The Stri1Jecl Ba~s Fishery of the Gulf of Mexico, U 11ited States: A Regional Ma11agement Plan 2006 Revisio11 Gttlf States ~'larine Fisheries Commissio11 I\.Im·ch 2006 fliumber l Ji Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission Commissioners and Proxies ALABAMA Senator Butch Gautreaux Barnett Lawley, Commissioner 1015 Clothilde Avenue Alabama Department of Conservation Morgan City, LA 70380 and Natural Resources 64 North Union Street Mr. Wilson Gaidry Montgomery, AL 36130-1901 8911 Park Avenue Proxy: Houma, LA 70363 Vernon Minton, Director Alabama Marine Resources Division MISSISSIPPI P.O. Drawer 458 William Walker, Executive Director Gulf Shores, AL 36547 Mississippi Department of Marine Resources 1141 Bayview Avenue, Suite 101 Senator Gary G. Tanner Biloxi, MS 39530 5750 McDonald Road Proxy: Theodore, AL 36582 William S. “Corky” Perret Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Chris Nelson 1141 Bayview Avenue, Suite 101 Bon Secour Fisheries, Inc. Biloxi, MS 39530 P.O. Box 60 Bon Secour, AL 36511 Senator Tommy Gollott 235 Bay View Avenue FLORIDA Biloxi, MS 39530 Ken Haddad, Executive Director Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Mr. Joe Gill Jr. 620 South Meridian Street Joe Gill Consulting, LLC Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600 P.O. Box 535 Proxy: Ocean Springs, MS 39566-0535 Virginia Vail FWC Division of Marine Fisheries TEXAS 620 South Meridian Street Robert L. Cook, Executive Director Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department 4200 Smith School Road Senator Nancy Argenziano Austin, TX 78744 1120 North Suncoast Boulevard Proxy Crystal River, FL 34429 Mike Ray Coastal Fisheries Division Hayden R. Dempsey Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Greenberg Traurig, P.A. 4200 Smith School Road P.O. Box 1838 Austin, TX 78744 Tallahassee, FL 32302 Representative Gene Seaman LOUISIANA 222 Airline, Suite A9 Dwight Landreneau, Secretary Corpus Christi, TX 78414 Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries P.O. Box 98000 Mr. Ralph Rayburn Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 Associate Director Proxy: Texas Sea Grant College Program John Roussel 2700 Earl Rudder Freeway South, Suite 1800 Louisiana Department of Wildlife and College Station, TX 77845 Fisheries P.O. Box 98000 Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 THE STRIPED BASS FISHERY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO, UNITED STATES: A REGIONAL MANAGEMENT PLAN by the Striped Bass Technical Task Force edited by Douglas J. Frugé U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service published by the GULF STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION P.O. Box 726 Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39566-0726 March 2006 Publication Number 137 A publication of the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award Number NA05NMF4070005. This paper is funded by a grant from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The views expressed herein are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of NOAA or any of its sub agencies. GULF STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION Interjurisdictional Fisheries Management Program Striped Bass Technical Task Force Doug Frugé, Chairman John T. Jenkins U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Alabama Marine Resources Division Gulf Coast Fisheries Coordination Office P.O. Box 189 P.O. Box 825 Dauphin Island, AL 36528 Ocean Springs, MS 39566-0825 James M. Barkuloo Michael Bailey 2310 Ashland Road NOAA Fisheries Panama City, FL 32405 9721 Executive Center Drive, North St. Petersburg, FL 33702 Pete Cooper, Jr. Outdoor Writer John Mareska P.O. Box 172 Alabama Department of Conservation & Buras, LA 70041 Natural Resources/Marine Resources Division P.O. Box 189 Isaac Wirgin Dauphin Island, AL 36528 New York University School of Medicine 57 Old Forge Road Larry Nicholson Tuxedo, NY 10987 USM/CMS Gulf Coast Research Laboratory P.O. Box 7000 Robert Weller Ocean Springs, MS 39566-7000 Georgia Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Resources Division, Fishery Howard Rogillio Management Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries 2024 Newton Road P.O. Box 1190 Albany, GA 31701-6576 Lacombe, LA 70445 Eric Long Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission P.O. Box 59 Midway, FL 32343 GSMFC Staff Larry B. Simpson Executive Director Ronald R. Lukens Assistant Director Steven J. VanderKooy Cynthia B. Yocom IJF Program Coordinator IJF Staff Assistant ii Acknowledgments The Striped Bass Technical Task Force would like to acknowledge and thank all those who helped with the revision to the Striped Bass FMP. Special thanks go to Mr. Frank Parauka, Ms. Laura Jenkins, Dr. Jon Hemming, Dr. Mike Brim, and Ms. Gail Carmody of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service who provided reference materials, review, and general support for our efforts. The