Black drum 



Pogonias cromis 

 Adult 



10 cm 



(from Goode 1884) 



Common Name: black drum 



Scientific Name: Pogonias cromis 



Other Common Names: sea drum, gray drum, oyster 



cracker, drum fish, striped drum, puppy drum, butterfly 



drum (Sutter et al. 1986); grand tambour (French), 



tambor,corvinon negro (Spanish) (Fischer 1 978, NOAA 



1985). 



Classification (Robins et al. 1991) 



Phylum: Chordata 



Class: Osteichthyes 



Order: Perciformes 



Family: Sciaenidae 



Value 



Commercial : Black drum are commercially harvested 

 primarily in inshore state territorial waters, using a wide 

 variety of gear and vessels between states and regions 

 (NOAA 1 985, Sutter et al. 1 986, Geaghan and Garson 

 1993, Leardetal. 1993). Fishing effort occurs through- 

 out the year, but is especially high during the spring and 

 summer. Gear used includes trammel nets, gill nets, 

 purse seines, haul seines, trot lines, hand lines, and 

 trawls (trawled fish are usually bycatch). The majority 

 of commercial catch in the U.S. occurs in the Gulf of 

 Mexico. In estuarine waters, most of the fish caught are 

 relatively young (< 4 yrs.), while older fish (>4 yrs.) are 

 harvested mainly in nearshore waters of the Gulf. 

 Landings in the states along the Gulf from 1 950 to 1 976 

 comprised 84% of the total harvest in the U.S., with 

 Texas providing as much as 71 % of this total (Silverman 

 1 979, Leard et al. 1 993). Black drum in the Gulf were 

 relatively underutilized prior to the late 1 970's because 

 their flesh was considered to be poor quality, particu- 

 larly in the largerfish (bull drum). In addition, a marine 

 cestode (the pleurocercoid stage), commonly called 

 the "spaghetti worm" infects the flesh in larger fish 



making it less marketable, although it poses no human 

 health threat (Simmons and Breuer 1 962). Smallerf ish 

 (0.5-1.5 kg) called "butterfly drum" were therefore 

 considered to be more valuable in the fishery. It sold 

 mostly as fresh product in local fish markets (Fischer 

 1 978). The increased market for large red drum for the 

 Cajun dish "blackened redfish" in the late 1970's and 

 early 1 980's led to expansion of the black drum fishery 

 (Leard et al. 1 993, Geaghan and Garson 1 993). Over- 

 fishing caused restrictions or bans on the red drum 

 commercial fishery in the Gulf coast states and in 

 federal waters (1986), but the high market demand 

 made black drum a suitable substitute, resulting in 

 greater fishing effort for this species. Commercial 

 landings for the Gulf of Mexico reached a peak of 4,800 

 mt in 1987, and were 964 mt in 1991 (Fitzhugh et al. 

 1993, Leardetal. 1993). 



Recreational : The recreational fishery is very seasonal 

 with most effort occurring during the spring and sum- 

 mer (Hostettler 1982, NOAA 1985). The recreational 

 catch for black drum was much greater than the com- 

 mercial landing until the previously mentioned expan- 

 sion of the commercial fishery (Sutter et al. 1986). 

 However, this is not a preferred recreational species, 

 and therefore, receives little directed effort by anglers 

 (Leard et al. 1993). Texas probably has the largest 

 directed recreational fishery for this species in the U.S. 

 Gulf of Mexico, although its popularity is still low when 

 compared to other species. An estimated 583,000 

 black drum were caught in 1991 for the central and 

 eastern Gulf of Mexico region by recreational fisher- 

 man, making up over 64% of the reported catch for the 

 combined Atlantic and Gulf regions (Van Voorhees et 

 al. 1 992). Over 93 percent of this was from Louisiana 

 and Florida. Fishing gear, methods, and seasons vary 



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