vermilion Snapper. Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Vermilion Snapper (lbs ww). Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

7.3.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Vermilion Snapper based on the results of SEDAR 55 (2018) are provided in Table 7.9.

Table 7.9: Stock status determination criteria for Vermilion Snapper.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB 2016/ MSST	1.510
Overfishing Evaluation	F2014-2016/ FMSY	0.609
MFMT	FMSY	0.410
SSBMSY	100 billion eggs	18.300
MSST	75% SSB MSY	13.700
MSY	MSY associated with h=0.69	1,306.000
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	1,288.000
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	1,336.000

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) were approved by the Council in Abbreviated Framework 2 (2018) (Table 7.10).

Table 7.10: Fishing level recommendations for Vermilion Snapper provided by the SSC.

Year	OFL	ABC
2020	1,614,000	1,478,000
2021	1,486,000	1,408,000
2022	1,412,000	1,362,000
2023	1,371,000	1,336,000
2024	1,371,000	1,336,000

7.3.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Abbreviated Framework 2 (2018) adjusted the recommended catch levels for Vermilion Snapper based on the results of SEDAR 55 (2018) (Table 7.11).

Table 7.11: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Vermilion Snapper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
5/9/2019	Abbreviated Framework 2	Increased the ABC, ACL and OY
5/9/2019	Abbreviated Framework 2	Considered allocation adjustments but no action was taken
2/26/2020	Reg Amendment 27	Removed step-down for commercial trip limits when 75% of a seasonal quota was met

7.3.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Vermilion Snapper increased in the 1980s and then decreased in the 1990s. Since then, landings have remained fairly stable between 1 and 2 million lbs per years. (Figure 7.18).

Figure 7.18: Landings of Vermilion Snapper from 1990 to 2020.

Released Fish

The number of Vermilion Snapper recreational releases were typically around 250,000 to 500,000 fish per year prior to 2014 (except 2010-2013) (Figure 7.19). From 2015 to 2024, there has been an increasing trend in recreational releases. After 2014, the average number of releases was over 600,000 fish in most years.

Figure 7.19: Number of released Vermilion Snapper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

The indices of abundance from SEDAR 55 ended in 2016 (Figure 7.20). Chevron trap index is available for more recent information. The index has been variable around the long-term mean. NOTE: the SSC rejected using this index for an interim assessment.

Figure 7.20: Index of abundance for Vermilion Snapper from 1976 to 2016 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 55.

7.3.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 32.00% to the recreational sector and 68.00% to the commercial sector. The majority of the landings are harvested by the commercial sector. Recreational landings (numbers of fish) have generally increased from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 7.21A.). The highest number of fish were harvested in 2023 at over 900,000 fish.

Commercial landings have been trending down from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 7.21B.). The ACL was exceeded from 2011 to 2015. Since then, the commercial fishery has remained below the optimum yield and ACL.

Figure 7.21: A. Vermilion Snapper recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Vermilion Snapper commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2020 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Vermilion Snapper in the recreational fishery was 12 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022 and the most common length ranged between 10 and 13 inches fork length. Vermilion Snapper ranged from 8 inches to 20 inches (Figure 7.22). Most fish (96%) were between 10 and 16 inches fork length. Less than 2 percent of the Vermilion Snapper observed in the recreational fishery were 17 inches. Some years (such as 2018) there is an increase in 10-inch fish, which could be indicative a strong recruitment class.

The median length of Vermilion Snapper in the commercial fishery was 13 inches (mixture of fork and total length estimates) from 2013 to 2022. Commercially caught Vermilion Snapper ranged from 8 to 31 inches with most fish (97%) being between 10 inches and 18 inches. The size distribution has been pretty consistent over the past 10 years with the most common lengths being 12 or 13 inches each year.

Figure 7.22: Expanded length distribution of Vermilion Snapper recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 7.23: Length distribution of Vermilion Snapper commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

7.3.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Vermilion Snapper 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 increased from 2015 to 2024 with a peak in 2023 (Figure 7.24A.). The ex-vessel value dropped from 2015 to 2018 and then spiked in 2019 followed by another decrease trend from 2019 to 2024 (Figure 7.24B.). Overall, there was a decreasing trend in ex-vessel value from 2015 to 2024.

Figure 7.24: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Vermilion Snapper in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Vermilion Snapper for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

7.3.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Vermilion Snapper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 7.12). 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. Commercial closures have not occurred since 2017, and no recreational closures have occurred.

Table 7.12: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2021. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial Season 1	Commercial Season 2
2016		3/29/2016	10/11/2016
2017		5/17/2017	10/17/2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

7.3.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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7.4 Yellowtail Snapper

Yellowtail Snapper, Ocyurus chrysurus, occurs in the Western Atlantic, ranging from Massachusetts to southeastern Brazil, including the Gulf of Mexico and Caribbean Sea, but is most common in the Bahamas, off south Florida, and throughout the Caribbean. Yellowtail Snapper inhabits waters as deep as 590 ft, but are most abundant at depths of 66 to131 ft. Adults typically inhabit sandy areas near offshore reefs, and juveniles are usually found over back reefs and seagrass beds. Yellowtail snapper typically exhibit schooling behavior. Yellowtail Snapper are nocturnal predators; juveniles feed primarily on plankton, whereas adults eat a combination of planktonic and benthic organisms, including fishes, crustaceans, worms, gastropods, and cephalopods.

Maximum reported size is 34 inches in length (male) and 9 lbs. Maximum age is 17 years. There is a truncation in the size and age structure of Yellowtail Snapper near human population centers. Yellowtail Snapper have separate sexes throughout their lifetime. Size at 50% maturity is estimated as 9 inches in length (males) and 10 inches length (females). Spawning occurs over a protracted period and peaks generally from late spring through summer. Spawning generally occurs in offshore waters during the new moon, and spawning often involves large spawning aggregations.

7.4.1 Assessment Information

Based on the results of SEDAR 64 (2018), Yellowtail Snapper was not overfished and overfishing was not occuring (Figure 7.25). This stock assessment assessed the population as one unit in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic region. The results indicated the population increased in abundance from 1996 to 2016 when the spawning stock biomass remained at around 1.75 of the maximum sustainable yield. Overfishing was only indicated in 3 years since the start of the assessment (1992). The most recent years indicated fishing mortality was much less than fishing mortality at maximum sustainable yield. A new assessment has been completed but not implemented into management.

Figure 7.25: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Yellowtail Snapper relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 64. Red points indicate when the population was overfished and below the minimum stock size threshold (MSST). The red horizontal line indicates maximum sustainable yield.
B. The estimate of fishing mortality rate (F) of Yellowtail Snapper relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 64. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates the Maximum Fishing Mortality Threshold (MFMT); above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

Landings of Yellowtail Snapper in the South Atlantic region exceeded the total ACL (established in 2012). The recreational estimates developed using the Coastal Household Telephone Survey (CHTS) indicated an increase in landings from the 1980s to the 1990s and then landings remained around 1.5 to 2.5 million lbs (Figure 7.26A.). Since 2010, landings increased but dropped back down in 2020. The recreational estimates developed using the Fishery Effort Survey (FES) had a similar trend in landings except for landings since 2014 when landings spiked at over 3 million lbs. Since then, landings have decreased to 2 million lbs (Figure 7.26B.). The Fishery Effort Survey has resulted in higher landings estimates. An OFL and ACL based on SEDAR 96 has not been implemented but the Council is working on an amendment to address this. NOTE: Yellowtail Snapper are monitored using estimates based on MRFSS units.

Figure 7.26: A. Combined landings of Yellowtail Snapper (lbs ww). Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Yellowtail Snapper (lbs ww). Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

7.4.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Yellowtail Snapper based on the results of SEDAR 27A (2012) combined for both regions are provided in Table 7.13. Results of SEDAR 96 will be added when Amendment 44 is approved by the Council.

Table 7.13: Stock status determination criteria for Yellowtail Snapper.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB 2010/ SSBMSST	4.144293
Overfishing Evaluation	F2010/F30%SPR	0.154000
MFMT	F30%SPR	0.290000
SSBMSY	SSB 30%SPR	3,072.000000
MSST		2,488.000000
MSY	Y at F30% SPR	1,700.000000
Y at 75% FMSY		NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	2,174.000000

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) for the South Atlantic region were approved by the Council in Amendment 15 (2013) (Table 7.14). New catch levels are being developed in Amendment 44.

Table 7.14: Fishing level recommendations for Yellowtail Snapper provided by the SSC.

Year	OFL	ABC
2023	3,382,500	3,037,500
2024	3,382,500	3,037,500

7.4.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Amendment 44 is adjusting the recommended catch levels for Yellowtail Snapper based on the results of SEDAR 96 (2025) and interim analysis (Table 7.15).

Table 7.15: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Yellowtail Snapper.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
On Going	Amendment 44	Revise the ABC, ACL and OY
On Going	Amendment 44	Revise regional apportionment and sector allocations

7.4.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational (FES data) and commercial landings of Yellowtail Snapper in the South Atlantic region sharply increased in 1991 and have varied between 1.5 and 4.5 million lbs per year from 1995 to 2024 (Figure 7.27). Landings over the past ten years are decreasing.

Figure 7.27: Landings of Yellowtail Snapper from 1990 to 2020.

Released Fish

The number of Yellowtail Snapper recreational releases (FES data) ranged from approximately 1,000,000 fish (2001) to almost 5 million fish in 2013 and 2025 (Figure 7.28). Recreational releases increased over the past ten years with 2023 and 2024 being higher than the previous eight years.

Figure 7.28: Number of released Yellowtail Snapper by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

The indices of abundance from SEDAR 64 ended in 2016 (Figure 7.29). All indices indicated an increasing trend in the population since 2000.

Figure 7.29: Index of abundance for Yellowtail Snapper from 1991 to 2016 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 64.

7.4.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 47.44% to the recreational sector and 52.56% to the commercial sector. The majority of the landings are harvested by the commercial sector although the dominant sector may be shifting in the last few years. Recreational landings (numbers of fish) have varied from 2015 to 2024 with a slight decreasing trend (Figure 7.30A.). The highest number of fish (almost 1.75 million fish) in the last ten years was landed in 2018 and lowest number landed one year later in 2019 (at under 1 million fish).

Commercial landings were increasing from 2011 to 2016 and have dropped since (Figure 7.30B.). The ACL was exceeded from 2015 to 2017 and 2019. The commercial fishing year was adjusted in Regulatory Amendment 25 (2016) to have ACL related closures occur during the spawning season (summer). Since the commercial fishery has remained below the ACL.

Figure 7.30: A. Yellowtail Snapper recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Yellowtail Snapper commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2012 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Yellowtail Snapper in the recreational fishery was 11 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022 and the most common length ranged between 10 and 13 inches fork length. Yellowtail Snapper ranged from 7 inches to 20 inches (Figure 7.31). Most fish (94%) were between 9 and 14 inches fork length. Less than 4 percent of the Yellowtail Snapper were larger than 14 inches.

The median length of Yellowtail Snapper in the commercial fishery was 12 inches (mostly fork length measurements with some total length estimates included) from 2013 to 2022. Commercially caught Yellowtail Snapper ranged from 8 to 25 inches with most fish (93%) being between 10 inches and 16 inches. The size distribution has been pretty consistent over the past 10 years with the most common lengths being 11 or 12 inches each year.

Figure 7.31: Expanded length distribution of Yellowtail Snapper recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 7.32: Length distribution of Yellowtail Snapper commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

7.4.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Yellowtail Snapper 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 generally increased from 2015 to 2024 with the exception of 2019 (lowest in the last ten years) (Figure 7.33A.). The ex-vessel value decreased after the high in 2017 (Figure 7.33B.). Overall, there was a decreasing trend in ex-vessel value from 2015 to 2024, but 2020 was the lowest ex-value on record.

Figure 7.33: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Yellowtail Snapper in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Yellowtail Snapper for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

7.4.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Yellowtail Snapper is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 7.16). 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. Commercial closures have not occurred since 2019 and no recreational closures have occurred.

Table 7.16: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2022. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016
2017		6/3/2017
2018		6/5/2018
2019		6/7/2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

7.4.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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8 Spadefish

8.1 Atlantic Spadefish

8.1.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment has not been completed for Atlantic Spadefish in the South Atlantic Region. The SSC developed an ABC for the species but indicated the overfishing level was unknown. (Figure 8.1). Landings of Atlantic Spadefish have remained below the ACL and optimum yield with the exception of 2014. In 2015, the ACL and optimum yield were increased with the adoption of the only reliable catch series methodology (ORCS). Since, the fishery has not harvested half of the optimum yield. The change from the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to the Fishery Effort Survey (FES) changed the average landings estimate from near 200,000 lbs to approximately 700,000 lbs.

Figure 8.1: A. Combined landings of Atlantic Spadefish (whole weight, ww) to the ABC for Atlantic Spadefish. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Atlantic Spadefish (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

8.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Atlantic Spadefish are provided in Table 8.1.

Table 8.1: Stock status determination criteria for Atlantic Spadefish.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	FMSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	SSBmsy or SSB proxy based on 30% static SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	NA
MSY	Yield at F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (1000 lbs ww)	812.5

Fishing level recommendations using ORCS and adopted in Amendment 29 (2014) (Table 8.2).

Table 8.2: Fishing level recommendations for Atlantic Spadefish from the SSC based Amendment 29.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	NA	812,478
2023	NA	812,478
2024	NA	812,478

8.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

A maximum of 10 Atlantic Spadefish in the 20-fish aggregate was adopted in 2020 (Table 8.3). No changes have occurred in the commercial fishery.

Table 8.3: Recent and upcoming management amendements, implementation date, and management changes for Atlantic Spadefish.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
3/20/2020	Reg Amendment 26	Set maximum of 10 Atlantic Spadefish in 20-fish aggregate

8.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational (FES values) and commercial landings of Atlantic Spadefish have varied around the mean of 750,000 lbs (Figure 8.2). Although there was an increasing trend in landings in the last 10 years, the landings were variable ranging from 360,000 lbs in 2021 to 1,760,000 lbs in 2018 the trend would like vary depending on the time series selected.

Figure 8.2: Landings of Atlantic Spadefish from 1990 to 2024.

Released Fish

The number of Atlantic Spadefish recreational releases ranged from 131,000 fish (2004) to 1,689,000 fish (2020) (Figure 8.3). The number of releases has been increasing from 2015 to 2024.

Figure 8.3: Number of released Atlantic Spadefish by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

A trend in abundance for Atlantic Spadefish has not been developed.

8.1.5 Sector Trends

The allocation of landings is 81.47% to the recreation sector and 18.53% to the commercial sector. The recreational fishery accounts for the highest portion of the overall catch harvesting on average over 600,000 lbs (figure below is number of fish for recreational) compared to the commercial fishery that harvests less than 50,000 lbs. Recreational landings in numbers of fish have varied since 2015 with a high in 2015 of approximately 1.12 million fish followed by a low of 102,000 fish in 2016 (Figure 8.4A.). The recreational landings had a decreasing trend from 2015 to 2024.

Commercial landings have been below their ACL from 2011 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and generally decreasing (light gray dashed line) (Figure 8.4B.). The commercial ACL increased in Amendment 29 when the method to determine the ABC was adjusted. The commercial fishery averaged less than 30,000 lbs.

Figure 8.4: A. Atlantic Spadefish recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Atlantic Spadefish commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Atlantic Spadefish in the recreational fishery was 6 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022. Observed lengths ranged from 4 to 23 inches fork length. Seven percent of the estimate of Atlantic Spadefish were greater than 16 inches.

The median length of Atlantic Spadefish in the commercial fishery was btween 8 and 9 inches (mixture of fork and total length estimates) from 2013 to 2022. Most commercially landed Atlantic Spadefish (85%) are between 7 and 11 inches.

Figure 8.5: Expanded length distribution of Atlantic Spadefish recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 8.6: Length distribution of Atlantic Spadefish commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period and the red dashed line represting the minimum size limit.

8.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Atlantic Spadefish 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 varied with little trend from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 8.7A.). The ex-vessel value has increased from 2015 to 2024 even the landings have not changed substanially (Figure 8.7B.).

Figure 8.7: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Atlantic Spadefish in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Atlantic Spadefish for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

8.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Atlantic Spadefish is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 8.4). 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 Atlantic Spadefish.

Table 8.4: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial

8.1.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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9 Tilefishes

9.1 Blueline Tilefish

Historically, Blueline Tilefish, Caulolatilus microps, were patchily distributed along the outer continental shelf of North America from Cape Lookout, NC, to Campeche Bank, Mexico. Blueline Tilefish are now reported as far north as Hudson Canyon off the New England Coast. Adults appear to move little, inhabiting areas along the outer continental shelf, shelf break, and upper slope on irregular bottom. Usual adult habitats include ledges or crevices and around boulders or rubble piles at depths of 160 to 820 ft. Individuals have been observed hovering near or entering burrows under rocks as observed in many other tilefishes (Malacanthids). Blueline Tilefish feed on bottom creatures, such as crabs, shrimp, snails, worms, sea urchins, and small fish.

Blueline Tilefish can live to at least 26 years but the expected maximum age may be closer to 45 years. There is dimorphic growth with males growing larger at age than females, with both sexes reaching over 32 inches. Blueline Tilefish have an extended spawning season from February to November, with a peak March – September. Data suggests they are fully mature by 15 inches.

9.1.1 Assessment Information

Blueline Tilefish were assessed in 2025 through SEDAR 92. Data limited approaches were used to develop the ABC recommendation from the SSC for the areas north and south of Cape Hatteras. This method focused on average landings which does not produce estimates relative to status determination criteria. The 2025 Quarter 2 Stock Status Report by NMFS listed the stock was experiencing overfishing. The Council implemented management measures for Blueline Tilefish due to the recreational fishery exceeding their ACL for multiple years.

9.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Blueline Tilefish south of Cape Hatteras are provided in the Table 9.1.

Table 9.1: Table 9.2: Stock status determination criteria for Blueline Tilefish based on SEDAR 92

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	1000 lbs	NA
MSST	75% SSB MSY	NA
MSY	1000 lbs	NA
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (1000 lbs ww)	NA

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) for South Atlantic Blueline Tilefish based on the results of SEDAR 50 (Table 9.3). New catch level recommendations for 2026 and beyond were provided by the SSC to the Council in June 2025 and will be implemented in 2026. The table below references OFL and ABC that currently in place.

Table 9.3: Table 9.4: Fishing level recommendations for Blueline Tilefish from the SSC based on SEDAR 50

Year	OFL	ABC
2020	328,985	233,968
2021	328,985	233,968
2022	328,985	233,968
2023	328,985	233,968
2024	328,985	233,968
2025	328,985	233,968
2026	328,985	233,968

9.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Five management actions were developed in three amendments affecting Blueline Tilefish have occurred in the last 6 years (Table 9.5). The Council is developing Amendment 52 aimed at reducing landings of Blueline Tilefish in the recreational sector due to the sector exceeding its ACL. Links to previous amendments are provided in Additional Information section.

Table 9.5: Table 9.6: Recent management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Blueline Tilefish

Date	Council Document	Management Change
11/28/2023	Amendment 52	Reduce recreational bag limit and not allow retention by captain and crew
11/28/2023	Amendment 52	Modify recreational accountability measures
2/26/2020	Reg Amend 27	Established a commercial split season for Blueline Tilefish
2/26/2020	Reg Amendment 27	Created commercial split season and create seasonal commercial trip limits
8/12/2016	Reg Amendment 25	Increased ABC, ACL, and OY
8/12/2016	Reg Amendment 25	Increased commercial trip limit
8/12/2016	Reg Amendment 25	Established a recreational bag limit
8/17/2020	Abbreviated Framework 3	Adjusted ACLs and recreational ACT
8/17/2020	Framework Amendment 3	Increased ACL and recreational ACT
On Going	Abreviated Framework 5	Revise ACL

9.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Blueline Tilefish have exceeded the OFL in 2020 and 2021 (Figure 9.1). Landings in 2020 were extremely high due to the high catches in the recreational sector. Catches in 2021 were much lower than 2020 but still exceeded the OFL based on preliminary landings.

Figure 9.1: Landings of Blueline Tilefish from 2012 to 2021 with the overfishing limit (OFL, thick dashed line) . OFL from 2020 will continue until modified. The blue box indicates projected catch levels. The vertical dashed line indicates years when management changes occurred. In 2016, management changes included increased ABC, ACL, and OY, established a recreational bag limit and season, and increased commercial trip limit. In 2020 management changes were an ACL increase, a recreational ACT revision, and a commercial split season.

Released Fish

The recreational releases described below are estimated using the fully calibrated MRIP data (Figure 9.2). Most recreational data are in this report are based on estimates using Coastal Household Telephone Survey methods. Releases in the recreational fishery have been low (less than 7,500 fish per year) except for 2017 when the releases were almost 20,000 fish.

Figure 9.2: Number of recreational released Blueline Tilefish by year. Commercial data are not available. The vertical dashed line indicates years when management changes occurred. In 2016, management changes included increased ABC, ACL, and OY, established a recreational bag limit and season, and increased commercial trip limit. In 2020 management changes were an ACL increase, a recreational ACT revision, and a commercial split season.

Trend in Abundance

The most recent stock assessment did not include a fishery independent index of abundance. The SERFS Trends report include an index based on the short bottom longline but this was not included in SEDAR 92. The index has been above 1 most years since 2010 indicating that the stock is above the long-term average. The South Atlantic Deepwater Longline Survey should become available in 2026 with data through 2025 and covers a wider area of Blueline Tilefish habitats.

Figure 9.3: Index of abundance for Blueline Tilefish using short bottom longline included in the most recent trends report.

9.1.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 49.93% to the recreational sector and 50.07% to the commercial sector. Since the current ACLs were implemented in 2020, recreational landings were above the 116,820 pound recreational ACL until 2021, with 2020 landings more than tripling the recreational ACL (Figure 9.4A). Changes to the recreational season and bag limits, as well as the recreational accountability measures, were developed through Amendment 52 to end overfishing and better achieve the ACL. In 2024, recreational landings were 25% of the ACL.

Commercial landings have been within 15% of their ACL from 2016-2021 (Figure 9.4B). When the commercial ACL increased in 2020, landings increased as well. The commercial fishery exceeded the sector ACL 2 out of the last 5 years (2020 to 2024).

Figure 9.4: A. Blueline Tilefish recreational landings (solid line) from 2015 to 2024 and annual catch limit (dashed line) for 2022 to 2026.
B. Blueline Tilefish commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2022 to 2026 (dashed line). Blue box indicates projections for future catches. The vertical dashed line indicates years when management changes occurred. In 2016, management changes included increased ABC, ACL, and OY and established a recreational bag limit and season. In 2020 management changes were an ACL increase and recreational ACT revision.

 

9.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Blueline Tilefish are the number of directed trips in the recreational sector based on MRIP data (primary target, secondary target, or landed) (Figure 9.5A) and ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery (Figure 9.5B). Directed trips in recreational fishery have been variable with the ten-year low followed by the ten-year high in directed trips. Overall, there was an increasing trend from 2015 to 2024 in recreational directed trips and in ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery. The value spiked in 2020 and dropped back to a relatively lower value in 2021.

Figure 9.5: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Blueline Tilefish in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024 (FES estimates).
B. Ex-vessel value from Blueline Tilefish for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

9.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Blueline Tilefish is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities. 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. Public comment has indicated that closures are having a negative impact on the fishery. The commercial fishery has closed every year due to reaching or exceeding the sector ACL (Table 9.7). The recreational season closed early in 2022 and 2024.

Table 9.7: Table 9.8: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2021. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector meeting the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016		6/1/2016
2017		7/18/2017
2018		8/22/2018
2019		7/30/2019
2020		8/11/2020
2021		8/1/2021
2022	7/26/2022	9/3/2022
2023		2-Aug
2024	7/19/2024	8-Aug

The Fishery Performance Report conducted in April 2019 with the Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel indicated that Blueline Tilefish are a very important fish in the Outer Banks of North Carolina for the charter/headboat industry. If Dolphin are unavailable, captains rely on Blueline Tilefish as a backup to satisfy their customers and keep them coming back.

9.1.8 Additional Information

Fishery Performance Report

Amendment 52

Framework Amendment 3

Regulatory Amendment 27

Regulatory Amendment 25

Essential Fish Habitat

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9.2 Tilefish (Golden Tilefish)

Tilefish, Lopholatilus chamaeleonticeps and commonly called Golden Tilefish, is easily distinguishable from other members of the family Malacanthidae (Tilefishes) by the large adipose flap, or crest, on the head. The species is blue-green and iridescent on the back and sides, with numerous spots of bright yellow and gold, and a white belly.

Tilefish is a long-lived, slow-growing deepwater demersal member of the family Malacanthidae distributed along the outer continental shelf of North America from Nova Scotia to the northern shoreline to Campeche Bank, Mexico including the Gulf of Mexico. Golden Tilefish is also found throughout continental Caribbean. It is also off of South America from Venezuela to Surinam. Tilefish move little as adults and occupy burrows within clay bottoms or scour depressions around boulders or rubble piles in depths of 250 to 1,500 ft and water temperatures of about 50° to 60° F.

Tilefish can reach a length of 38 inches and 40 years of age. Females are smaller than males, although whether or not the species displays hermaphroditism is still under investigation. Sexual maturity is reached when fish are about 27 inches long, 3 years of age, and weigh about 9 lbs. Female Tilefish spawn from March through November with a spawning peak occurring between April and June. Male Tilefish was also in spawning condition from March through November, however, most spawning activity occurred from April through June.

9.2.1 Assessment Information

Based on the results of SEDAR 66 (2021), Tilefish was not overfished and overfishing was not occuring (Figure 9.6). The results indicated a downward trend in population abundance; however, the population is at the biomass level associated with maximum sustainable yield. Overfishing was observed in 2 of the last five year but the status from the stock assessment (geometric average from 2017-2019) indicated overfishing was not occurring. The Council will be presented the results of more recent stock assessment in December 2025 and will develop new catch levels based on that assessment and recommendations from the SSC. That assessment did not change the stock status.

Figure 9.6: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Tilefish relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 66. Red points indicate when the population was overfished indicating the population is below the minimum stock size threshold. The red horizontal line indicates maximum sustainable yield.
B. The estimate of fishing mortality rate (F) of Tilefish relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 66. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates overfishing, above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

Landings of Tilefish exceeded the ACL from 2018 to 2020 but were below the OFL in all years. Landings of tilefish were around 500,000 lbs from 2001 to 2011 when the ACLs were estiablished. In 2018, the ACLs and OFLs decreased based on the results of SEDAR 26 Update (2016) and increased in 2023 based on the results of SEDAR 66. The results of SEDAR 66 included projections out to 2026 and are provided for comparison of previous harvest estimates. New catch level recommendations from the SSC based on the results of SEDAR 89 will be available in December 2025 and implemented in 2026 (not plotted below).

Figure 9.7: Combined landings of Tilefish (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey. The blue box contains projections for the 2025 to 2026 ACLs (red line) and OFLs (black dashed line)

9.2.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Tilefish based on the results of SEDAR 66 (2021) are provided in Table 9.9.

Table 9.9: Stock status determination criteria for Tilefish.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB2018/SSBMSST	1.294
Overfishing Evaluation	F2016-2018/F MSY	0.947
MFMT	Fmsy or proxy 30% static SPR	0.282
SSBMSY	Gonad wt (1000 lbs)	43.900
MSST	75% SSB MSY	32.800
MSY	Gutted Weight (1000 lbs)	541.600
Y at 75% FMSY	Gutted Weight (1000 lbs)	534.000
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (2023 value 1000 lbs)	458.000

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) were approved by the Council in Amendment 52 (2023) (Table 9.10).

Table 9.10: Fishing level recommendations for Tilefish from the SSC based Abbreviated Framework 2.

Year	OFL	ABC
2023	560,000	342,000
2024	552,000	448,000
2025	543,000	458,000
2026	535,000	466,000

9.2.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

Amendment 52 (2023) adjusted the recommended catch levels for Tilefish based on the results of SEDAR 66 (2021) (Table 9.11). Amendment 52 also included changes to the allocation, commercial fishing, and accountability measures.

Table 9.11: Recent and upcoming management amendements, implementation date, and management changes for Tilefish.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
1/4/2020	Reg Amendment 28	Modified ACLs
11/28/2023	Amendment 52	Revise the ABC, ACL and OY
11/28/2023	Amendment 52	Revise sector allocations and ACLs
11/28/2023	Amendment 52	Modify commercial fishing season
11/28/2023	Amendment 52	Modify recreational accountability measures

9.2.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Tilefish decreased in the early 1990s and remained fairly stable up to 2012 when the ACL/OFL increased (Figure 9.8). The landings increased to around 600,000 lbs from 2012 to 2017. Landings then decreased in 2018 due to more restrictive ACL/OFL. The landings provided here are not compared to the ACL/OFL since the old ACL/OFL included values associated with Coastal Household Telephone Survey. The ACL/OFL increased in 2023 and landings followed the increase.

