Black grouper, Gag grouper, Red grouper, Snowy grouper, Yellowedge grouper, Warsaw grouper Mycteroperca bonaci, Mycteroperca microlepis, Epinephelus morio, Epinephelus niveatus, Epinephelus flavolimbatus, Epinephelus nigritus Image © Diane Rome Peebles United States Bottom longline, Handline May 22, 2014 (original report) Updated June 30, 2016 and March 22, 2017 (Gag South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico ONLY) Lisa Max, Seafood Watch staff Disclaimer: Seafood Watch® strives to have all Seafood Reports reviewed for accuracy and completeness by external scientists with expertise in ecology, fisheries science and aquaculture. Scientific review, however, does not constitute an endorsement of the Seafood Watch® program or its recommendations on the part of the reviewing scientists. Seafood Watch® is solely responsible for the conclusions reached in this report. Table of Contents About Seafood Watch® ................................................................................................................................. 3 Guiding Principles ......................................................................................................................................... 4 Executive Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 6 Introduction ................................................................................................................................................ 10 Assessment ................................................................................................................................................. 17 Criterion 1: Impacts on the Species Under Assessment .......................................................................................... 17 Criterion 2: Impacts on other retained and bycatch stocks .................................................................................... 40 Criterion 3: Management effectiveness .................................................................................................................. 88 Criterion 4: Impacts on the Habitat and Ecosystem .............................................................................................. 108 Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................... 115 References ................................................................................................................................................ 116 2 About Seafood Watch® The Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch® program evaluates the ecological sustainability of wild-caught and farmed seafood commonly found in the North American marketplace. Seafood Watch defines sustainable seafood as originating from sources, whether wild-caught or farmed, which can maintain or increase production in the long-term without jeopardizing the structure or function of affected ecosystems. The program’s mission is to engage and empower consumers and businesses to purchase environmentally responsible seafood fished or farmed in ways that minimize their impact on the environment or are in a credible improvement project with the same goal. Each sustainability recommendation is supported by a seafood report. Each report synthesizes and analyzes the most current ecological, fisheries and ecosystem science on a species, then evaluates this information against the program’s sustainability criteria to arrive at a recommendation of “Best Choice,” “Good Alternative,” or “Avoid.” In producing the seafood reports, Seafood Watch utilizes research published in academic, peer reviewed journals whenever possible. Other sources of information include government technical publications, fishery management plans and supporting documents, and other scientific reviews of ecological sustainability. Seafood Watch research analysts also communicate with ecologists, fisheries and aquaculture scientists, and members of industry and conservation organizations, when evaluating fisheries and aquaculture practices. Capture fisheries and aquaculture practices are highly dynamic; as the scientific information on each species changes, Seafood Watch’s sustainability recommendations and the underlying seafood reports will be updated to reflect these changes. Both the detailed evaluation methodology and the scientific reports are available on seafoodwatch.org. For more information about Seafood Watch and seafood reports, please contact the Seafood Watch program at Monterey Bay Aquarium by calling 1-877-229-9990 or visit online at seafoodwatch.org. 3 Guiding Principles Seafood Watch® defines sustainable seafood as originating from sources, whether fished1 or farmed, that can maintain or increase production in the long-term without jeopardizing the structure or function of affected ecosystems. The following guiding principles illustrate the qualities that capture fisheries must possess to be considered sustainable by the Seafood Watch program: Stocks are healthy and abundant. Fishing mortality does not threaten populations or impede the ecological role of any marine life. The fishery minimizes bycatch. The fishery is managed to sustain long-term productivity of all impacted species. The fishery is conducted such that impacts on the seafloor are minimized and the ecological and functional roles of seafloor habitats are maintained. Fishing activities should not seriously reduce ecosystem services provided by any fished species or result in harmful changes such as trophic cascades, phase shifts, or reduction of genetic diversity. Based on these guiding principles, Seafood Watch has developed a set of four sustainability criteria to evaluate capture fisheries for the purpose of developing a seafood recommendation for consumers and businesses. These criteria are: 1. Impacts on the species under assessment 2. Impacts on other species 3. Effectiveness of management 4. Habitat and ecosystem impacts Each criterion includes: Factors to evaluate and score Evaluation guidelines to synthesize these factors and to produce a numerical score A resulting numerical score and rating for that criterion Once a score and rating has been assigned to each criterion, an overall seafood recommendation is developed on additional evaluation guidelines. Criteria ratings and the overall recommendation are color-coded to correspond to the categories on the Seafood Watch pocket guide: 1 “Fish” is used throughout this document to refer to finfish, shellfish and other invertebrates. 4 Best Choice/Green: Are well managed and caught or farmed in ways that cause little harm to habitats or other wildlife. Good Alternative/Yellow: Buy, but be aware there are concerns with how they’re caught or farmed. Avoid/Red: Take a pass on these for now. These items are overfished or caught or farmed in ways that harm other marine life or the environment. 5 Executive Summary This report provides analyses and recommendations for six grouper species fished in the reef fish fishery in the US Gulf of Mexico and the snapper-grouper fishery in the US South Atlantic. These species include three shallow water groupers: gag (Mycteroperca microlepis), red grouper (Epinephelus morio) and black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci) (found at shallower depths than the other shallow water groupers), and three deep water groupers: snowy grouper (Epinephelus niveatus), yellowedge grouper (Epinephelus flavolimbatus), and Warsaw grouper (Epinephelus nigritus). For these species, US stocks are divided into the US Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic stocks, except for black grouper, which is considered to be one stock across both regions. In both regions, groupers are fished with vertical gear (handline or bandit, also considered as handline) and bottom longline gear, with some caught using rod and reel. Across both regions, the majority of US commercially caught grouper is landed from the Gulf of Mexico, with 3511 metric tons (MT) or 92% coming from the Gulf in 2012, and 296 MT or 8% coming from the South Atlantic region that year. Of the grouper landed commercially in the US, the overwhelming majority (72%) is red grouper from the Gulf, with 2727 MT landed in 2012. Groupers have a low resiliency to fishing pressure, with all the species assessed in this report (except gag) listed on International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN)’s list of threatened species: Warsaw grouper (critically endangered) yellowedge grouper (vulnerable), snowy grouper (vulnerable), black grouper (near threatened) and red grouper (near threatened). The species addressed here are long lived, having maximum ages between 29 (red grouper) and 85 (yellowedge grouper) years. Stock assessments, regularly conducted by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council (GMFMC) and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council (SAFMC) for their respective stocks, in conjunction with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) as part of the Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review (SEDAR) process, indicate that some of these species are overfished (snowy grouper in the South Atlantic and possibly gag in the Gulf of Mexico) and/or experiencing overfishing (Warsaw grouper in the South Atlantic). Several species are in the midst of rebuilding plans as part of their management (red and snowy groupers in the South Atlantic). Red grouper in the Gulf of Mexico is the one species that has been successfully rebuilt in either region. Warsaw grouper harvest or possession is banned in