Stanley and Wilson Fish populations around oil and gas structures off Louisiana 



723 



Fishing effort was concentrated in late spring, sum- 

 mer, and early fall for both private boat anglers and 

 charter boat operators. The period from May to Sep- 

 tember in both 1987 and 1988 constituted over 70% 

 private vessel and charterboat fishing trips (Figs. 3, 4). 



Participants caught a total of 44 465 fish in 1987 and 

 16792 fish in 1988 from over 46 different species 



(Table 4). The five most frequently caught species or 

 species groups in 1987 were (in descending order): red 

 snapper, spotted seatrout, silver/sand seatrout, other 

 snapper, and greater amberjack (Table 4). The five 

 most frequently caught species or species groups in 

 1988 were (in descending order): red snapper, spotted 

 seatrout, other snapper, silver/sand seatrout, and grey 

 triggerfish (Table 4). These five groups represent 

 73.4% and 70.4% of the total number of fish caught 

 in 1987 and 1988, respectively (Table 4). 



CPUE values of spotted seatrout in 1987 were sig- 

 nificantly greater (P<0.01) than those of 1988 when 

 all data were pooled by user group (Table 5). When the 

 CPUE estimates of each group were pooled by year, 

 CPUE of charterboat operators for spotted seatrout 

 was significantly greater (P<0.01) than that of private 

 vessel anglers. Due to the lack of inshore charterboat 

 participants in 1988, comparisons between user groups 

 and years could not be made. The CPUE estimates of 

 spotted seatrout were approximately one order of 

 magnitude greater than those of other commonly 

 caught fish (i.e., bluefish, red drum, and silver/sand 

 seatrout) while inshore fishing during both sample 

 years (Table 5). 



Similarly, offshore bottom-fishing CPUE estimates 

 of red snapper during 1987 and 1988 were approx- 

 imately one order of magnitude greater than those of 

 other commonly caught fish (i.e., Atlantic croaker, 

 bluefish, gi'eater amberjack, grey triggerfish, grouper, 

 other snapper, and silver/sand seatrout) (Table 5). 



