Gulf Council Research and Monitoring Priorities 2015 - 2019

The science that informs fishery management is incredibly complicated, and the management decisions that are made using that science can be controversial. While the members of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council are knowledgeable about specific aspects of the harvest, conservation, or business of Gulf fisheries, they’re not always scientists - but they don’t have to be. The Council relies on the Southeast Fisheries Science Center to assess fish stocks and provide them with the science necessary to make informed management decisions.

FWRI deploys a video array

Every five years the National Marine Fisheries Service asks the regional fishery management Councils for a “wish-list’ identifying their fishery monitoring and research priorities. The Southeast Fisheries Science Center, which is responsible for the Gulf, Caribbean, and South Atlantic Councils, incorporates the priorities of each Council into its own research plan.

Below you’ll find a summary of the Gulf Council’s highest priority items for 2015 - 2019.  The full document provides a much more comprehensive list of research and monitoring priorities.

The research and monitoring priorities are broken into three categories. The first one focuses on broad, multi-purpose research programs that aim to collect data for a variety of species over a long period of time. The Council has asked for enhanced:

Size data is collected for tag and recapture study

Fisheries-Independent Sampling

Specifically, more video and trawl surveys should be conducted in the eastern Gulf. Vertical, bottom long-line, visual, and larval studies should be conducted to better understand the abundance of various sizes and ages of fish. This will help determine the number of young fish that could become reproductive and harvestable adults.

Fisheries-dependent sampling

Existing recreational and commercial data collection programs should continue to achieve better coverage to collect data on abundance, size and species of fish landed. Electronic data collection systems should be developed for the charter for-hire vessels to improve timeliness and accuracy of reporting.

Social and economic monitoring

A study of human attitudes, behavior, and reliance on marine fisheries should be developed to monitor changes in communities over time, particularly due to changes in recreational and 

commercial fishing regulations.

Hooks ready for longline survey

Estimations of bycatch and discards

Observer coverage and data collection on bycatch from commercial shrimp trawlers, longliners, and vertical line fisheries should be enhanced. Continued development of technologies including cameras, phones, and tablets should be utilized to collect estimations of total discards and discard mortality rates in all sectors.

The next category of research priorities is based on individual species managed by the Gulf Council. The recommendations in this section are based on gaps in data that were identified in recent stock assessments and through the development of management plans. The highest priority items focus on species that are currently in rebuilding plans - research priorities for numerous other species are included in the full document.

Diver performs visual survey

      Red snapper – More efforts should be directed toward determining the effects of the oil spill; the influence of artificial reef structures on the population and spatial distribution across the Gulf; and the ecological effects of population expansion specifically, as it relates to interactions with other species.

Greater amberjack – More age and growth studies should be performed to determine size at age, and work should continue to verify the size of females at reproductive maturity.

Gray triggerfish – Additional studies on the aging, catchability of dominate males during the spawning season, and movement of triggerfish should be conducted.


Next, the Council focuses on economic and socio-cultural research and monitoring needs. Future fishery management challenges will increasingly pertain to the social environment, so a better understanding of the human dimension of fisheries is necessary.

1. Effects of proposed management changes on recreational and commercial fishingEvaluations of the economic benefits, participation rates, and behavior of all modes of recreational and commercial fishing should be performed to enhance understanding of the social implications of management changes including size limits, bag limits, quotas, seasons, and marine reserves.

2. Development of regional economic modelsData should be gathered and tools should be developed to assess the regional economic effects of regulations or environmental events such as hurricanes and red tides.

The role of the Gulf Council in the research and monitoring side of fisheries management is often confused. The Council isn’t responsible for collecting or interpreting fisheries data, nor does the Council assess the health and size of fish stocks. Rather, the National Marine Fisheries Service and the Southeast Fisheries Science Center perform and report the science to the Gulf Council for use in management decisions. The Council simply takes an advisory role in directing the scientists on where to focus their research. As you can see, the Gulf Council has identified some very important research and monitoring needs that will help ensure the science fits the needs of the decision makers to better inform fisheries management decisions.

