Document Type
Article
Abstract
In 2011, an intensive, multiple-gear, fishery-independent survey was carried out in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM) to collect comprehensive age and length information on Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus. Based on this synoptic survey, we produced a spatial map of Red Snapper relative abundance that integrates both gear selectivity effects and ontogenetically varying habitat usage. Our methodology generated a spatial map of Red Snapper at a 10-km2 grid resolution that is consistent with existing knowledge of the species: Red Snapper occurred in relatively high abundances at depths of 50–90 m along the coasts of Texas and Louisiana and in smaller, patchy “hot spots” at a variety of depths along the Alabama coast and the west Florida shelf. Red Snapper biomass and fecundity estimates were higher for the northwestern GOM than for the northeastern GOM, as the latter area contained mostly smaller, younger individuals. The existence of similar surveys on petroleum platforms and artificial reefs also enabled us to calculate their relative contribution to Red Snapper distribution compared with that of natural habitats.We estimated that for the youngest ageclasses, catch rates were approximately 20 times higher on artificial structures than on natural reefs. Despite the high catch rates observed on artificial structures, they represent only a small fraction of the total area in the northern GOM; thus, we estimated that they held less than 14%of Red Snapper abundance. Because artificial structures—particularly petroleum platforms—attract mostly the youngest individuals, their contribution was even lower in terms of total population biomass (7.8%) or spawning potential (6.4%). Our estimates of Red Snapper relative abundance, biomass, and spawning potential can be used to design spatial management strategies or as inputs to spatial modeling techniques.
First Page
50
Last Page
67
DOI
10.1080/19425120.2016.1255684
Publication Date
2017
Department
Marine and Environmental Sciences
Recommended Citation
Recommended Publisher Citation: Karnauskas, M., Walter III, J. F., Campbell, M. D., Pollack, A. G., Drymon, J. M., & Powers, S. (2017). Red snapper distribution on natural habitats and artificial structures in the northern Gulf of Mexico. Marine and Coastal Fisheries, 9(1), 50-67.https://doi.org/10.1080/19425120.2016.1255684
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Comments
This article was published in the journal of Marine and Coastal Fisheries: Dynamics, Management, and Ecosystem Science by Taylor and Francis Online on behalf of the American Fisheries Society.
A link to the online published version can be found here:
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/19425120.2016.1255684
This article is made available under the terms of a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International license [CC BY 4.0], which permits use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium provided the original work is properly cited.
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