Scup

About the Species

U.S. wild-caught scup is a smart seafood choice because it is sustainably managed and responsibly harvested under U.S. regulations.

Status

• According to the 2017 stock assessment for scup in the Mid-Atlantic and New England, scup are not overfished and are not subject to overfishing. The population status for scup has not been assessed in the South Atlantic region.
• With greatly improved reproduction and survival rates and low fishing rates since 1998, Mid-Atlantic spawning stock biomass (a measure of the amount of scup able to reproduce) has steadily increased since the mid-1990s, up to about 190,000 metric tons in 2012, then down slightly to 183,000 metric tons in 2014.

Protected Status

Appearance

• Scup are deep-bodied (deeper from back to belly than they are wide).
• They are dusky brown with bright silvery reflections below and spiny fins.
• Adult fins are mottled with dark brown, and young scup fins may be faintly barred.
• Scup’s front teeth are very narrow, almost conical, and they have two rows of molars in the upper jaw.
• Longspine porgy look similar to scup, but can be easily identified by the elongated spines on their backs.

Biology

• Scup grow slowly, up to about 20 inches long and 4 pounds.
• They can live a relatively long time, up to about 20 years.
• Scup are able to reproduce when they reach age 2, when they’re about 8 inches long.
• They spawn over weedy or sandy areas in southern New England from Massachusetts Bay south to the New York Bight from May through August, with peak activity in June.
• Individual scup spawn once a year.
• Most fish spawn at night, but scientists believe scup spawn in the morning.
• Females release an average of 7,000 eggs, which are fertilized externally.
• Scup are browsers – they nibble on invertebrates that live on the ocean bottom.
• They are able to grasp food with their incisors and crush hard-shelled animals with their strong molars.
• A variety of plankton-eaters—such as medusae, crustaceans, and fish—prey on scup larvae.
• A number of fish and shorebirds prey on juvenile and adult scup.

Where They Live

• Scup are found in the Northwest Atlantic Ocean, primarily between Cape Cod, Massachusetts, and Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.

Management

• NOAA Fisheries, the Mid-Atlantic Fishery Management Council, and the Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission cooperatively manage the scup fishery north of Cape Hatteras, North Carolina.
• Individual states may set different regulations for the commercial scup fishery. Where state measures differ from federal regulations, federally permitted fishery participants must adhere to the more restrictive measures.
• Managed under the Summer Flounder, Scup, and Black Sea Bass Fishery Management Plan:
  • Annual commercial quota is divided into three harvest periods: Winter I (January–April), Summer (May–October), and Winter II (November–December).
  • The Commission manages the summer quota with individual state quotas.
  • NOAA Fisheries monitors commercial harvests and closes the federal scup fishery when the quotas are reached.
  • Minimum size limits to prevent the harvest of young fish that likely haven’t yet reproduced.
  • Minimum mesh size requirements for trawl nets to reduce bycatch of undersized scup.
  • Scup pots and traps must have degradable hinges and escape vents to reduce bycatch and to prevent “ghost fishing” (when a lost trap continues to catch fish or lobster).
  • A moratorium on entry into the fishery.
  • Recreational anglers are subject to an annual harvest limit, minimum fish sizes, possession limits, and open harvest periods.
• 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.
  • A small amount of scup is harvested in the South Atlantic. Scup are managed as part of a complex with several other porgy species.
  • The Snapper Grouper FMP requires fishermen to have a permit and to comply with gear restrictions. The complex is regulated through commercial and recreational annual catch limits and accountability measures to ensure overfishing does not occur.