Figure 9.8: __Landings of Tilefish from 1990 to 2020.

Released Fish

The number of Tilefish recreational releases have been zero with the exception of a few years (Figure 9.9). During these years releases were estimated to be as high as 4,000 fish.

Figure 9.9: Number of released Tilefish by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

The indices of abundance have from SEDAR 66 ended in 2016 (Figure 9.10). The South Atlantic Deepwater Longline Survey is being developed to provide an index in future stock assessments.

Figure 9.10: Index of abundance for Tilefish from 1993 to 2016 based on fishery independent and fishery dependent data streams from SEDAR 66.

9.2.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 3.00% to the recreational sector and 97.00% to the commercial sector with the commercial sector being split by gear (75% to longline gear and 25% to hook and line gear). The majority of the landing are harvested by the commercial sector. The recreational fishery is monitored in number of fish due to the limited number of observed catches with Tilefish. Recreational landings have been between 2,000 and 15,000 fish from 2015 to 2024 with the exception of 2019 and 2023 when landings were near 40,000 fish (Figure 9.11A.). Due to the 2023 high point being late in the time series, the recreational landings have been trending up.

Commercial landings have been trending down due to the decreasing ACL/OFL for the stock (Figure 9.11B.). The ACL have been very close to the ACL in most year with some years slightly exceeding the ACL. The ACL increased when Amendment 52 is implemented and was below the ACL.

Figure 9.11: A. Tilefish recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Tilefish commercial landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2023 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Tilefish in the recreational fishery was 24 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022 and was the most common length estimated length. Tilefish ranged from 14 inches to 41 inches. Most fish (88%) were between 18 and 32 inches fork length. Due to the low sample sizes, the lengths were aggregated over the decade.

The median length of Tilefish in the commercial fishery was 26 inches (mixture of fork and total length estimates) from 2013 to 2022. Commercially caught Tilefish ranged from 9 to 44 inches with most fish (98%) being between 17 inches and 38 inches. The size distribution has been pretty consistent over the past 10 years with the number of fish measured increasing from 15 inches to 24 or 26 inches and then a gradual decline in numbers.

Figure 9.12: Expanded length distribution of Tilefish recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 9.13: Length distribution of Tilefish commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

9.2.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Tilefish 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 decreased from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 9.14A.). The ex-vessel value increased in 2014 and decreased in 2017 with the changes in ACL/OFL (Figure 9.14B.). Despite the changes in the ACL, there was an increasing trend in ex-vessel value from 2011 to 2020.

Figure 9.14: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Tilefish in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Tilefish for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

9.2.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Tilefish is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 9.12). 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 Tilefish.

Table 9.12: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2024. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial Hook and Line	Commercial Longline
2016	8/27/2016		3/15/2016
2017		11/29/2017	5/9/2017
2018	8/28/2018	8/14/2018	3/25/2018
2019	6/17/2019	7/23/2019	3/14/2019
2020		7/23/2020	2/18/2020
2021	9/20/2021	6/1/2021	2/10/2021
2022		7/6/2022	3/16/2022
2023	7/17/2023	10/31/2023	2/26/2023
2024	2/26/2024		6/8/2024

9.2.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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10 Triggerfish

10.1 Gray Triggerfish

Gray Triggerfish, Balistes capriscus, is a warm-temperate species in the family Balistidae that is found throughout the Atlantic Ocean, including the Mediterranean Sea. Gray Triggerfish occurs in coastal waters of the western Atlantic from Nova Scotia (Canada) to Argentina, including the Gulf of Mexico and Bermuda. Throughout this distribution they generally are found at depths to 330 ft, though they are commonly found between 40 and 140 ft among reefs and hard-bottom habitat, such as wrecks and rock outcroppings. The most common items in their diet are small mussels, sea urchins and barnacles, which they dislodge and crush with their teeth.

Gray Triggerfish is a gonochorist that can reach a maximum age of 15 years and length of 22 inches. Males grow larger and live longer than females. Female Gray Triggerfish begin maturing at or before 1 year of age and around 6 inches in length. Spawning occurs off-shore from April-September, with Gray Triggerfish having demersal eggs that are deposited in guarded nests. Typically a single male guards a territory that houses several nests belonging to several females in a harem-like system. Females can spawn up to 12 times a season.

10.1.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment has not been completed for Gray Triggerfish in the South Atlantic Region. The SSC developed an ABC for the species and indicated the overfishing level (OFL) was unknown. (Figure 10.1). Landings of Gray Triggerfish were above their ACL from 2013 to 2017. In 2015, the ACL and optimum yield were increased with the adoption of the Only Reliable Catch Series methodology (ORCS). The fishery still exceeded the ACL in 2016. Since then, catches have remained below the ACL and optimum yield. The change from the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to the Fishery Effort Survey (FES) changed the average landings estimate from near 700,000 lbs from 2011 to 2020 to over 1 million lbs. Additionally, the change in the survey also results in a different trend in landings estimates with the FES indicating an increasing trend in landings. Landings since 2021 have decreased by approximately 50%.

Figure 10.1: A. Combined landings of Gray Triggerfish (lbs ww) to the ABC for Gray Triggerfish. Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Gray Triggerfish (lbs ww). Landings include commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

10.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Gray Triggerfish are provided in Table 10.1. Only the OY has a defined value.

Table 10.1: Stock status determination criteria for Gray Triggerfish.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/F MSY	NA
MFMT	F MSY or proxy 30% static SPR	NA
SSBMSY	SSB MSY or SSB proxy based on 40% static SPR	NA
MSST	SSB (1-M) or 0.5, whichever is greater)	NA
MSY		NA
Y at 75% FMSY		NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC	717

Fishing level recommendations using ORCS and adopted in Amendment 29 (2014) (Table 10.2).

