S E D A R Southeast Data, Assessment, and Review ============================================= SEDAR 15 Stock Assessment Report 2 (SAR 2) South Atlantic Greater Amberjack February 2008 SEDAR is a Cooperative Initiative of: The Caribbean Fishery Management Council The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council NOAA Fisheries Southeast Regional Office NOAA Fisheries Southeast Fisheries Science Center The Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission The Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission SEDAR Offices The South Atlantic Fishery Management Council 4055 Faber Place #201 North Charleston, SC 29405 (843) 571-4366 Table of Contents South Atlantic Greater Amberjack Stock Assessment Report 2 South Atlantic Greater Amberjack Table of Contents Section I Introduction Section II Data Workshop Report Section III Assessment Workshop Report Section IV Review Workshop Report Section V Addenda and Post-Review Updates i Table of Contents South Atlantic Greater Amberjack ii Introduction South Atlantic Greater Amberjack Section I. Introduction Contents 1. SEDAR Overview ………………………………………………………. 3 2. Assessment History ……………………………………………….…….. 4 3. Management Review ……………………………………...…………….. 5 4. Southeast Region Maps …………………………………………………. 11 5. Summary Report ...………………………………………………………. 14 6. Stock Assessment Improvement (SAIP) Form .…………………………. 21 7. SEDAR Abbreviations ………………..………………………………… 22 SEDAR 15 SAR 2 SECTION I 1 Introduction South Atlantic Greater Amberjack SEDAR 15 SAR 2 SECTION I 2 Introduction South Atlantic Greater Amberjack 1. SEDAR Overview SEDAR (Southeast Data, Assessment and Review) was initially developed by the Southeast Fisheries Science Center and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council to improve the quality and reliability of stock assessments and to ensure a robust and independent peer review of stock assessment products. SEDAR was expanded in 2003 to address the assessment needs of all three Fishery Management Council in the Southeast Region (South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean) and to provide a platform for reviewing assessments developed through the Atlantic and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commissions and state agencies within the southeast. SEDAR strives to improve the quality of assessment advice provided for managing fisheries resources in the Southeast US by increasing and expanding participation in the assessment process, ensuring the assessment process is transparent and open, and providing a robust and independent review of assessment products. SEDAR is overseen by a Steering Committee composed of NOAA Fisheries representatives: Southeast Fisheries Science Center Director and the Southeast Regional Administrator; Regional Council representatives: the Executive Directors and Chairs of the South Atlantic, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Fishery Management Councils; and Interstate Commissions: the Executive Directors of the Atlantic States and Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commissions. SEDAR is organized around three workshops. First is the Data Workshop, during which fisheries, monitoring, and life history data are reviewed and compiled. Second is the Assessment workshop, during which assessment models are developed and population parameters are estimated using the information provided from the Data Workshop. Third and final is the Review Workshop, during which independent experts review the input data, assessment methods, and assessment products. SEDAR workshops are organized by SEDAR staff and the lead Council. Data and Assessment Workshops are chaired by the SEDAR coordinator. Participants are drawn from state and federal agencies, non-government organizations, Council members, Council advisors, and the fishing industry with a goal of including a broad range of disciplines and perspectives. All participants are expected to contribute to the process by preparing working papers, contributing, providing assessment analyses, and completing the workshop report. SEDAR Review Workshop Panels consist of a chair, a reviewer appointed by the Council, and 3 reviewers appointed by the Center for Independent Experts (CIE), an independent organization that provides independent, expert reviews of stock assessments and related work. The Review Workshop Chair is appointed by the SEFSC director and is usually selected from a NOAA Fisheries regional science center. Participating councils may appoint representatives of their SSC, Advisory, and other panels as observers to the review workshop. SEDAR 15 was charged with assessing red snapper and greater amberjack in the US South Atlantic. This task was accomplished through workshops held between June 2007 and January 2008. SEDAR 15 SAR 2 SECTION I 3 Introduction South