53380
Improving the Historical Baseline of the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Fishery
Red Snapper History Project
Project
Published / External
26593
Fisheries Biology and Ecology
Project
Completed
In the late 1800s and early 1900s a fishery for Red Snapper developed rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly thereafter, recreational fishing for Red Snapper became popular wherever access was afforded to offshore waters. These developments occurred decades prior to organized collection of fishing and landings records. However, due to increasing library digital archiving, previous information regarding historical fishing conditions, landings, and size composition was available from formerly difficult to obtain reports, interviews, and particularly newspaper articles. Thirty-two newspapers from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico region were searched providing landings from 3157 fishing trips (93% commercial, 7% recreational) from the years 1874 to 1986. These records document increasing landings of Red Snapper early in the fishery with peak landings-per-trip occurring from circa 1900 to 1915 for U.S. coastal trips and from circa 1910 to 1930 for trips to Campeche Bay, Mexico. By the late 1920s to early 1930s there was evidence of fishery-impacts with reduced catches, decreased average size of Red Snapper and a shift to lower-valued species. Between the mid-1930s to 1950s, the Red Snapper commercial fishery expanded to the outer continental shelf waters off Louisiana and Texas in the northern Gulf of Mexico reaching the areal extent of the present day fishery. After World War II, technologies and exploratory surveys enabled continuing areal expansion and resulted in a period of increased landings from U.S. waters; most notably from the western Gulf of Mexico with peak landings occurring in 1971. Landings decreased through the 1970s and 1980s and reports of fishery concerns and commercial-recreational conflicts followed leading to the implementation of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan in 1984.
EXCEL files are provided in support of this project including historical landings of Red Snapper, historical Red Snappers sizes, and historical fishing vessel information including vessel name, vessel size, propulsion, builder, port, and owner-company.
Theme
Economic Data
Theme
Fishery
Theme
History
Theme
Lutjanus campechanus
Theme
Red Snapper
Theme
historical fishing vessel information
Theme
landings
Theme
port
Theme
sizes
Theme
vessels
Temporal
1874-1986
Spatial
Northern Gulf of Mexico
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
Miami
FL
USA
PARR Data Server
Set of User Specified Items
No
Landings
Other
Electronic
Co-Author
2018
Person
Porch, Clay
clay.porch@noaa.gov
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
305-361-4232
305-361-4562
Data Steward
2018
2019
Person
Fitzhugh, Gary R
gary.fitzhugh@noaa.gov
3500 Delwood Beach Road
Panama City
FL
32408
850-234-6541 x 214
850-235-3559
Distributor
2018
Organization
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
SEFSC
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
(305)361-5761
https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/about/southeast-fisheries-science-center
About SEFSC
Online Resource
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST
Metadata Contact
2018
2019
Person
Fitzhugh, Gary R
gary.fitzhugh@noaa.gov
3500 Delwood Beach Road
Panama City
FL
32408
850-234-6541 x 214
850-235-3559
Point of Contact
2018
Person
Porch, Clay
clay.porch@noaa.gov
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
305-361-4232
305-361-4562
EXCEL v2010 data files
56147
Data Set
Baseline of the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Fishery 1874-1986
gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:53380
Lee Weinberger
2018-08-22T11:31:07
Lee Weinberger
2024-03-28T15:40:28
2022-05-04
Southeast Fisheries Science Center
SEFSC
75 Virginia Beach Drive
Miami
FL
33149
USA
(305)361-5761
www.sefsc.noaa.gov
8:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. EST
1001
Public
No
2022-05-04
1 Year
2023-05-04