Geographic comparison of age, growth, reproduction, movement, and survival of red snapper off the state of Florida.

Abstract

The purpose of this project is two fold. The first was to test hypotheses related to the survival of undersized red snapper bycatch. The second was to investigate the re-recruitment of red snapper to the southwest coast of Florida and compare the biology of the red snapper there with that occurring in the northern Gulf of Mexico and the eastern coast of Florida. More specifically, the objectives were to test the hypothesis that red snapper will survive depth-induced trauma; to obtain life history information including age and growth and reproductive data for red snapper off the southwest and northeast coast of Florida and compare these data with those from the northern Gulf of Mexico; to test the hypothesis that circle hooks will greatly reduce release mortality in red snapper; to determine tag shedding rates for fish tagged with single barbed dart tags; and to obtain movement and migration patterns for red snapper in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic.