56314 Document Published / External 56147 Baseline of the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Fishery 1874-1986 Data Set 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. Book Chapter in Book: Red Snapper Biology in a Changing World. CRC Press. Eds: S. Szedlemeyer and S. Bortone Szedlmayer, S.T., & Bortone, S.A. (2019). Red Snapper Biology in a Changing World (1st ed.). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351242776 eBook ISBN9781351242776 The chapter provided for download is a preliminary pre-publication version by author Fitzhugh, Gary R before his retirement from NOAA 10.1201/9781351242776 Theme World Register of Marine Species (WoRMS) Lutjanus campechanus Temporal Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Temporal Data Resolution Keywords Annual Spatial Global Change Master Directory (GCMD) Location Keywords OCEAN > ATLANTIC OCEAN > NORTH ATLANTIC OCEAN > GULF OF AMERICA Theme doi 10.1201/9781351242776 Theme Economic Data Theme Fishery Theme History Theme Red Snapper Theme historical fishing vessel information Theme landings Theme port Theme sizes Theme vessels Temporal 1874-1986 Spatial Campeche Spatial Gulf of Mexico Instrument handline Platform commercial boat Platform recreational boat Book chapter Acrobat Portable Document Format Final Author 2019 2019-06 Person Fitzhugh, Gary R gary.fitzhugh@noaa.gov 3500 Delwood Beach Road Panama City FL 32408 850-234-6541 x 214 850-235-3559 Co-Author 2019 Person Gardner, Chris L chris.gardner@noaa.gov 3500 Delwood Beach Road Panama City FL 32408 850-234-6541 x 262 850-235-3559 Co-Author 2019 Person Kline, Bill bill.kline@noaa.gov 3500 Delwood Beach Road Panama City FL 32408 850-234-6541 x 229 Co-Author 2019 Person Porch, Clay clay.porch@noaa.gov https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4571-060X 75 Virginia Beach Drive Miami FL 33149 USA 305-361-4232 305-361-4562 https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351242776 Access to Book via its DOI Online Resource Szedlmayer, S.T., & Bortone, S.A. (2019). Red Snapper Biology in a Changing World (1st ed.). CRC Press. https://doi.org/10.1201/9781351242776 gov.noaa.nmfs.inport:56314 Lee Weinberger 2019-05-19T10:09:59 SysAdmin InPortAdmin 2026-03-04T19:17:26 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