Black Sea Bass

The black sea bass fishery in the U.S. operates from Maine to Florida. Black sea bass are found in association with structured habitats. They migrate offshore and south in the fall, returning north and inshore to coastal areas and bays in spring. The black sea bass fishery predominantly uses trawls or rod and reel, but other gear includes longline, handline, pot, trap, gillnet, spear, and dredge. The market for black sea bass is for human consumption. U.S. wild-caught black sea bass is a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations. Implementing regulations are found at 50 CFR part 648 subpart I.

• Black sea bass are usually black, but smaller ones are more of a dusky brown.
• The belly is slightly paler than the sides.
• Fins are dark with dusky spots.
• The dorsal fin is marked with a series of white spots and bands.
• During spawning, dominant males turn bright blue and have a blue hump on their heads.

• Black sea bass grow slowly, up to 2 feet and 9 pounds.
• They are able to reproduce when they reach 1 to 3 years old.
• They are protogynous hermaphrodites—most black sea bass start out as females, and as they mature and grow they become males. Researchers aren’t sure why this happens, but one hypothesis suggests the relative scarcity of males in a spawning group may be the stimulus for a female to switch sex.
• Black sea bass spawn in coastal areas from January through July.
• Males gather a group of females to mate with and aggressively defend their territory.
• Depending on their size, females can produce between 30,000 and 500,000 eggs in a spawning season.
• Females can live up to 8 years; males live up to 12.
• Black sea bass eat whatever prey is available, but they especially like crabs, shrimp, worms, small fish, and clams.
• Little skate, spiny dogfish, monkfish, spotted hake, and summer flounder all feed on black sea bass.

• Along the U.S. East Coast from Cape Cod to the Gulf of Mexico.

• NOAA Fisheries, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission cooperatively manage the black sea bass fishery north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
• Managed under the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan:
  • Annual catch limit divided between the commercial and recreational fisheries.
  • The commercial catch limit is further divided among the states based on historical harvests.
  • Specific management measures for the commercial fishery include:
    • Minimum size limits.
    • Minimum mesh requirements for trawls.
    • A moratorium on entry into the fishery.
    • Closed seasons.
• NOAA Fisheries and the South Atlantic Fishery Management Council manage the black sea bass fishery south of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
• Managed under the South Atlantic Snapper Grouper Fishery Management Plan:
  • Commercial fishermen must have a permit to harvest black sea bass.
  • Annual catch limits, commercial trip limits, and recreational bag and possession limits.
  • Sale and purchase restrictions applicable after a commercial quota closure.
  • Minimum size limit.
  • Accountability measures in place to ensure overfishing does not occur, or to correct for overages if catch limit is exceeded.
  • Seasonal area closures for the commercial black sea bass component of the snapper-grouper fishery.
  • Trawling has been banned in the South Atlantic since 1989 to prevent impacts to habitat.
  • Gear restrictions for fish pots:
    • Commercial fishermen must have a pot endorsement to use a black sea bass pot to harvest black sea bass.
    • Minimum mesh size to reduce catch of undersized black sea bass.
    • Pots must have escape vents and escape panels with degradable fasteners to prevent bycatch.
    • Limit on the number of pots per trip.
    • Pots must be brought back to shore at the end of each trip to reduce bycatch and impacts to habitat and protected species.
    • Pots are only allowed north of Cape Canaveral, Florida, to prevent adverse impacts on live-bottom habitat.
    • Spatial and temporal closures to minimize entanglement risk for endangered North Atlantic Right Whales. //

• Commercial fishery:Gear types, habitat impacts, and bycatch:
  • In 2019, commercial landings of black sea bass totaled 3.8 million pounds, and were valued at $12.6 million, according to the NOAA Fisheries commercial fishing landings database.
  • In the Mid-Atlantic, commercial fishermen mainly use hook-and-line gear, pots, and otter trawls to catch black sea bass. Fisheries for black sea bass change seasonally with the species’ migrations.
    • Of the gear utilized within the snapper grouper fishery, only the black sea bass pot is considered to pose an entanglement risk to marine mammals.
    • When the fish are inshore, commercial fishermen catch them primarily with fish pots (both baited and unbaited) and handlines.
    • Once the fish move offshore in the winter, they’re caught in the trawl fishery that primarily targets summer flounder, scup, and longfin squid.
  • In the South Atlantic, fishermen use pots and sometimes handlines.
    • Fish bycatch in the pot fishery is minor because the gear is often not baited (black sea bass are drawn to the structure and enter the pots without bait), and the pot mesh size is regulated to select fish at or above the minimum size limit.
• Recreational fishery 
  • Recreational fishermen use handlines to catch black sea bass.
  • In 2019, recreational anglers landed more than 9.4 million pounds of black sea bass, according to the NOAA Fisheries recreational fishing landings database.  
  • In the Mid-Atlantic:
    • There are size and bag limits, and seasonal measures, established for federal waters as well as by each state, to ensure that the recreational harvest limit is not exceeded.
    • The recreational fishery is evaluated after the season, and management measures (bag, size, and/or season) are adjusted as needed in the following year.
  • In the South Atlantic:
    • There are size limits, fishing season, and daily and yearly catch limits, established for federal waters as well as by each state.
    • There is a limit on annual recreational harvest, and recreational harvest is prohibited when the limit is met. If annual catch exceeds the limit, the overage is taken off the following year’s limit.