81 



Abstract— Tlie red porgy, Pagrus pag- 

 Ills. IS ;in important roof fish in sovoral 

 offshore fisheries along the southeastern 

 United States. We examined samples 

 from North Cai-olina through south- 

 east Florida from recreational i head- 

 boat) and commercial (hook and line) 

 fisheries, as well as samples from a 

 fishery-independent source. Red porgy 

 attain a maximum age of at least 18 

 years and 733 mm total length. The 

 weight-length relationship is repre- 

 sented by the In-ln transformed equa- 

 tion: VV = 8.85 X 10-"(L)-!'"^, where W = 

 whole weight in gi'ams, and L = total 

 length in mm. The von Bertalanffy 

 growth equation fitted to the most 

 recent, back -calculated lengths from all 

 the samples is L, = 644( 1 - e-"'^-'" * "-'S'). 

 Our study revealed a difference in mean 

 length at age of red porgy from the 

 three sources. Red porg\' in fishery- 

 independent collections were smaller 

 at age than specimens examined from 

 fishery-dependent sources. The differ- 

 ence in length-at-age may be related 

 to gear selectivity and have important 

 consequences in the assessment of fish 

 stocks. 



Estimated ages of red porgy (Pagrus pagrus) from 

 fishery-dependent and fishery-independent data 

 and a comparison of growth parameters 



Jennifer C. Potts 



Charles 5. Manooch III 



Center for Coastal Fisheries and Habitat Research 



Beaufort Laboratory 



National Manne Fishenes Service, NOAA 



101 Pivers Island Road 



Beaufort, North Carolina 28516 9722 



Email address (lor J C Potts) Jennifer pottsidinoaa gov 



Manuscript accepted 20 August 2001. 

 Fish. Bull. 100:81-89(2002). 



Red porgy, Pagrus pagrus, inhabit con- 

 tinental shelves in temperate and trop- 

 ical waters throughout the Atlantic 

 Ocean and Mediterranean Sea. The spe- 

 cies supports fisheries in many coun- 

 tries and is heavily exploited. Since 

 1992, red porgy has ranked relatively 

 high (38 of 200) in value among all fin- 

 fish landed commercially in the south- 

 eastern United States.' Red porgy form 

 a substantial part of overall reef fish 

 landings, especially in North Carolina 

 and South Carolina, although there is 

 little directed fishing for the species. 

 Commercial landings of red porgy from 

 the southeastern U.S. peaked in 1982 

 at 535 metric tons (t) and declined to 

 134 t in 1993 (Potts and Burton-). Red 

 porgy ranked second by weight for reef 

 fish landed by recreational headboat^ 

 anglers through the early 1980s. Since 

 then, headboat landings of red porgy 

 have declined, and landings of vermil- 

 ion snapper, Rhomhoplites aurorubens, 

 which are also declining, have now sur- 

 passed red porgy. White grunt, Hae- 

 mulon plumieri, and gray triggerfish, 

 Balistes capriscus, which were less pre- 

 ferred than other members of the snap- 

 per grouper complex, have increased in 

 landings and now surpass red porgy.^ 



Mean weight of red porgy from the 

 commercial and recreational fisheries 

 has declined from 1.06 kg in the 1970s 

 to 0.66 kg in 1997.- Minimum size regu- 

 lations ( 305 mm total length ) for recre- 

 ational and commercial fisheries enact- 

 ed in 1992 did little to increase mean 

 weight in catches, although the head- 

 boat fishery did show a slight increase 

 from 0.48 kg in 1991 and 1992 to 0.60 

 kg in 1997. Additionally, population bio- 



mass estimates for red porgy in the 

 southeastern United States have plum- 

 meted from a peak of 3.27x10*" kg in 

 1978 to 0.43xl0« kg in 1992 (Huntsman 

 et al.''). These trends suggest that red 

 porgy stocks are being overexploited. 



Age determination studies have been 

 conducted throughout the range of 

 red porgy. Manooch and Huntsman 

 (1977) conducted the first comprehen- 

 sive study using scales (n = 1777) and 

 whole otoliths {n=222) to age red porgy 

 that were caught by recreational fisher- 

 men using hook-and-line gear off North 

 Carolina and South Carolina when the 

 species was lightly exploited ( 1972-74). 

 Harris and McGovern (1997) aged red 

 porgy from whole otoliths (;!=4281) of 



' General canvas. 1998. Unpubl. data. 

 Miami Laboratory, National Marine Fish- 

 eries Sei-vice, 75 Virginia Beach Dr, Miami, 

 Florida 33149. 



- Potts, J. C, and M. L. Burton. 1999. 

 Trends in catch data for fifteen species 

 of reef fish landed along the southeastern 

 United States. Unpubl. data. South At- 

 lantic Fishery Management Council, 1 

 Southpark Circle, Charleston, SC 29407. 



' A "headboat" is a fishing vessel that car- 

 ries more than six passengers who pay per 

 person lor by the "head") to go offshore 

 fishing. 



■• Headboat annual summaries. 1998. Un- 

 publ. data. Center for Coastal Fisheries 

 and Habitat Research. Beaufort Labora- 

 torv, 101 Pivers Island Rd.. Beaufort. NC 

 28516-9722. 



'■ Huntsman, G. R., D. S. Vaughan, and J. C. 

 Potts. 1994. Trends in population status 

 of red porgy, Pagrus pagrus. in the Atlantic 

 Ocean of North Carolina and South Carolina, 

 USA, 1971-1992. Unpubl. data. SouthAt- 

 lantic Fisherv Management Council, 1 South- 

 park Circle, Charieston, SC 29407. 



