Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission SheepsheadFISHERIES PROFILE October 2006 Pub No. SJ 143 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 Janice A. Lansing, Acting 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 SHEEPSHEAD FISHERY OF THE GULF OF MEXICO, UNITED STATES: A Fisheries Profile by the Sheepshead Technical Task Force edited by Steven J. VanderKooy Interjurisdictional Fisheries Program Coordinator published by the GULF STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION P.O. Box 726 Ocean Springs, Mississippi 39566-0726 October 2006 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 subagencies. GULF STATES MARINE FISHERIES COMMISSION Interjurisdictional Fisheries Management Program Sheepshead Technical Task Force Dr. Chuck Adams - Chair Mr. Perry Trial Florida Sea Grant Extension Texas Parks & Wildlife Department University of Florida 6300 Ocean Drive, unit 5845 P.O. Box 110240 Corpus Christi, TX 78412-5845 Gainesville, FL 32611-0240 Mr. Jeff Mayne Ms. Jessica McCawley Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission P.O. Box 98000 Box MF/MFM Baton Rouge, LA 70898-9000 620 South Meridian Street Tallahassee, FL 32399 Mr. Paul Cook Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Mr. John Mareska 2415 Darnall Road Alabama Department of Conservation & Natural New Iberia, LA 70560 Resources/Marine Resources Division P.O. Box 189 Mr. Mike Brackin Dauphin Island, AL 36528 12309 Windward Drive Gulfport, MS 39503 Mr. Erick Porche Mississippi Department of Marine Resources Mr. Harlon Pearce 1141 Bayview Avenue P.O. Box 486 Suite 101 Kenner, LA 70063 Biloxi, MS 39530 Dr. Michael Jepson Mr. Jason Adriance 720 NW 14th Ave. Louisiana Department of Wildlife & Fisheries Gainesville, FL 32601 P.O. Box 37 Grand Isle, LA 70358 Staff Larry B. Simpson Executive Director Steven J. VanderKooy Teri L. Freitas IJF Program Coordinator IJF Staff Assistant ii Acknowledgments The Sheepshead TTF would like to offer special thanks to Ms. Cindy Yocom for her technical assistance and patience and to Ms. Sandy Shanks for her technical assistance with the format and layout of the final draft. Both Ms. Yocom and Ms. Shanks served as IJF Staff Assistant during a portion of the development process. Appreciation also goes to the Commission staff member Ms. Gayle Jones and her husband Mr. Steve Jones for designing and creating the cover artwork for this publication. Thanks to the numerous state agency staff members who helped to generate the data for this profile without complaint. Finally thanks to Dr. Chuck Adams, TTF Chairman, for keeping our meetings on target, on topic, and on time. 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 GSMFC 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 GSMFC 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 GSMFC. 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 GSMFC’s activities to develop and maintain regional fishery management plans for important Gulf species. The Sheepshead Profile 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 profile 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 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, identification is by individual anglers and are excluded from the values in this profile. The state of Mississippi has indicated that the reported recreational landings for several near-shore, estuarine species in the Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistics Survey (MRFSS) are under represented due to a sampling anomaly which reports some fish caught in “state waters” as caught in the “exclusive economic zone.” The problem was addressed and corrected for the 2000 and later MRFSS data. iv Abbreviations and Symbols ADCNR/MRD Alabama Department of Conservation Natural Resources/Marine Resources Division BRD bycatch reduction device EC degrees Celsius DO dissolved oxygen DMS Data Management Subcommittee EEZ exclusive economic zone EFH essential fish habitat FWC/FMRI Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission/Florida Marine Research Institute FMP fishery management plan ft feet g gram GSI gonadal somatic index GMFMC Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council GSMFC 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 MFCMA Magnuson Fishery Conservation and Management Act m meter mm millimeters min(s) minute(s) MDMR Mississippi Department of Marine Resources MRFSS Marine Recreational Fisheries Statistical Survey mt metric ton NMFS National Marine Fisheries Service NL notocord length n number 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 SFFMC 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 USEPA United States Environmental Protection Agency USDOC United States Department of Commerce USFWS United States Fish and Wildlife