261 
Regional differences in the age and growth of 
red snapper ILutjanus campechanus ) in the U.S. 
Gulf of Mexico 
Email address for contact author: courtney.saari@noaa.gov 
1 Department of Oceanography and Coastal Sciences 
Louisiana State University 
Energy, Coast and Environment Building 
Baton Rouge, Louisiana 70803 
Present address for contact author: IAP Worldwide Services Inc. 
Southeast Fisheries Science Center 
National Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA 
75 Virginia Beach Drive 
Miami, Florida 33156 
Abstract— In the U.S. Gulf of Mex- 
ico (GOM), red snapper ( Lutjanus 
campechanus) are managed as a unit 
stock, although the stock is assessed 
as subunits east and west of the 
Mississippi River. Differences were 
examined between management 
subunits by comparison of the size 
and age structure and growth rates 
of red snapper among recreational 
catches from 6 regions of the GOM: 
South Texas, North Texas, Louisiana, 
Alabama, Northwest Florida, and 
Central Florida. In all of these re- 
gions, red snapper sampled in 2009 
and 2010 were small and predomi- 
nantly from age classes that repre- 
sented the strong recruitment for 
the year classes of 2004-06. As such, 
our data indicate a highly truncated 
age structure with few fish older 
than 6 years. Demographic differ- 
ences in size, age, and growth pa- 
rameters were found. Small (<550 
mm in total length), fast-growing 
individuals dominated the catches 
in South Texas and the regions of 
Florida, whereas larger, slower-grow- 
ing fish represented the majority of 
catches in Alabama and Louisiana. 
The potential mechanisms affect- 
ing observed demographic variation 
include environmental differences, 
fishing pressure, habitat preference, 
and management regimes; however, 
no definitive conclusion about cause 
and effect can be made. The combi- 
nation of demographic differences 
between regions and consistent oc- 
currence of the strong year classes 
GOM-wide supports recent conclu- 
sions that red snapper form a meta- 
population of semi-isolated assem- 
blages in the GOM. 
Manuscript submitted 25 April 2013. 
Manuscript accepted 30 July 2014. 
Fish. Bull. 112:261-273 (2014). 
doi:10.7755/FB. 112.4.3 
The views and opinions expressed or 
implied in this article are those of the 
author (or authors) and do not necessarily 
reflect the position of the National 
Marine Fisheries Service, NOAA. 
Courtney R. Saari (contact author ) 1 
James H. Cowan Jr . 1 
Kevin M. Boswell 2 
2 Department of Biological Sciences 
Florida International University 
Biscayne Bay Campus 
3000 NE 151 51 Street 
North Miami, Florida 33181 
The stock of red snapper ( Lutja- 
nus campechanus) in the U.S. Gulf 
of Mexico (GOM) has been exploited 
since the mid-1800s, and the red 
snapper fishery is still one of the 
most economically important reef 
fish fisheries in the GOM. This fish- 
ery has multimillion-dollar commer- 
cial and recreational sectors and is 
affected by juvenile mortality that 
results from bycatch in the shrimp 
trawl fishery. Since the early 1990s, 
GOM red snapper have been man- 
aged intensely as a single-unit stock 
through both frequent management 
intervention and significant catch 
constraints. However, this stock 
has been declining since the 1970s 
and was overfished for most of the 
1990s and 2000s (Goodyear, 1997; 
SEDAR 1 ; Porch, 2007; GMFMC 2 ; 
1 SEDAR (SouthEast Data, Assessment, 
and Review). 2005. Stock assessment 
report of SEDAR 7: Gulf of Mexico red 
snapper, 480 p. [Available from http:// 
www. sefsc.noaa. gov/sed ar /. ] 
2 GMFMC (Gulf of Mexico Fishery 
Management Council). 2007. Final 
Amendment 27 to the Reef Fish Fishery 
NMFS 3 ). The current management 
policy has set a rebuilding plan for 
stock recovery by 2032, and the most 
recent stock assessments indicate 
that, although this stock is over- 
fished, overfishing is no longer occur- 
ring (GMFMC 4 ; SEDAR 5 ). 
Management Plan and Amendment 14 to 
the Shrimp Fishery Management Plan, 
480 p. [Available from Gulf of Mexico 
Fishery Management Council, 2203 
North Lois Ave., Suite 1100, Tampa, FL 
33607.] 
3 NMFS (National Marine Fisheries Ser- 
vice). 2012. Annual report to Congress 
on the status of U.S. fisheries — 2011, 20 
p. [Available from NMFS, NOAA, 1315 
East-West Hwy., Silver Spring, MD 
20910.] 
4 GMFMC (Gulf of Mexico Fisheries 
Management Council). 2010. Final 
regulatory amendment to the Reef Fish 
Fishery Management Plan to set total 
allowable catch for red snapper, 98 p. 
[Available from Gulf of Mexico Fishery 
Management Council, 2203 North Lois 
Ave., Suite 1100, Tampa, FL 33607.] 
5 SEDAR (SouthEast Data, Assessment, 
and Review). 2013. SEDAR 31 — Gulf 
of Mexico red snapper stock assessment 
report, 1103 p. [Available from http:// 
www.sefsc.noaa.gov/sedar/.] 
