Harris and McGovern: Changes in the life history of Pagrus pagrus 
733 
an increase in the number of vessels 
participating in the snapper-grouper 
fishery in the SAB resulted in a steadily 
increasing fishing mortality from 1972 
through 1993 (Huntsman et al. 2 ). For 
new management regulations to be con- 
sidered, current life history data need 
to be made available. The most recent 
published discussion of SAB red porgy 
life history was based on data collected 
between 1972 and 1974 (Manooch, 
1976; Manooch and Huntsman, 1977). 
It has been shown that age structure, 
size-at-age, and reproducti ve strategies 
of a population will change in a predict- 
able fashion that responds to declining 
abundance (Lack, 1968; Rothschild, 
1986). There is, however, concern over 
the extent and permanence of these 
changes (Edley and Law, 1988; Bohn- 
sack, 1990). The effect of sustained 
heavy exploitation, combined with cur- 
rent management strategies in regard 
to particular size restrictions and quo- 
tas or bag limits on the life history of a 
fished stock, is poorly documented. Staff 
of the Marine Resources Monitoring, 
Assessment, and Prediction Program 
(MARMAP), a federally funded program 
based at the South Carolina Depart- 
ment of Natural Resources in Charleston, SC, have 
collected life history data on red porgy since 1979. 
When combined with data collected from 1972 
through 1974 (Manooch, 1976; Manooch and Hunts- 
man, 1977), data spanning 24 years were available 
to determine if the life history of the red porgy popu- 
lation in the SAB had changed. 
Long-term life history data and the increase in fish- 
ing pressure provide a mechanism to test the impact 
of sustained exploitation on the life history of a reef 
fish species in the SAB. Therefore, the objectives of this 
paper were to describe temporal changes in the age, 
growth, and reproduction of red porgy for four periods 
during 1972-94 and to identify annual changes in age 
and growth that occurred during 1988-94. 
Methods 
Red porgy were collected from 1979 to 1994 during 
standard MARMAP sampling with chevron traps, 
hook-and-line gear, Florida traps, and blackfish traps 
(Collins, 1990; Collins and Sedberry, 1991) in the SAB 
from Cape Fear, North Carolina, to Cape Canaveral, 
Florida. Specimens were collected during daylight 
hours primarily between May and August of each 
year. 
MARMAP sampling strategies changed slightly 
between 1979 and 1994. From 1979 to 1987, samples 
were collected randomly from four large areas of live 
bottom (identified by using underwater television) 
with hook-and-line gear, blackfish traps, and Florida 
traps to follow trends in the abundance of the various 
species. Additional sites outside these areas were 
sampled as time and weather conditions allowed (see 
Collins and Sedberry, 1991). Traps were baited with 
cut clupeids, buoyed off the research vessel, and soaked 
for one to four hours. Hook-and-line gear consisted of 
bandit reels (commercial bottom-fishing hook-and-line 
gear) or rod and reel with 6/0 Penn Senator high-speed 
reels and Electramate electric motors. Terminal gear 
always consisted of three hooks fished vertically and 
baited with cut squid or cigar minnow ( Decapterus sp. ). 
All fishes caught were measured ( mm fork length f FL] ), 
and the total weight for each species, from each collec- 
tion, was recorded (g). All red porgy collected during 
these years were kept for life history studies. 
In 1988 and 1989, a chevron trap was added to the 
gear used to sample reef fishes. During these years, 
the research vessel was anchored over a known live 
