Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation

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 is the first update of the SAFE report since 2004.

This Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation (SAFE) Report provides background material for the Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan (FMP) for the South Atlantic Region. It contains detailed information upon which the FMP and its amendments are based. In particular, this SAFE Report includes information on the biology of species in the FMP, recent harvest regulations, landings data, and recent stock assessments.

The fishery management unit include 51 species/stocks and 5 ecosystem species including Grouper (17), Snapper (10), Porgy (7), Jacks (5), Grunt (5), Sea Bass (3), Tilefish (3), Hogfish (2 stocks), Triggerfish (2), Spadefish (1), and Wreckfish (1). There are stock assessments for 15 species (Scamp and Yellowmouth has not been accepted through an amendment) of which 7 were reported as overfishing in the terminal year of the assessment and 6 were overfished. Stock status is unknown for the remainder of the species in the unit.

The overall trend in landings since the 1990s have been a decreasing trend but from 2011 to 2020, landings have increased from an overall low in 2011 (Figure 1.1). The number of releases in the fishery has increased since 1990 reaching an all time high in 2016. Since 2016, the releases have decreased.

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 species for directed trips (targeted or landed) was the snappers complex (Cubera, Gray, and Lane) every year. Yellowtail Snapper ranked second or third in number of directed trips from 2016 to 2020. Mutton Snapper was in the top five for directed trips. Other top five species included: Atlantic Spadefish, Black Sea Bass, EFL/FLK Hogfish, Gray Triggerfish, Grunts, and Red Snapper.

Commercial top species was based on the ex-vessel value. Yellowtail Snapper and Vermilion Snapper ranked first and second in ex-vessel value from 2016 to 2020. Tilefish (Golden Tilefish) ranked third from 2016 to 2018. When the ACL dropped, Gray Triggerfish switched into third and Tilefish dropped to fourth. Greater Amberjack ranked fifth each year.

Table 1.1: Table 1.2: Top fives species for directed recreational trips (targeted or landed) in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2020.

Rank	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
1	Snappers	Snappers	Snappers	Snappers	Snappers
2	Atlantic Spadefish	Yellowtail Snapper	Yellowtail Snapper	Red Snapper	Mutton Snapper
3	Yellowtail Snapper	Mutton Snapper	Black Sea Bass	Yellowtail Snapper	Yellowtail Snapper
4	Mutton Snapper	Gray Triggerfish	Mutton Snapper	Grunts	Black Sea Bass
5	EFL/FLK Hogfish	Grunts	Grunts	Mutton Snapper	Gray Triggerfish

Table 1.3: Table 1.4: Top fives species based on commercial ex-vessel value in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2020.

Rank	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
1	Yellowtail Snapper	Yellowtail Snapper	Yellowtail Snapper	Yellowtail Snapper	Yellowtail Snapper
2	Vermilion Snapper	Vermilion Snapper	Vermilion Snapper	Vermilion Snapper	Vermilion Snapper
3	Tilefish	Tilefish	Tilefish	Gray Triggerfish	Gray Triggerfish
4	Gray Triggerfish	Gray Triggerfish	Gray Triggerfish	Tilefish	Tilefish
5	Greater Amberjack	Greater Amberjack	Greater Amberjack	Greater Amberjack	Greater Amberjack

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:

• Accumulative Landings System (ALS),
• recent SEDAAR 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 2022 Quarter 1 Report to Congress

	Stock Assessment				NOAA Fisheries
Species	SEDAR	Terminal Year	Overfishing	Overfished	Report to Congress	Overfishing	Overfished
Black Grouper	19	2008	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
Black Sea Bass	56	2016	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
Blueline Tilefish	50	2015	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
FLK/EFL Hogfish	37	2012	Yes	Yes	2022 Q4	No	Yes
Gag	71	2019	Yes	Yes	2022 Q4	Yes	Yes
Greater Amberjack	59	2017	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
Mutton Snapper	15U	2013	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
Red Grouper	53	2015	Yes	Yes	2022 Q4	No	Yes
Red Porgy	60	2017	Yes	Yes	2022 Q4	No	Yes
Red Snapper	73	2020	Yes	Yes	2022 Q4	Yes	Yes
Snowy Grouper	36U	2019	Yes	Yes	2022 Q4	Yes	Yes
Tilefish	66	2018	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
Vermilion snapper	55	2016	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
Wreckfish	SSC Review	2010	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No
Yellowtail Snapper	64	2017	No	No	2022 Q4	No	No

Information specific to each of these snapper grouper species is featured below. The information includes:

• brief description of the species and life history,
• assessment information,
• stock status and fishing level recommendations,
• recent or upcoming management actions,
• fishery and population trends,
• sector trends,
• economic trends,
• social trends, and
• additional information.

