UNIT 9 

 SOUTHEAST DRUM AND CROAKER FISHERIES 



ing within Federal jurisdiction until the adult 

 population has increased in size. And since state 

 management actions have preserved inshore har- 

 vests and allocated much ot the catch to recre- 

 ational uses, they in etlect bar the development of 

 another adult red drum fishery in Federal waters. 

 The absence ot an offshore fishery, size limits, 

 limiting the daily take of red drum by recreational 

 fishermen, and an increased incidence of fish re- 

 leased by conservation-oriented anglers are all ex- 

 pected to help rebuild the red drum spawning 

 stock and reduce overall mortality. Current statis- 

 tics indicate that such conservation measures are 

 having this desired effect, and fishery-independent 

 sampling in Texas, Louisiana, and Mississippi in- 

 dicate an increased survival rate for juvenile red 

 drum in inshore waters. These findings are supple- 

 mented by those from mark-recapture programs 

 that also indicate a decreasing fishing mortality 

 from Texas to Florida since the implementation 

 of red drum conservation actions by the states. In 

 addition, the abundance of newly recruited adults 

 has increased in the offshore stock. Thus, taken 

 together, these results suggest that state and Fed- 

 eral conservation measures have substantially in- 

 creased the escapement of juveniles from inshore 

 capture and thus will help replenish the .idult off- 

 shore stock for the good of the resource and its 

 users. 



are caught and discarded dead from shrimp trawls. 

 Estimates of as many as 500,000,000 spot, 1 bil- 

 lion seatrout, and 7.5 billion ctoaker are discarded. 

 These species constitute the bulk of the finfish 

 bycatch that averaged about 175,000 t during the 

 1 'XSO's. The National Marine Fisheries Service and 

 the fishing industry have been working together 

 to develop gear designs which will reduce the 

 bycatch. Several promising solutions are under de- 

 velopment. 



LITERATURE CITED 



Left page: spot; right page, 

 sea trout. 



ISSUES 



Bycatch 



Bycatch of these tesources in the shrimp fish- 

 ery has a significant impact on their status. Large 

 numbers of Atlantic croaker, spot, and seatrout 



Goodyear, C. P. 1989. Status of the red drum stocks of 

 the Gulf of Mexico Report for 1989. Southeast Fish- 

 eries Science Center, Miami, Florida, CRD 88/89- 

 14. 



Goodyear, C. R 1996. Status ot the red drum stocks ot 

 the Gulf of Mexico. Southeast Fisheties Science Cen- 

 ter, Miami, Florida, MIA-95/96-47. 



1 37 



