Data Availability for Red Snapper in Gulf of Mexico and Southeastern US Atlantic Ocean Waters

Red Snapper Lutjanus campechanus populations support (or have supported) important commercial and recreational fisheries in Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. Atlantic Ocean waters. Stock assessment results and related regulatory actions are contentious in both regions. We assessed the relative availability of information to support Red Snapper assessment and management between the two regions by performing a literature review and comparing the number of region-specific, Red Snapper-focused peer-reviewed publications. One hundred and ten publications (over the period 1982-2013) were identified in this search, with 94% focused on Gulf of Mexico waters. We then assessed the available information on juvenile (<= 150 mm total length) Red Snapper. Twenty-eight peer-reviewed publications focused entirely or partially on juvenile Red Snapper in Gulf of Mexico waters. None documented the occurrence of juvenile Red Snapper in southeastern U.S. Atlantic Ocean waters. For the Gulf of Mexico, more than 50,000 records of juvenile Red Snapper were identified in a single trawl survey database. For southeastern U.S. Atlantic Ocean waters, a comprehensive search of fishery-independent survey databases (totaling > 75,000 individual gear deployments and occurring across the range of habitats, depths, and seasons in which juvenile Red Snapper were collected in the Gulf of Mexico trawl survey) and institutional collections identified only 132 records of juvenile Red Snapper. These results highlight the need for additional information on Red Snapper in southeastern U.S. Atlantic Ocean waters and on the connectivity between Gulf of Mexico and southeastern U.S. Atlantic Ocean Red Snapper populations to support Red Snapper population assessment and fishery management.