If there are any questions on the SAFE report, please send an email with SAFE Report in the subject line.

3 Groupers

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

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/Fmsy	0.500
MFMT	Proxy 30% static SPR	0.216
SSBMSY	SSBmsy 1000 lbs	5,920.000
MSST	75% SSB MSY	4,440.000
MSY	Yeild at proxy 30% static SPR	520.000
Y at 75% FMSY	1000 lbs whole weight	162.000
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=ABC (1000 lbs ww)	265.000

Fishing level recommendations (lbs) were approved by the Council in Comprehensive ACL Amendment (2012) (Table 3.2).

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

Year	OFL	ABC	Discard OFL	Discard ABC
2023	289,426	265,426	NA	NA

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
On Going	Amendment 53	Establish a recreationl vessel limit
On Going	Amendment 53	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). The trend in landings has been decreasing over the past 10 years; however, the landings have been extremely variable. NOTE: The landings plot includes recreational landings estimated using the Fishery Effort Survey and is not comparable to the ABC or ACL.

Figure 3.2: Landings of Black Grouper from 1990 to 2020.

Released Fish

Staff from the NMFS and the Council are working on methods to develop annual estimates of commercial discards. Once methods have been developed discards will be included in the SAFE Report.

The number of Black Grouper recreational releases were relatively high from 2011 to 2016 and low from 2017 to 2020 (Figure 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 2011 ranging from approximately 20,000 lbs in 2014 to over 250,000 lbs in 2017 (Figure 3.5A.). Although the trend line is indicating a significant increase in recreational landings since 2011, the recreational landings have been highly variable.

Commercial landings have been below the ACL from 2011 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and generally increasing (light gray dashed line) (Figure 3.5B.). The commercial ACL increased in Amendment 29 when the method to determine the ABC was adjusted. The commercial fishery generally harvests less than 90,000 lbs per year.

Figure 3.5: A. Black Grouper recreational landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and trend in catch (light gray dashed line).
B. Black Grouper commercial landings from 2011 to 2020 (solid line) and annual catch limit for 2012 to 2020 (dark dashed line) and the trend line of the landings (light gray dashed line).

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 generally increased but is likely due to high effort estimate in 2015 and 2016 (Figure 3.6A.). The ex-vessel value has (Figure 3.6B.).

Figure 3.6: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Black Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2011 to 2020.
B. Ex-vessel value of Black Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2011 to 2020 (2021 dollars).

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 2021. No date indicates the fishery did not close due to a sector reaching the ACL.

Year	Recreational	Commercial

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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

Gag have been overfished since 2008 and overfishing occurred most years from 1984 to 2019 based on the results of SEDAR 71 (Figure 3.7). Rebuilding plans require the population to be rebuilt to the spawning stock biomass (SSB) at maximum sustainable yield (red line in graph A). The Council is developing a rebuilding plan for Gag in Amendment 53 with projections for the stock to rebuild in 10 years.

Figure 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 will revise stock status criteria and fishing level recommendations.

Table 3.5: Stock status determination criteria for Gag based on SEDAR 71 (Amendment in development to implement).

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	0.15
Overfishing Evaluation	F/Fmsy	2.15
MFMT	Fmsy 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 (2023 value 1000 lbs gw)	175.00

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	825,000	773,000
2024	494,000	262,000
2025	605,000	348,000
2026	706,000	435,000
2027	808,000	525,000

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: No recent management were directed at Gag.

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

3.2.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Gag from 2019 to 2021 (years since the assessment) were lower than previous years (Figure 3.8). Landings will be further reduced from the current level to 175,632 pounds (gw) in 2023 (ABC is the thinner dashed line below) when Amendment 53 is enacted to aid in rebuilding the overfished population.

Figure 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

Staff from NMFS and Council are working on methods to develop annual estimates of commercial discards. Once methods have been developed discards will be provided in the SAFE Report.

The number of Gag releases decreased from 2016 to 2019 (Figure 3.9). Since 2019, there has been an increase in the number of releases.

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

Trend in Abundance

The trend in abundance for Gag is not available since the terminal year of the last assessment (2019) based on the video survey (no data were collected in 2020) (Figure 3.10). The Chevron trap survey is the data from the trends report

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 both were around 200,000 lbs in 2021. The ABC for 2023 for both sectors combined will be 175,632 lbs gw based on the SSC’s recommendation. Allocations and ACLs for each sector were approved in Amendment 53 (2023). The recreational ACL in 2023 will be 90,306 lbs and the commercial ACL in 2023 will be 85,326 lbs. 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 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). Ex-vessel value varied from 2016 to 2021 (Figure 3.12B).

