798 
Fishery Bulletin 96(4), I 998 
1980. In both of these earlier studies, immature fe- 
males were included in the sex ratio. In 1992, 
Coleman et al. (1996) determined that males made 
up a smaller percentage (1.9%) of the Gulf of Mexico 
adult (sexually mature) population than did males 
in the earlier study by Hood and Schlieder (1992). 
No current estimate of sex ratio is available for gag 
along the southeast coast of the United States. 
In 1993, the South Atlantic Fishery Management 
Council (SAFMC) and the Florida Marine Fish Com- 
mission considered a closure for fishing of gag along 
the southeast coast during the gag spawning season 
to prevent the possibility that fishing on aggrega- 
tions could severely decrease spawning output and 
affect sex ratios for future spawning seasons and 
generations (SAFMC, 1993). Much of the impetus for 
the proposed closure was the heavy fishing pressure 
exerted by recreational and commercial fishermen 
on spawning aggregations along the narrow Florida 
shelf. However, the SAFMC elected to take no action 
because it was unknown if gag spawned north of 
Florida and because the impacts of a spawning sea- 
son closure for the entire southeast coast might be 
an unnecessary hardship on fishermen. In addition, 
no recent data were available on the sex ratio of gag 
along the southeast coast. Owing to the paucity of 
data on the current reproductive status of gag, the 
U.S. Department of Commerce followed recommen- 
dations from SAFMC and the National Marine Fish- 
eries Service (NMFS) and enacted an emergency rule 
requiring all commercial vessels along the Atlantic 
coast of the southeastern United States to land gag 
in whole condition so that sex ratios and reproduc- 
tive condition could be assessed. In this paper we 
compare current sex ratio and maturity data ( 1994- 
95) with historical information (1976-82). An addi- 
tional objective of this work was to determine if gag 
spawn north of Florida. 
Methods 
Gag reproductive data were collected during 1976- 
82 and 1994-95 by the Marine Resources Monitor- 
ing Assessment and Prediction (MARMAP) program 
at South Carolina Department of Natural Resources 
(SCDNR). Data collected from 1976 to 1982 were 
obtained from the commercial hook and line fishery 
or research cruises conducted by the MARMAP pro- 
gram. These data (1976-82) were published by 
Collins et al. (1987), but raw data were available to 
us for comparison with recent information. During 
1994-95, the collection of most gag resulted from an 
emergency rule that required commercial fishermen 
along the southeast Atlantic coast to land all gag with 
gonads intact from 18 January through 18 April 1995. 
The rule was extended through 17 July 1995 but 
applied only to gag larger than 889 mm (TL). Upon 
reaching the dock, fishermen were instructed to con- 
tact a NMFS or state port sampler assigned to the 
region. The port samplers recorded date, port, ap- 
proximate area of fishing, and total length (TL) and 
weight of specimens. All length measurements in our 
study refer to TL. Gonads were obtained from each 
specimen, packed in ice or preserved in formalin, and 
shipped to personnel of the MARMAP program. Ad- 
ditional samples were collected by MARMAP during 
1994 and 1995 with chevron traps and hook-and-line 
gear at randomly chosen reef areas off the southeast- 
ern United States (Collins and Sedberry, 1991; Cuellar 
et al., 1996) and through port sampling efforts. 
To assess sex and reproductive state, all gonads 
collected during 1994-95 were prepared for histologi- 
cal examination. The posterior portion of the gonad 
was removed and preserved in 10% formalin buff- 
ered with seawater. After a 2-6 week fixation, the 
tissue samples were transferred to 50% isopropanol, 
processed and vacuum infiltrated in a modular 
vacuum tissue processor, and blocked in paraffin. The 
resulting imbedded samples were sectioned at 
7 pm, stained with double-strength Gill hematoxy- 
lin, and counter-stained with eosin-y. A similar tech- 
nique was used for the 1976-82 samples (Collins et 
al., 1987). 
Sex and reproductive stage were assessed by one 
reader according to histological criteria (Table 1). 
Sections from 100 randomly selected specimens were 
examined by a second reader early in the study to 
verify the assessments. Specimens with developing, 
ripe, spent, or resting gonads were considered to be 
sexually mature. For females, this definition of sexual 
maturity included specimens with oocyte develop- 
ment at or beyond the cortical granule (alveoli) stage 
and specimens with beta, gamma, or delta stages of 
atresia. To ensure that females were correctly as- 
signed to the immature and resting categories, the 
length-frequency histogram for immature females 
was compared to the histograms for resting females 
and females with evidence of certain maturity (e.g. 
developing, ripe, or spent). If there was little or no 
overlap between the two histograms representing 
mature individuals and the histogram for immature 
females, it was assumed that immature and resting 
individuals were not being confused. 
To produce a sex ratio for the adult portion of the 
population, only data for mature gag were included 
in analyses. Data from Collins et al. (1987) and Hood 
and Schlieder (1992) were analyzed again to deter- 
mine a sex ratio based on mature gag so that the 
results of these studies and the present study could 
