S7RD10 Site fidelity and dispersion of red snapper associated with artificial reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico

We examined site fidelity and dispersion of red snapper Lutjanus campechanus associated with artificial reefs via an extensive tagging study conducted off Alabama in the northern Gulf of Mexico (GOM). We tagged 2,932 individuals with internal anchor tags during 28 tagging trips made to nine artificial reef sites from March 1995 to July 1998. Recaptures of tagged fish were made on subsequent tagging trips (n = 235) by the authors and were reported by recreational and commercial fishers (n = 364 through December 2000). Annual site fidelity of tagged fish to individual reefs was estimated with nonlinear decay models of the decline in recaptures made by the authors at tagging sites over time. Site fidelity estimates ranged from 24.8 to 26.5% per year. Mean red snapper dispersion rate estimated with the delta method was 75.4 m per day. Overall, adult red snapper tagged in our study demonstrated lower site fidelity and greater movement than previously reported. Low site fidelity may explain spatial and temporal variability in red snapper biomass observed around reefs and has important implications for red snapper management. In particular, our results do not support the hypothesis that artificial reefs have increased red snapper production, as artificial reefs are more likely merely to attract reef fishes that demonstrate low site fidelity and only partial or opportunistic reef dependency. Managers proposing marine protected areas (MPAs) to increase GOM red snapper biomass should incorporate site fidelity and dispersion rate estimates into source-sink population dynamics models to examine the efficacy of MPAs to achieve this goal.

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Whole Journal Article

Patterson, Will & Cowan, James. (2003). Site fidelity and dispersion of red snapper associated with artificial reefs in the northern Gulf of Mexico. American Fisheries Society Symposium. 2003. 181-193.