detail of information provided in this management plan would have been impossible without the efforts of the Gunter Library staff, Ms. Cathy Schloss, Ms. Marjorie Williams, and Ms. Joyce Shaw at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory in Ocean Springs, Mississippi, as well as Rosalie Shaffer at the NMFS Library. Additional biological data and information was provided by Dr. J. Allen Huff and Dr. Charles Mesing at the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. The striped bass gracing the cover of the FMP was provided by Mr. David Yeager, FWC’s Blackwater Fish Hatchery and painted by Kim and Ian Workman of Cudjoe Key, Florida. Ms. Cynthia Nix, USFWS, and Ms. Cynthia Yocom, GSMFC, provided many hours of wordsmithing, editing, and tedious minute taking to help move this FMP along and keep the TTF on course. Ms. Sandy Shanks contributed to the final layout and design as the IJF Staff Assistant in the last days to get the FMP printed and her help with PageMaker is greatly appreciated. Finally, special thanks to Mr. Pete Cooper, Jr., recreational representative on the TTF, for his continual workhorse attitude and sacrifice to edit this FMP in spite of his other writing and fishing commitments. Mr. Pete Cooper, Jr., near his former home in Buras, Louisiana, with a 7 lb 6 oz striped bass. iii Preface The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (GSMFC) was established by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Compact under Public Law 81-66 approved May 19, 1949. Its charge is to promote better management and utilization of marine resources in the Gulf of Mexico. The Commission is composed of three members from each of the five Gulf States. The head of the marine resource agency of each state is an ex officio member. The second is a member of the legislature. The third is a governor-appointed citizen with knowledge of or interest in marine fisheries. The offices of the chairman and vice chairmen are rotated annually from state to state. The Commission is empowered to recommend to the governor and legislature of the respective states action on programs helpful to the management of marine fisheries. The states, however, do not relinquish any of their rights or responsibilities to regulate their own fisheries as a result of being members of the Commission. One of the most important functions of the GSMFC is to serve as a forum for the discussion of various problems and needs of marine management authorities, the commercial and recreational industries, researchers, and others. The GSMFC also plays a key role in the implementation of the Interjurisdictional Fisheries (IJF) Act. Paramount to this role are the Commission's activities to develop and maintain regional fishery management plans for important Gulf species. The striped bass fishery management plan is a cooperative planning effort of the five Gulf States under the IJF Act. Members of the task force contributed by drafting individually- assigned sections. In addition, each member contributed their expertise to discussions that resulted in revisions and led to the final draft of the plan. The GSMFC made all necessary arrangements for task force workshops. Under contract with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the GSMFC funded travel for state agency representatives and consultants other than federal employees. Throughout this document, metric equivalents are used wherever possible with the exceptions of reported landings data and size limits which, by convention, are reported in English units. A glossary of fisheries terms pertinent to this FMP is provided in the appendix (Section 12.1). Recreational landings in this document are Type A and B1 and actually represent total harvest as designated by the NMFS. Type A catch is fish that are brought back to the dock in a form that can be identified by trained interviewers and type B1 catch is fish that are used for bait, released dead, or filleted (i.e., they are killed but identification is by individual anglers). Type B2 catch is fish that are released alive, identified by individual anglers, and is excluded from the values in this FMP. iv Abbreviations and Symbols ACF Apalachicola-Chattahoochee-Flint mt metric ton rivers system ADCNR/WFF Alabama Department of mtDNA mitochondrial deoxyribonucleic acid Conservation Natural Resources/Wildlife and Freshwater Fisheries ADCNR/MRD Alabama Department of n number Conservation Natural Resources/Marine Resources Division BRD bycatch reduction device nDNA nuclear deoxyribonucleic acid EC degrees Celsius NFH National Fish Hatchery DO dissolved oxygen NL notocord length DMS Data Management Subcommittee NM nautical mile DNA deoxyribonucleic acid NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service EEZ exclusive economic zone ppm parts per million EFH essential fish habitat ppt parts per thousand ESU evolutionary significant units FWC/FWRI Florida Fish and Wildlife PPI producer price index Conservation