How Hard Can it Really be to Count Fish? - Fisheries Independent Data Collection

It’s simply impossible to accurately count each individual fish swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, but not for lack of desire. The size, depth, and diversity of the Gulf makes accounting for every single fish unmanageable using current technology.

The first article in this series, “How Hard Can it Really be to Count Fish?” describes how scientists use fisheries-dependent data collection to monitor fish populations by tracking harvest and fishing effort. While fisheries-dependent information is important for management and plays a role in stock assessments, it has its limitations. To use an analogy: you can’t estimate the amount of water in a well by simply looking in the bucket. Likewise, you can’t assess a fish stock by simply looking at what is being caught - you have to study the fish directly.

Fisheries-independent data collection does just that. State, federal, and university-based fisheries scientists directly sample fish populations in a variety of ways to collect information about the life history and abundance of each species.

Life history studies focus on the biology of a fish. The way a species survives and reproduces plays a major role in its ability to sustain a healthy population. Fisheries scientists use the following techniques to study the life history of fishes in the Gulf of Mexico:

Photo: Amy Piko

Otolith Analysis - An otolith is a bone found in the fish’s ear. Much like counting the rings of a tree trunk, the age of a fish can be determined by counting the rings on an otolith. This information, paired with information about the length of a fish, is used to determine the growth rates of fish and estimate the percent of fish at each age in a stock.

Photo: Karen Burns

Gonad Analysis - Gonads, or the reproductive organs of a fish, can be analyzed to determine the potential for spawning success. Reproductive information collected from gonads includes the age at

which a fish first spawns, the male to female ratio within a population, and the number of eggs produced by a female each year.

Photo: Emily Muelstein

Capture and Release - A couple different techniques are used to study the death rates, growth rates,

and movement of fish. Scientists catch fish, tag them, and ask anglers who recapture them to report information about location and size of the fish.

To determine whether a fish survives release they are either fitted with acoustic tags that monitor movement, or they are placed in underwater cages and revisited after a few days time.

In addition to life history information, fisheries-independent studies collect information on how many fish are in an area. The techniques used to study abundance all measure the amount of fish caught per unit of effort. When compared year after year, these studies can show trends in population size and location.

Photo: NOAA

Trawl Surveys - Researchers pull large nets behind a research vessel and observers are sometimes placed aboard shrimp vessels to monitor bycatch. These survey techniques are used mostly to estimate the amount of juvenile fish of a particular species that can potentially grow large enough for harvest (often red snapper).

Photo: FWRI

Traps - Baited fish traps are placed in different types of habitat (artificial structures, natural reefs, and sand bottom, among others) to compare which species are present at each type of location.

Photo: NOAA

Direct Observation- SCUBA Divers survey different areas and count fish.

Photo: FWRI

Video Surveys - Video cameras are placed in different habitats to record and measure the amount of

fish in the area, and to gather information about fish size.

Photo: Emily Muelstein

Hook and Line - Scientists also collect information about fish by fishing with standardized gear and sometimes using electric reels. This is an effective way to collect samples around structures that would interfere with nets and other types of sampling gear.

Photo: Kathy Hoak

Longlines - A longline is a very long fishing line with multiple hooks branching off the main line.

Longlines can be miles long and rigged with hundreds of hooks at a time. Longlines that fish vertically can be used around structure, but lines fished at the surface or along the bottom are intentionally set to avoid it.

Photo: NOAA

Plankton Tows - Bongo nets are used to collect small organisms drifting in the water. Tiny fish found in the plankton samples can indicate the number of young born each year, and scientists can estimate their potential to grow into adults that can later be harvested.

Fisheries science is so complex because the subject it studies is vast, difficult to access, and exists in an ever-changing environment. The wide variety of fisheries-independent and fisheries-dependent studies performed in the Gulf of Mexico provide us with snapshots of different aspects of the fishery. The conclusions drawn from each individual study have value on their own, but assessing a stock throughout the entire Gulf requires a combination of all of these studies in order to formulate a comprehensive understanding of what’s going on.

The final installment of “How Hard Can it Really be to Count Fish?”

will describe how scientists combine the conclusions drawn from individual studies for use in a Stock Assessment, which gives fisheries managers the information they need on a stock’s status so they can make management decisions.