Brule et al, : Reproduction in Mycteroperca bonaci 



473 



tion and a minimum legal total length of 30 cm for the Mexi- 

 can fleet, and an annual catch quota of 3900 t for the Cuban 

 fleet (SEMARNAP, 2000b). As can be seen, commercial and 

 recreational exploitation of the Campeche Bank grouper re- 

 source still lacks a well-deflned management strategy. Many 

 of the obstacles noted by Huntsman and Waters (1987) in 

 developing snapper-grouper management plans for the Gulf 

 of Mexico and U.S. South Atlantic are seen in the southern 

 Gulf of Mexico. For instance, grouper landings are not identi- 

 fied to the species level in Mexican fisheries statistic, but all 

 species are reported in the "mero " (grouper) category, which 

 includes eighteen species of the genera Cephalopholis, Epi- 

 nephelus, and Mycteroperca (Colas-Marrufo et al., 1998). 

 Information on grouper recreational catches is lacking, auid 

 biological data on the Campeche Bank species, especially on 

 reproduction, are either scarce or nonexistent. Moreover, the 

 30-cm-TL minimum size limit was applied to prevent the 

 marketing offish considered too small and was only related 

 to the growth overfishing problem. 



Although landing trends by species for the southern Gulf 

 of Mexico grouper fishery remain undetermined, black 

 grouper along with red grouper and gag appear to be the 

 most abundant serranid fishes off the northern coast of the 

 Yucatan Peninsula. Colas-Marrufo et al. (1998) reported 

 black grouper to be second to red grouper in total number 

 (12%) and weight (40%) of grouper catches taken from the 

 Campeche Bank by some commercial fishing boats between 

 1996 and 1998. If a decrease in commercial grouper land- 

 ings from Mexican waters is confirmed in the near future, 

 protection measures such as regulation of specific catch 

 will be required for each of these three grouper species. 



Results from the present study may aid in better esti- 

 mating and thus maintaining reproductive output in the 

 black grouper population from the Campeche Bank. With 

 these data, fishing regulations can be based on reproduc- 

 tive aspects. This information will make it possible to 

 propose a minimum size limit for this species near the size 

 at which 50% of females are sexually mature (72 cm FL) 

 (output control) and a closed season during peak spawn- 

 ing in February (input control) — both of which would help 

 prevent recruitment overfishing. Furthermore, if it is con- 

 firmed that black grouper from the Campeche Bank spawn 

 in the shallow waters of the Alacranes Reef complex, it 

 should be easy to temporarily ban fishing in the spawning 

 area(s) through enforcement of the regulations protecting 

 this National Marine Park. 



Acknowledgments 



This research was supported by grant 2184P-B9.507 from 

 the Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnologi'a (CONACYT); 

 grant C-1-99/062 from the Fondo Mexicano para la Conser- 

 vacion de la Naturaleza (FMCN); and the SEMARNAP/ 

 S.S.S. "24 de Febrero'VCINVESTAV agreement for use of 

 the fishing vessel Unicap VII. For their assistance during 

 this study, we would like to thank R. Robles de Benito, 

 V. Alcantar-Cardenas, and M. Garduno-Andrade from 

 SEMARNAP/IPN-CRIPY (Merida/Yucalpeten); J. Peraza- 

 Menendez and M. Castillo-Martinez from CECADESU/ 



CREDES (Yucalpeten); J. Rodriguez-Felix from S.S.S. 

 "24 de Febrero" (Progreso); A.M. Pech from CONYUC fish 

 house (Progreso); J.L. Carrillo-Galaz and F Alvarez-Car- 

 rillo from the fishing cooperative SCPP "Pescadores de 

 Sisal" (Progreso); and L. Contreras-Garcia, Port Captain 

 of Progreso. For their assistance in all aspects of the 

 field collection, we are grateful to M. Sanchez-Crespo; 

 V. Durarte-Gracia, S. Mena-Gonzalez, C. Ureiia-Chio, 

 J. Hernandez-Viguegas, T. Ramirez-Hernandez, and P. 

 Mina-Coello. We also wish to thank L. Gus-Peltinovich for 

 assistance with photography. 



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