Stephen et at: Comparison of life history parameters for landed and discarded fish off the southeastern United States 301 
Table 5 
Summary of the commercial fishing regulations mandated by the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council that have affected 
the snapper-grouper complex. TL=total length, t=metric ton. Amend. =amendment. 
Year 
Species 
Regulation 
1983 (Amend. 1) 
Snapper-Grouper complex 
Trawls were required to have a 4-inch (10-cm) mesh size. 
1992 (Amend. 4) 
Snapper-Grouper complex 
Trawls were banned 
1998 (Amend. 8) 
Vermilion snapper 
12-inch (30-mm) TL minimum size limit 
Red porgy 
12-inch (305-mm) TL minimum size limit 
Scamp 
20-inch (508-mm) TL minimum size limit 
1999 (Amend. 9) 
Red porgy 
14-inch (356-mm) TL minimum size limit; Mar-Apr closure 
1999-2000 
Red porgy 
Emergency interim ruling: No landings Sep 1999-Aug 2000 
2000 (Amend. 12) 
Red porgy 
50 lb/trip (23 kg/trip) limit May-Dec and a Jan-Apr closure 
2006 (Amend. 130 
Vermilion snapper 
11,000,000 lb (5000 t) quota (gutted fish) 
Red porgy 
127,000 lb (58 t) quota (gutted fish); 120 fish/trip limit from May to Dec 
2009 (Amend. 16) 
Vermilion snapper 
Jan-Jun: 315,523 lb (143 t) quota (gutted fish); Jul-Dec: 302,523 lb 
(137 t) quota (gutted fish) 
Scamp 
Jan-Apr closure for scamp (beginning in 2010) 
creasing trend. Current size regulations (471 mm FL) 
restrict the removal of scamp to large mature females 
and males. Scamp spawn as small as 289 mm FL (Har- 
ris et al., 2002), providing ample time for both young 
and old females to have multiple reproductive seasons 
before being removed by the fishery. 
One note of concern is the continual decrease in the 
number of males. Harris et al. (2002) noted a decrease 
in the number of males from 1979-89 to 1990-97, from 
34% to 21%, and Coleman et al. (1996) in the Gulf of 
Mexico noted a decrease over 20 years from 36% to 
18%. Males have continued to decline to the 12% found 
in our study. The limited number of transitioning and 
male scamp are of concern, because this may be an 
indication of sperm limitation. Comparing our age and 
size of transition to those determined by Allsop and 
West (2003), we found that our age of transition is 
much higher than expected, but the size of transition 
(based on the FL max in this study) is similar to the 
expected value. The age at transition may be higher 
than that estimated in Allsop and West (2003) because 
it is thought that sexual transition in scamp is socially 
mediated within post-spawning aggregations (Harris 
et al., 2002), thereby limiting transition in both time 
and space. Simply increasing the minimum size limit 
may not reverse this trend because more females will 
survive but may not transition to males, thereby fur- 
ther skewing the sex ratio (Heppell et al., 2006). A 
management regime that protects males and preserves 
the sex ratio is needed. Year round deep water area 
closures or marine protected areas would work best 
to preserve the expected sex ratios, as these closures 
would protect males as shown by Heppell et al.’s model 
(2006). An alternative hypothesis to explain the lack of 
male specimens in our study is the segregation of males 
from females in time and space as is seen in gag ( Myc - 
teroperca microlepis) (Coleman and Koening, as cited 
in Heppell et al., 2006). Current data do not allow us 
to test these hypotheses, but conservative management 
is needed to protect males in locations where scamp is 
known to occur. 
Conclusions 
This study indicates strongly that heavily exploited fish 
stocks (those being overfished or in the state of having 
been overfished) managed by minimum size limits can 
create populations with many small, old fish through 
the disproportional removal of the large, young fish 
(fast growing phenotype). Which stocks are affected 
would depend on the selected minimum size limit and 
the specific life histories of that stock. The two spe- 
cies undergoing heavy exploitation, vermilion snapper 
(experiencing overfishing) and red porgy (overfished), 
both showed signs that the fishery was landing many 
young, large fish (fast growing phenotypes). For both 
species, growth has increased from historical periods, 
and asymptotic length is near the minimum size limit. 
Additional factors that may be influencing these changes 
are gear type and gear selectivity because the past fish- 
ery was primarily a trawling fishery, whereas the cur- 
rent fishery is a hook-and-line industry. For scamp, the 
species not experiencing overfishing (overfished status 
unknown), there were few young large fish captured, 
and growth rate and asymptotic length were similar to 
those of other time periods. 
Our study shows that the hook-and-line fishery tar- 
gets young, but large fish with a fast growing pheno- 
type. These fast growing phenotypes often have an 
associated bold and aggressive behavior and are caught 
more often than their counterparts, the slow growing 