Figure 3.12: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Gag in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2021.
B. Ex-vessel value from Gag for the commercial fishery from 2016 to 2021 (2021 dollars).

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

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

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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/Fmsy	NA
MFMT	Fmsy 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
2023	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 plans, 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 overfishing, 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/SSBmsy	0.29
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBmsst	0.38
Overfishing Evaluation	F/Fmsy	1.54
MFMT	Fmsy or 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 moralities.

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
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

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Red Grouper from 2018 to 2021 (years since the assessment) 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.

Figure 3.19: Landings of Red Grouper 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 catch levels. Dashed vertical lines indicate changes in management for Red Grouper. In 2018, management included a reduced the ACL and 2020 included a new rebuilding plan and increased the length of the spawning season closure in NC and SC.

Released Fish

Staff from the NMFS and the 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 releases described below are estimated using the fully calibrated MRIP data. Most recreational data in this report are in CHTS values. The number of Red Grouper recreational releases generally declined from 2014 to 2020 (large spike in 2018) (Figure 3.20). Releases in 2021 were higher than 2020.

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 reduced 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 since 2014 has been less than 25% of the long-term average.

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 had a generally increasing trend from 2012 to 2018 (Figure 3.22A). Since recreational landings have been decreasing. Since the ACL change in 2018, the recreational fishery has exceeded the ACL every year. Commercial landings of Red Grouper decreased from 2012 to 2021 (Figure 3.22B).

Figure 3.22: A. Red Grouper recreational landings from 2012 to 2021 (solid line) with sector ACL (dashed line). Recreational landings are based on the CHTS MRIP estimates.
B. Red Grouper commercial landings from 2012 to 2021 (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 MRIP data (primary target, secondary target, or landed) and ex-vessel value for the commercial fishery. Recreational directed trips have been variable from 2016 to 2021 (Figure 3.23A). The commercial ex-vessel value decreased from 2017 to 2021 (Figure 3.23B). The recreational economic trend is described using the fully calibrated MRIP data. Most recreational data in this report are in CHTS values.

Figure 3.23: A. Directed recreational trips (private and charter) for Red Grouper in the South Atlantic region from 2016 to 2021.
B. Ex-vessel value of Red Grouper for the commercial fishery from 2016 to 2021 (2021 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 2021. 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

3.4.8 Additional Information

Abbreviated Framework 1

Regulatory Amendment 30

SEDAR 53

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3.5 Scamp

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 inhabit 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 an 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 inch length. Scamp spawn from February to August with a peak in March through May.

3.5.1 Assessment Information

A stock assessment has recently been completed for Scamp and will be used in future SAFE Reports. 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). Landings of Scamp has been below the ACL and optimum yield since 2017. The change from the Coastal Household Telephone Survey to the Fishery Effort Survey (FES) changed the average landings estimate from 190,000 lbs from 2011 to 2020 to 232,000 lbs. FES landings have ranged between 14,000 and 174,000 from 2011 to 2020.

Figure 3.24: A. Combined landings of Scamp (whole weight, ww) to the ABC for Scamp. Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Coastal Household Telephone Survey. B Combined landings of Scamp (whole weight, ww). Landings includes commercial whole weight and recreational whole weight estimated using Fishery Effort Survey.

3.5.2 Stock Status Criteria and Fishing Level Recommendations

Values to evaluate the stock status of Scamp are provided in Table 3.16. Only the OY has a defined value.

Table 3.16: Stock status determination criteria for Scamp.

Criteria	Definition	Value
Overfished Evaluation	SSB/SSBMSST	NA
Overfishing Evaluation	F/Fmsy	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		NA
Y at 75% FMSY		NA
Optimum Yield	ACL=OY=0.9*ABC	336

Fishing level recommendations using ORCS and adopted in Amendment 29 (2014) (Table 3.17).

Table 3.17: Fishing level recommendations for Scamp from the SSC based Amendment 29.

Year	OFL	ABC	Discard OFL	Discard ABC
2023	NA	373,049	NA	NA

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 include Scamp and Yellowmouth Grouper.

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

Date	Council Document	Management Change
On Going	Amendment 55	Amendment Starting

3.5.4 Fishery and Population Trends

Combined recreational and commercial landings of Scamp 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). Since 2011, the lowest landings occurred in 2020.

Figure 3.25: Landings of Scamp 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 Scamp 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.

Figure 3.26: Number of released Scamp 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. 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.