Vaughan and Prager; Decline in abundance of Pagrus pagrus off tfie soutfieastern United States 



373 



build the stock, whether or not factors other than fishing 

 have contributed to the dcchne. The situation may be analo- 

 gous to that oC striped bass (Morone saxatilis) ofT the U.S. 

 Atlantic coast in the 1980s, a population that was extremely 

 depressed, with landings reduced by about 75'^ from their 

 peak. Models of that decline suggested that sharp reduc- 

 tions in fishing mortality would increase the population's 

 growth rate, regardless of the relative importance of fishing 

 and environmental conditions in the preceding decline. Un- 

 der vigorous management (with sharp reductions in fishing 

 mortality I the population has made a remarkable recovery 

 (Richards and Rago, 1999). 



Since completion of this assessment, the South Atlantic 

 Fishery Management Council has taken several actions to 

 promote recovery. As noted in amendment 12 (SAFMCM, 

 amendment 9 to the FMP increased the red porgy minimum 

 size limit to 14-inch total length, established a bag limit of 

 5 fish per person per day, prohibited purchase or sale of red 

 porgy during March and April, and restricted commercial 

 hai-vest to the recreational bag limit during those months. 

 Subsequently, a prohibition on landing red porgy (moratori- 

 um) was enacted for the period 8 September 1999 through 28 

 August 2000. Amendment 12 (SAFMC^) to the FMP, which 

 became effective on 29 August 2000, reduces the recreation- 

 al bag limit to 1 fish per person per day, extends the closed 

 season to 4 months (January-April), and allows a 50-pound 

 trip limit for commercial landings during the remaining 8 

 months of each year. Furthermore, the maximum fishing 

 mortality threshold (MFMT) was increased from SPR = 30% 

 (amendment 4 [SAFMC""'] ) to SPR = .35% (amendment 12 

 (SAFMC'^I ). It remains to be seen whether these actions will 

 be sufficient to achieve the recovery of red porgy. 



Acknowledgments 



We thank the following for their efforts in obtaining and 

 processing the data upon which this study was based: 

 Robert Dixon (headboat data); Laura Bishop, Guy Daven- 

 port, and Linda Hardy (commercial data); Jack McGovern 

 and Boxian Zhao (MARMAP data). New aging data from 

 fishery-dependent collections were provided by Charles 

 Manooch and Jennifer Potts. The authors also acknowl- 

 edge the thoughtful reviews of Felicia Coleman, Charles 

 Manooch, Jennifer Potts, and two anonymous reviewers. 



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