Management Profile for Gulf of Mexico Cobia Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission March 2019 Pub Number 287 Commissioners and Proxies ALABAMA Senator R.L. “Bret” Allain, II Chris Blankenship 600 Main Street, Suite 1 Alabama Department of Conservation Franklin, LA 70538 and Natural Resources 64 North Union Street John Roussel Montgomery, AL 36130-1901 1221 Plains Port Hudson Road Proxy: Zachary, LA 70791 Scott Bannon, Director ADCNR, Marine Resources Division MISSISSIPPI P.O. Box 189 Joe Spraggins, Executive Director Dauphin Island, AL 36528 Mississippi Department of Marine Resources 1141 Bayview Avenue Representative Steve McMillan Biloxi, MS 39530 P.O. Box 337 Bay Minette, AL 36507 Read Hendon USM/Gulf Coast Research Lab Chris Nelson 703 East Beach Drive Bon Secour Fisheries, Inc. Ocean Springs, MS 39564 P.O. Box 60 Bon Secour, AL 36511 TEXAS Carter Smith, Executive Director FLORIDA Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Eric Sutton 4200 Smith School Road FL Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Austin, TX 78744 620 South Meridian Street Proxy: Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600 Robin Riechers/Lance Robinson Proxy: Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Dan Ellinor 4200 Smith School Road FL Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission Austin, TX 78744 620 South Meridian Box 4B2 Tallahassee, FL 32399-1600 Troy Bello Williamson, II P.O. 967 Representative Jay Trumbull Corpus Christi, TX 78403 317 House Office Building 402 South Monroe Street Tallahassee, FL 32399-1100 LOUISIANA Jack Montoucet, Secretary Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries P.O. Box 98000 Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 Proxy: Patrick Banks Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Fisheries P.O. Box 98000 Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 Management Profile for Gulf of Mexico Cobia by the Cobia Technical Task Force edited by Steven J. VanderKooy and Jeffrey M. Rester published by the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission 2404 Government St. Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39564 March 2019 Publication Number 287 A publication of the Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission pursuant to National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Award Number NA10NMF4070006 and FNA15NMF4070076. This publication 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. iii Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission Interjurisdictional Fisheries Management Program Cobia Technical Task Force Hannah Hart Charles M. Adams Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission Florida Sea Grant College Program P.O. Box 2683 P.O. Box 110240 Titusville, FL 32796 Gainesville, FL 32611 John Mareska Jim Franks Alabama Department of Conservation GCRL and Natural Resources/Marine Resources Division 703 East Beach Drive P.O. Box 189 Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Dauphin Island, AL 36528 Bob Zales, II John Anderson P.O. Box 4335 University of Southern Mississippi Panama City, FL 32401 Gulf Coast Research Lab 703 East Beach Drive Chris Kalinowsky Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Georgia Department of Natural Resources One Conservation Way Ryan Easton Brunswick, GA 31520-8686 Texas Parks and Wildlife Department Coastal Fisheries Division Maxwell Westendorf P.O. Box 688 Alabama Department of Conservation 418 S. 16th Street and Natural Resources/Marine Resources Division Port O’Connor, TX 77982 P.O. Drawer 458 Gulf Shores, AL 36547 John Pituch Louisiana Dept. of Wildlife and Robin Overstreet Fisheries University of Southern Mississippi 2021 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 407 Gulf Coast Research Lab New Orleans, LA 70122 703 East Beach Drive Ocean Springs, MS 39564 Patrick Carron Mississippi Department of Marine Resources 1141 Bayview Avenue Biloxi, MS 39530 Commission Staff David M. Donaldson Debora K. McIntyre Executive Director IJF Staff Assistant Steven J. VanderKooy Jeffrey M. Rester IJF Program Coordinator Task Force Specialist iv Acknowledgments The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) would like to thank the members of the Cobia Technical Task Force (TTF) for their many hours of work and dedication in developing the Management Profile for Gulf of Mexico Cobia. The Commission also thanks members of the Law Enforcement Committee, as well as, Ms. Krista Shipley (FWC) and Dr. Ava Lasseter (GMFMC) for taking the time to review, critique, and provide guidance based on their various areas of expertise. The TTF gratefully acknowledges the assistance in collection and assimilation of fishery-dependent and independent data provided by the various state agencies as well as the commercial and recreational data provided by the NOAA Office of Science and Technology and the NOAA Southeast Fisheries Science Center. The Cobia TTF would not be able to complete the profile without the support of the various academic libraries and library staff across the five Gulf states and the libraries of our federal partners. We would especially like to thank Ms. Joyce Shaw and Ms. Maryanne Anthony at the Gulf Coast Research Laboratory’s Gunter Library in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Finally, TTF members would like to express their appreciation to Ms. Debora K. McIntyre (Commission) for her support and editorial reviews of the draft profile and Ms. Lucia Hourihan for her extensive final review of the completed document. v Preface The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission (Commission) 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 Commission 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 Commission 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 profiles and plans for important Gulf species. The Management Profile for Gulf of Mexico Cobia 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 his/her expertise to discussions that resulted in revisions and led to the final draft of the profile. The Commission made all necessary arrangements for task force workshops. Under contract with the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Commission 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. Recreational landings in this document are Type-A and Type-B1 and actually represent total harvest, as designated by the NMFS. Type-A catch are fish that are brought back to the dock in a form that can be identified by trained interviewers and Type-B1 catch are fish that are used for bait, released dead, or filleted – i.e., they are killed, but identification is by individual anglers. Type-B2 catch are fish that are released alive – again, identifications are by individual anglers and are excluded from the values in this profile. vi Abbreviations and Symbols ADCNR/MRD Alabama Department of Conservation Natural Resources/Marine Resources Division B Billions BRD Bycatch Reduction Device ̊C degrees Celsius DO Dissolved Oxygen DMS Data Management Subcommittee EEZ Exclusive Economic Zone EFH Essential Fish Habitat FWC/FMRI/FWRI Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/Florida Marine Research Institute/Florida Fish and Wildlife Research Institute FMP Fishery Management Plan ft feet g gram GSI Gonadal Somatic Index C Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission hr(s) hour(s) ha hectare IJF interjurisdictional fisheries kg kilogram km kilometer lbs pounds LDWF Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries m meter M Millions mm millimeters min(s) minute(s) MDMR Mississippi Department of Marine Resources MRFSS/MRIP Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistical Survey/Marine Recreational Information Program mt metric ton n number NL Notocord Length NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service ppm parts per million ‰ parts per thousand PPI producer price index SAT Stock Assessment Team SD Standard Deviation SE Standard Error sec(s) second(s) SL Standard Length S-FFMC State-Federal Fisheries Management Committee SPR Spawning Potential Ratio TCC Technical Coordinating Committee TED Turtle Exclusion Device TL Total Length TPWD Texas Parks and Wildlife Department TTF Technical Task Force TTS Texas Territorial Sea TW Total Weight YOY Young-of-the-Year yr(s) year(s) vii Table of Contents Page Title Page ..................................................................................................................................................................iii