352 



Fishery Bulletin 100(2) 



have shown neither long-range migrations nor extensive 

 local movements of adult red porgy (Manooch and Hassler. 

 1978), nor has circumstantial or anecdotal information 

 suggested such movements. Peak spawning occurs from 

 March through April (Manooch, 1976). Red porgy eggs 

 and larvae are pelagic, hatch 28 to 38 h after fertiliza- 

 tion, and can sui-vive transport by ocean currents for 30 

 days or more (Manooch et al., 1981). Thus, the population 

 off the U.S. Atlantic coast could in theory receive eggs or 

 larvae from the Gulf of Mexico stock. However, because 

 of the distances involved and the variability of ocean cur- 

 rents, the likelihood of significant population mixing in 

 this way seems small, and we adopted the stock boundar- 

 ies described above. 



Red porgy attain maximum size slowly and live relative- 

 ly long (an 18-year-old specimen is the oldest on record), 

 but maturity occurs far younger Roumillat and Waltz- col- 

 lected red porgy between 1979 and 1987 along the conti- 

 nental shelf between Cape Fear, NC, and Cape Canaveral, 

 FL, using trawl nets, traps, and hook-and-line gear Life 

 history information was obtained from 7104 red porgy; 

 5820 otoliths were examined (including 134 from histori- 

 cal or port samples), of which 5491 had discernable rings; 

 estimation of sex composition was based on 6044 red por- 

 gy. Mature gonads were found in 18.8'^r of females at age 

 1, 85.29f at age 2, 99.7'>r at age 3, and lOO^f at older ages. 



Red porgy are protogynous hermaphrodites. Thus, fe- 

 males predominate at smaller size intei-vals, but males 

 occur in all age groups. Age-specific sex ratios reported 

 by Roumillat and Waltz- (their Table 6) were used in our 

 analyses: 89'^f female at age 1, 91'^ at age 2, ll'/i at age 3, 

 67% at age 4, 59% at age 5 , 51% at age 6, 25% at age 7, 

 and 21% at age 8. 



Methods 



Fishery-dependent data sources and adjustments 



In the study area (Cape Hatteras, NC, through the east 

 coast of FL), three fisheries take red porgy: commercial, 

 recreational, and headboat. Hook-and-line has been the 

 most common commercial gear, but occasional significant 

 landings are taken with trawls and traps. Trawling for 

 red porgy has been banned since 1989 (Amendment 12 

 ISAFMC'^] ) The recreational fishery includes all recre- 

 ational fishing from shore, from private boats and from 

 charter boats (for-hire vessels that usually accommodate 

 six or fewer anglers as a group). The headboat fishery 

 (larger for-hire vessels that charge per angler) is sampled 



- Roumillat, W. A., and C. W. Waltz. 199:3. Biology of the red 

 porgy Pagrus pagrus from the southeastern United States. 

 Data report 1993 MARMAP, South Carolina Wildlife and Ma- 

 rine Resources Department, P.O. Box 125.59, Charleston, SC 

 29422-2559. 



' SAFMC (South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. 2000. 

 Final, amendment number 12 to the fishery management 

 plan for the snapper grouper fishery of the South Atlantic 

 region. South Atlantic Fishery Management Council. Charles- 

 ton. SC, 159 p. + appendices. 



separately, and for that reason is distinguished here from 

 other recreational fisheries. Recreational and headboat 

 fisheries, like the commercial fishery, use hook-and-line 

 gear almost exclusively. Data sources for all three fisheries 

 are described in our study and summarized in Table 1. 



Commercial fishery Landings statistics in weight for 

 the commercial fishery, 1972-97, were obtained from the 

 NMFS general canvass database (NMFS, Southeast Fish- 

 eries Science Center, Beaufort, NC, and Miami, FL). In 

 addition. North Carolina commercial landing statistics by 

 gear for red porgy were provided by NC Division of Marine 

 Fisheries (NCDMF). Fishery-based length and weight sta- 

 tistics, 1983-97, were obtained from the NMFS Trip Inter- 

 view Program (TIP) database. Length frequencies from SC 

 commercial landings, 1976-80, were taken from Vaughan 

 etal. (1992). 



Commercial landings statistics, 1972-84, are recorded 

 as "porgies," but include some other species. Following 

 Vaughan et al. ( 1992), we multiplied such non-North-Caro- 

 lina landings by 0.9 to approximate landings of red porgy 

 only; North Carolina data were corrected by NCDMF before 

 we received them. Commercial landings were available only 

 in weight and were converted to counts by dividing catch 

 in weight by mean weight per fish for the same gear and 

 year To compute annual mean weights, fish lengths from 

 the TIP database were converted to weight with estimated 

 weight-length relationships, described below. 



Annual length-frequency distributions L were developed 

 for commercial hook-and-line gear for each area (Carolinas 

 vs. Florida), 1983-97. Commercial length frequencies for 

 1972-82 were taken from Vaughan et al. (1992). Because 

 trap and trawl landings have been quite small since the 

 mid-1980s and few fish have been sampled (1611 Itrapl; 

 1455 Itrawll, mostly between 1986 and 1988), two overall 

 length-frequency distributions for each gear were used, 

 one for 1972-89 and the other for 1990-97. Gear-specific 

 commercial length-frequency distributions were weighted 

 by catch in number by state to obtain catch at length by 

 gear and state. 



Recreational fishery Recreational catch and effort esti- 

 mates and data on length and weight composition, 

 1979-97, were obtained from the NMFS Marine Rec- 

 reational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) database 

 (Gray et al., 1994; Marine Recreational Fisheries Statis- 

 tics, 1999). Fishing modes used by MRFSS include shore- 

 based, private-boat-based, and charter-boat based fishing. 

 Within each mode, three catch types are defined: "A" 

 catches were available to sampling personnel for identifi- 

 cation and measurement; "Bl" catches were unavailable 

 because they had been used for bait, filleted, discarded 

 dead, etc.; and "B2" catches were unavailable because they 

 had been released. Postrelease mortality of B2 catches was 

 assumed to be 18% (Dixon and Huntsman"*). Following 



■> Dixon, R. L. and G, R. Huntsman. 1993. Survival rates of 

 released undersized fishes (abstract). Sixth Annual MARFIN 

 Conference, Atlanta, GA, 12-13 October 1993. [Available from 

 Beaufort Laboratory. 101 Fivers Island Road, Beaufort. NC, 

 28516.) 