Atlantic Greater Amberjack 2. Assessment History In the early 1990s, a series of unnumbered reports were prepared by the SAFMC Plan Development Team (1990) and later by the Beaufort Reeffish Team (1991, 1992, 1993), in which ―snapshot‖ analyses were conducted for a list of snapper-grouper species, including greater amberjack. These analyses included the estimation of SPR (spawning potential ratio) based on a single year of data, and were intended to highlight species for future assessments. SPR was also estimated in this manner in the report by Potts and Brennan (1998). However, the only assessment conducted on this stock of greater amberjack was by Legault and Turner [Evaluations of the Atlantic Greater Amberjack, Seriola dumerili, Stock Status, July 1999, Sustainable Fisheries Division Contribution SFD-98/99-63]. Estimates of SPR found in the report by Potts and Brennan (2001) are from this assessment report. In 1999, alternative stock assessment methods (Delury depletion and ASPIC models) were applied to greater amberjack data from the Florida Atlantic coast (Nassau County to Miami) by the FL FWCC. Summary from Legault and Turner: Stock assessments and projections of acceptable biological catches for Atlantic greater amberjack were conducted over a wide range of biological parameters due to insufficient knowledge about the true values. This approach is a different from previous assessments, which used only one estimate for stock assessment and did not compute maximum sustainable yields. Given the current limited knowledge of greater amberjack biology, and the fishery catches, in the Atlantic Ocean, the resulting ranges of possible stock status and future yields are large. If improvements in the understanding of greater amberjack biology and fishery statistics can be made, these wide ranges will narrow. The stock assessments for Atlantic greater amberjack consisted of tuned virtual population analysis. The catch at age data used in the assessment are provided in Cummings (1999) and the tuning indices used are described in Cummings et al. (1999). A number of assessments were conducted using different indices, values for the natural mortality rate, and maturity ogives. Fecundity at age was set as the product of weight and maturity at age. A Monte Carlo/bootstrap approach was used to examine uncertainty within each assessment. The default control rule was used to evaluate the current stock status for each assessment. Each assessment was projected into the future to estimate acceptable biological catches (ABC) under two alternative fishing mortality rates which might be considered as proxies for FMSY : (1) F40%SPR , the fishing mortality rate which generates a 40% static spawning potential ratio, and (2) F0.1. Risk associated with selecting different ABC levels was examined across all combinations of assessments and projections. SEDAR 15 SAR 2 SECTION I 4 Introduction South Atlantic Greater Amberjack 3. Management Review Table 1. General Management Information Species Greater Amberjack (Seriola dumerili) Management Unit Southeastern US Management Unit Definition All waters within South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Boundaries Management Entity South Atlantic Fishery Management Council Management Contacts Jack McGovern/Rick DeVictor SERO / Council Current stock exploitation status Not overfishing Current stock biomass status Not overfished Table 2a. Specific Management Criteria Criteria Current Proposed Definition Value Definition Value MSST [(1-M) or 0.5 Not specified MSST = [(1- UNK (SEDAR 15) whichever is M) or 0.5 greater]*BMSY whichever is greater]*BMSY MFMT F30%SPR=FMSY Not specified FMSY UNK (SEDAR 15) MSY Yield at FMSY * Yield at FMSY UNK (SEDAR 15) FMSY F30%SPR Not specified FMSY UNK (SEDAR 15) OY Yield at FOY * Yield at FOY UNK (SEDAR 15) FOY F40%SPR * FOY =65%, UNK (SEDAR 15) 75%, 85%FMSY M n/a * SEDAR 10 UNK (SEDAR 15) *The 1998 assessment (Legault and Turner 1999) provided a range of values for M, FMSY, and MSY using FMSY proxies = F40% SPR and F0.1. See table 2b for the values. SEDAR 15 SAR 2 SECTION I 5 Introduction South Atlantic Greater Amberjack Table 2b. Maximum sustainable yield medians and inner 50% from 400 Monte Carlo/bootstrap runs of 18 combinations of tuning indices used, M, FMSY proxy, and maturity schedule (Legault and Turner 1999). MSY (million pounds) # Indices M FMSY Maturity Median Inner 50% Range Proxy Schedule one 0.2 F40%SPR Early 12.50 10.48 - 15.38 one 0.2 F40%SPR Late 11.51 9.65 - 14.14 one 0.2 F0.1 N/A 10.67 8.95 - 13.12 one 0.25 F40%SPR Early 15.54 12.61 - 18.98 one 0.25 F40%SPR Late 14.07 11.42 - 17.18 one 0.25 F0.1 N/A 12.48 10.14 - 15.24 one 0.3 F40%SPR Early 19.53 15.78 - 23.95 one 0.3 F40%SPR Late 17.42 14.08 - 21.36 one 0.3 F0.1 N/A 14.70 11.90 - 18.02 four 0.2 F40%SPR Early 4.43 4.13 - 4.78 four 0.2 F40%SPR