Table 10.2: Fishing level recommendations for Gray Triggerfish from the SSC based Amendment 29.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	NA	717,000
2023	NA	717,000
2024	NA	717,000

10.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

A maximum of 10 Gray Triggerfish in the 20-fish aggregate was adopted in 2020 (Table 10.3). No changes have occurred in the commercial fishery.

Table 10.3: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Gray Triggerfish.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
2/26/2020	Reg Amendment 27	Reduced commercial minimum size limit to 12 inches fork length
3/20/2020	Reg Amendment 26	Set maximum of 10 Gray Triggerfish in 20-fish aggregate
3/20/2020	Reg Amendment 26	Reduced recreational minimum size limit to 12 inches fork length

10.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Gray Triggerfish decreased from 1990 to 2000 and then increased to a peak in 2016 (Figure 10.2). The landings in the last 10 years have decreased, particularly in the last four years. The landings in 2024 were the lowest since 2006.

Figure 10.2: Landings of Gray Triggerfish from 1990 to 2024.

Released Fish

The number of Gray Triggerfish recreational releases increased since 2000 when the discards were less than 126,000 fish to 411,000 fish in 2024 (Figure 10.3). The number of releases peaked in 2016 and exceeded most other estimates of released fish by 2 million fish. Since 2016, there has been a decreasing trend in the number of released Gray Triggerfish.

Figure 10.3: Number of released Gray Triggerfish by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

A trend in abundance for Gray Triggerfish has been developed by SC DNR using chevron traps (Figure 10.4). The highest abundance occurred in 1997. Since 1999, the index has varied around the long-term average (1). In the last ten years, the relative abundance has decreased to the lowest level since 1990 when the survey started.

Figure 10.4: Index of abundance for Gray Triggerfish from 1990 to 2024 based on the trap survey developed in the SC DNR Trends report.

10.1.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 56.44% to the recreational sector and 43.56% to the commercial sector. The recreational fishery accounts for the highest portion of the overall catch harvesting on average over 800,000 lbs (figure below is number of fish for recreational) compared to the commercial fishery that harvests less than 325,000 lbs. Recreational landings in numbers of fish have decreased since 2016 (757,000 fish) (Figure 10.5A.). Recreational landings have decreased since 2016.

Commercial landings have exceeded the ACL from 2015 to 2020 (dark dashed line) (Figure 10.5B.). After 2020, commercial landings dropped over 100,000 lbs. The commercial ACL increased in Amendment 29 when the method to determine the ABC was adjusted.

Figure 10.5: A. Gray Triggerfish recreational landings from 2015 to 2024 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Gray Triggerfish commercial landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2015 to 2024 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

The median length of Gray Triggerfish in the recreational fishery was 13 inches fork length from 2013 to 2022. Observed lengths ranged from 7 to 22 inches fork length. Most Gray Triggerfish (90%) were between 11 and 16 inches fork length.

The median length of Gray Triggerfish in the commercial fishery was 15 inches (mixture of fork and total length estimates) from 2013 to 2022. Most commercially landed Gray Triggerfish (91%) are between 12 and 18 inches.

Figure 10.6: Expanded length distribution of Gray Triggerfish recreational landings from 2013 to 2022 observed in MRIP with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period.

Figure 10.7: Length distribution of Gray Triggerfish commercial landings from 2013 to 2022 with the dashed gray line representing the median value over the 10-year period and the red dashed line representing the minimum size limit.

10.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Gray Triggerfish 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 the recreational fishery spiked in 2016 (Figure 10.8A.) but have modestly increased since 2015. The ex-vessel value has decreased from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 10.8B.). The ex-vessel value decreased from almost $1.5 million (in 2024 estimate) to just over $500,000.

Figure 10.8: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Gray Triggerfish in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Gray Triggerfish for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

10.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Gray Triggerfish is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 10.4). 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. Commercial ACL closures occurred in 2016, 2017, 2019, and 2020. No closures have occurred since then.

Table 10.4: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2025. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial Season 1	Commercial Season 2
2016		4/2/2016	12/16/2016
2017			11/8/2017
2018		6/13/2018	11/6/2018
2019		4/17/2019	10/27/2019
2020			11/29/2020
2021
2022
2023
2024
2025

10.1.8 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat

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11 Wreckfish

12 Deepwater Complex

13 Grunts

14 Porgies

14.1 Red Porgy

Red Porgy, Pagrus pagrus, are distributed throughout the Atlantic Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. In the western Atlantic, they range from New York, U.S., the Caribbean Sea, and through the Gulf of Mexico to Argentina. Red Porgy inhabit reefs on the middle to outer continental shelf and shelf-break out to 920 ft in depth, but commonly found between 30 and 260 ft. They are found over rock, rubble, or sand bottom, with young frequently found on seagrass beds and the continental shelf.

Notable plasticity in the growth as well as reproductive parameters, such as size and age at female maturity and size and age at transition, has been documented. The oldest reported age is 25 years with sizes upwards of 20 inches. Red Porgy reach minimum size limit (14 inches TL) at approximately 4 years old. Red Porgy begin maturing at age 1 and 10-inches total length. Red Porgy are protogynous (change from female to male) winter spawners (November to May), with the peak spawning season in November through March.

14.1.1 Assessment Information

Red Porgy have been overfished since 1984 and overfishing occurred most years from 1980 to 2017 (Figure 14.1). Rebuilding plans require the population to be rebuilt to the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at maximum sustainable yield (red line in graph A). The expected rebuilding target year is 2046 in Amendment 50. Despite being in a rebuilding plan since 1999, Red Porgy have not rebuilt and overfishing has occurred in most years since.

Figure 14.1: A. The estimate of spawning stock biomass (SSB) of Red Porgy relative to the SSB at maximum sustainable yield (MSY) from SEDAR 60. 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 Red Porgy relative to the F at MSY from SEDAR 60. Red points indicate overfishing was occurring in that year. The red horizontal line indicates the Maximum Fishing Mortality Threshold (MFMT); above this line the stock is experiencing overfishing.

