Abstract
Yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) is an important part of the reef fish assemblage in the western, tropical Atlantic and is caught by both recreational and commercial fisheries in south Florida and the Bahamas. It is estimated that 80% of snapper caught within southeastern Florida waters are discarded due to minimum size restrictions. Neglecting to include information on delayed mortality of undersized fish has the potential for fishery managers to overestimate the abundance of smaller size classes and introduce bias into stock assessments. This study examines associations between reflex impairment, traditional physiological parameters and post-release mortality of undersized yellowtail snapper. Laboratory experiments exposed yellowtail snapper to a gradient, simulating capture conditions. Blood draws were obtained from a sub-sample of fish. There was a significant relationship between delayed mortality and the proportion of reflex impairment for both individual fish and groups of fish (P < 0.001 and P = 0.03). Within the sub-sample of blood-sampled fish, base excess and pH were significantly correlated to reflex impairment. Delayed mortality was significantly correlated to pH, base excess and lactate concentration. Results suggest that discarded, undersized yellowtail with more than 29% of their reflexes impaired will not survive.
Highlights
Yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) is an important part of the reef fish assemblage in the western, tropical Atlantic and is caught by both recreational and commercial fisheries in south Florida and the Bahamas (Johnson, 1983; Manooch and Drennon, 1987; Garcia et al, 2003; Saillant et al, 2012)
The air exposures only extended to 8 min, if the model correctly predicted reflex impairment in response to air exposures, 50% of reflexes would be impaired at 9 min of air exposure
The reflex action mortality predictor (RAMP) method in this study provided a useful indicator of release mortality in yellowtail snapper with respect to air exposure
Summary
Yellowtail snapper (Ocyurus chrysurus) is an important part of the reef fish assemblage in the western, tropical Atlantic and is caught by both recreational and commercial fisheries in south Florida and the Bahamas (Johnson, 1983; Manooch and Drennon, 1987; Garcia et al, 2003; Saillant et al, 2012). The majority of the yellowtail snapper caught in the US come from Florida waters and this species has supported an important commercial and recreational fishery (Johnson, 1983; Ault et al, 2006). To sustain this fishery, there has been a minimum size in effect for yellowtail snapper since 1983 (O’Hop et al, 2012).
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