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Fishery Bulletin 1 10(3) 
distribution indicated a relatively constant proportion 
of red drum ages 5-24 and a lower frequency of fish 
25 years and older. Assignment of aged red drum to 
a respective year class revealed a decreased contribu- 
tion of red drum born in 1986 or earlier. The increased 
contribution of postmoratorium red drum was high- 
est in 1992 and 1993. Fish collected by longline were 
Year class 
Year class 
Year 
Figure 4 
Age composition of red drum ( Sciaenops ocellatus) sampled 
on the (A) fisheries-independent longlines (2006-10), and (B) 
at the fisheries-dependent Alabama Deep Sea Fishing Rodeo 
(ADSFR) (2009). (C) Commercial and recreational harvest 
of red drum from the Gulf of Mexico. Commercial data are 
available from http://www.st.nmfs.noaa.gov/stl/commercial, 
and recreational data are available from http://www.st.nmfs. 
noaa.gov/stl/recreational (accessed March 2012). 
significantly older than fish collected from the ADSFR 
(F 2 643 = 51.82, PcO.OOl). For the ADSFR-collected fish, 
higher proportions of 2-, 3-, and 4-year-old fish were 
evident in the distribution, alongside a relatively con- 
stant frequency of 7-24 year-old fish. The recreational 
fishery for red drum >660 mm was dominated by recent 
year classes (Fig. 4). 
The von Bertalanffy growth model parameter 
estimates indicated disparities between males 
and females, similar to those seen in previous 
studies (Table 1). We determined the sex for a 
total of 387 fish from both longlines and the ADS- 
FR and calculated a 1:1.3 male-to-female ratio. 
For the fish collected in this study, the popula- 
tion had a significant female bias (G obs =3.932, 
df=l, P<0.05). Higher were modeled for fe- 
male red drum (1012 mm TL) than for males 
(969 mm TL), and females showed lower growth 
coefficients. This pattern was also seen with 
the data from each collection separately: bottom 
longline (L„ females =989 mm TL, L x males = 954 
mm TL) and ADSFR (L M f em aies = ^*- ! ^® mm TL, 
Too maies = 1009 mm TL) (Table 2). 
Condition indices 
The Fulton condition index remained relatively 
constant by month and sex, whereas the GSI 
and IPF indices varied throughout the year and 
between sexes. GSI values were highest in Sep- 
tember and relatively low for nonsummer months. 
IPF peaked in May, remained relatively consistent 
through June and July and abruptly decreased in 
September. IPF remained low through the Novem- 
ber sampling (Fig. 5). Males (mean IPF [±SE] = 0.55 
[±0.06]) had significantly less IPF compared to 
females (mean IPF [±SE] = 0.65 [±0.07]) (Mann- 
Whitney U test, Z=-3.233, P=0.001). 
Discussion 
The mandate to end overfishing included in the 
Magnuson-Stevens Fisheries Conservation and 
Management Act (2006) requires aggressive man- 
agement for species subjected to unsustainable 
exploitation levels. Harvest moratoriums may 
be viewed as the extreme end of a continuum of 
potential management interventions. Although 
full harvest closures are rare, harvest closures of 
any kind will decrease the quantity of fisheries- 
dependent data available for stock assessments. 
For species whose harvest moratoriums persist 
for extended periods or over large spatial scales, 
the lack of fisheries-dependent data may severely 
limit the ability to assess stock condition. Red 
drum are an example of such a scenario. The 
total ban on harvest in federal waters in the Gulf 
of Mexico has been in place since 1987 and little 
information is available on the spawning stock of 