14.1.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Red Porgy are provided in Table 14.1.

Table 14.1: Stock status determination criteria for Red Porgy based on SEDAR 60. Values will be implemented through Amendment 50.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB2017/SSB MSST	0.271
Overfishing Evaluation	F2015-2017/F MSY	1.730
MFMT	F MSYor proxy 30% static SPR	0.180
SSBMSY	Spawning Stock Biomass 1000 lbs	6357.000
MSST	75% SSB MSY	4768.000
MSY	1000 lbs	531.400
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs	515.700
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (2025 value 1000 lbs ww)	91.000

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) based on the results of SEDAR 60 (Table 14.2).

Table 14.2: Fishing level recommendations for Red Porgy from the SSC based on SEDAR 60. Values will be implemented through Amendment 50.

Year	OFL	ABC
2022	97,000	75,000
2023	102,000	81,000
2024	107,000	87,000
2025	110,000	91,000
2026	113,000	95,000

14.1.3 Recent or Upcoming Management Changes

One management change that occurred in the last 5 years for Red Porgy was the development of a commercial split season through Regulatory Amendment 27. Amendment 50 for Red Porgy included several actions to rebuild Red Porgy (Table 14.3).

Table 14.3: Recent and upcoming management amendments, implementation date, and management changes for Red Porgy.

Date	Council Document	Management Change
2/26/2020	Reg Amendment 27	Created commercial split season and seasonal commercial quotas
1/19/2023	Amendment 50	Establish a rebuilding plan
1/19/2023	Amendment 50	Reduced the ACL
1/19/2023	Amendment 50	Revise allocations
1/19/2023	Amendment 50	Reduced commercial trip limits
1/19/2023	Amendment 50	Reduced recreational bag limits and season
1/19/2023	Amendment 50	Modify accountability measures

14.1.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Red Porgy from 2018 to 2021 have varied (Figure 14.2). Since 2019, the landings have been lower than the previous 5 years. Landings were further reduced to below 100,000 pounds in 2022 (ABC is the thinner dashed line below) when Amendment 50 was implemented to end overfishing and rebuild the population. The landings in 2024 were as low as 2000 when an emergency closure was put in place for Red Porgy.

Figure 14.2: Landings of Red Porgy from 2015 to 2024 with the overfishing limit (OFL, thick dashed line) and acceptable biological catch (ABC, thinner dashed line) from 2025 to 2026. The blue box indicates projected catch levels. The vertical dashed line indicates the implementation of the commercial split season in 2020.

Released Fish

The number of Red Porgy recreational releases was generally less than 100,000 fish with the exception of 2016 when the releases spiked to over 250,000 fish (Figure 14.3). The number of releases in 2024 was similar to the number of releases from 2009 to 2013.

Figure 14.3: Number of released Red Porgy by year from the recreational fishery. Commercial data are not available.

Trend in Abundance

The trend in abundance for Red Porgy has been decreasing since the terminal year of the last assessment (2017) based on the trap survey conducted from Florida through North Carolina each year (no data were collected in 2020) (Figure 14.4). The relative abundance in 2024 was the lowest in the last 25 years.

Figure 14.4: Index of abundance for Red Porgy from 2000 to 2024 based on the trap/video survey (SERFS) from SEDAR 60. The chevron trap values from 2000 to 2024 are the zero inflated negative binomial estimates included in the trends report developed by SC DNR.

14.1.5 Sector Trends

The landings allocation is 48.57% to the recreational sector and 51.43% to the commercial sector. Recreational landings have been above 100,000 lbs in most years since 2014 and the upcoming ACL for the recreational fishery will be less than 50,000 lbs (Figure 14.5A.). The recreational landings decreased in 2024 to stay below the recreational ACL implemented in Amendment 50.

Commercial landings were below their ACL from 2014 to 2021 and generally decreasing (Figure 14.5B.). The commercial ACL decreased when Amendment 50 was implemented. The commercial fishery decreased from ~ 80,000 lbs per year from 2019 to 2021 to less than 40,000 lbs per year likely starting in 2023.

Figure 14.5: A. Red Porgy recreational landings from 1990 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit (dashed line) for 2022 to 2026. Blue box indicates future catches. Recreational landings are based on the fully implemented MRIP estimates. The dashed line in the blue box represents the ACL.
B. Red Porgy commercial landings from 1990 to 2024 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2014 to 2026 (dashed line). Blue box indicates projected catch. The vertical dashed line indicates the establishment of the commercial split season in 2020.

14.1.6 Economic Trends

Proxies for economic trends in the recreational and commercial fishery for Red Porgy 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 decreased from 2016 to 2019 and have varied between 25,000 and 50,000 trips since (Figure 14.6A.). The ex-vessel value has generally decreased from 2015 to 2024 (Figure 14.6B.).

Figure 14.6: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Red Porgy in the South Atlantic region from 2015 to 2024.
B. Ex-vessel value of Red Porgy for the commercial fishery from 2015 to 2024 (2024 dollars).

14.1.7 Social Trends

One proxy for social trends for Red Porgy is sector closures which affect fishing opportunities (Table 14.4). 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 Red Porgy since 2016.

Table 14.4: Timing of recreational and commercial sector ACL closures from 2016 to 2021. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial
2016
2017
2018
2019
2020
2021
2022
2023
2024

While completing a Fishery Performance Report for Red Porgy in April 2018, that Snapper Grouper Advisory Panel noted that while no one community may be dependent on a single species, people still depend on many species to make ends meet. Any time a species is taken out of the catch, the trip becomes less profitable for both commercial and charter vessels. Red porgy are “part of the puzzle, and they’re an important part of the puzzle”. Some AP members reiterated that businesses and consumers suffer when access to the species is closed for them. There really isn’t any way to adapt to that.

14.1.8 Additional Information

Fishery Performance Report

Amendment 50

Essential Fish Habitat

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14.1.9 Additional Information

Essential Fish Habitat