Abstract
AbstractThe Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2006 required that regional fishery management councils implement annual catch limits and accountability measures for all federally managed stocks by 2011. Many managed species are data limited and no formal stock assessment has been done for them. One possible approach to managing unassessed species is to assign them to assemblages that are managed as units. The utility of this approach was evaluated using fishery‐dependent and fishery‐independent data from the Gulf of Mexico. Multivariate statistical analyses revealed several consistent assemblages among the 42 reef fish species managed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. Pearson correlation matrices, nodal analyses, and a weighted mean cluster association index integrated results across cluster analyses and provided additional guidance regarding the placement of rare species into groups. Productivity–susceptibility analysis and life history were also considered, as differences in productivity, vulnerability, life history, and other population‐dynamic parameters for the species within complexes might imply different population responses to a similar change in fishing mortality. Identified linkages between species also provide guidance for the impacts of regulations on multispecies fisheries.Received December 31, 2014; accepted February 18, 2015
Highlights
The Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2006 required that regional fishery management councils implement annual catch limits and accountability measures for all federally managed stocks by 2011
Multivariate statistical analyses revealed several consistent assemblages among the 42 reef fish species managed by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council
Life history parameters were assembled from peer-reviewed literature, Southeast Data Assessment and Review (SEDAR) reports, unpublished data from the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) Panama City Laboratory, Stock Assessment and Fishery Evaluation reports, and FishBase (Froese and Pauly 2009)
Summary
The Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act of 2006 required that regional fishery management councils implement annual catch limits and accountability measures for all federally managed stocks by 2011. The Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act (Magnuson–Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Reauthorization Act of 2006) required that regional fishery management councils implement annual catch limits (ACLs) and accountability measures (AMs) by 2011 to ensure that overfishing would not occur. These ACLs and AMs were required for most stocks under federal management. One possible approach for managing unassessed, data-limited species is to group them into stock complexes with a single ACL. The Gulf Council previously used stock complexes in the development of its commercial Grouper–Tilefish Individual Fishing Quota (IFQ) program
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