Version 1
: Received: 3 September 2024 / Approved: 4 September 2024 / Online: 4 September 2024 (08:32:28 CEST)
How to cite:
Coffill-Rivera, M. E. A Review of Grouper Fisheries Management in the Southeastern and Caribbean U.S.: Challenges, Successes, and Future Directions. Preprints2024, 2024090314. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0314.v1
Coffill-Rivera, M. E. A Review of Grouper Fisheries Management in the Southeastern and Caribbean U.S.: Challenges, Successes, and Future Directions. Preprints 2024, 2024090314. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0314.v1
Coffill-Rivera, M. E. A Review of Grouper Fisheries Management in the Southeastern and Caribbean U.S.: Challenges, Successes, and Future Directions. Preprints2024, 2024090314. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0314.v1
APA Style
Coffill-Rivera, M. E. (2024). A Review of Grouper Fisheries Management in the Southeastern and Caribbean U.S.: Challenges, Successes, and Future Directions. Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0314.v1
Chicago/Turabian Style
Coffill-Rivera, M. E. 2024 "A Review of Grouper Fisheries Management in the Southeastern and Caribbean U.S.: Challenges, Successes, and Future Directions" Preprints. https://doi.org/10.20944/preprints202409.0314.v1
Abstract
Groupers (Epinephelidae) are ecologically important mesopredators that support valuable fisheries across the globe. Many groupers display slow growth and maturity, high longevity, ontogenetic habitat shifts, spawning-related migrations and aggregations, and protogynous hermaphroditism, which make them susceptible to overexploitation. In this review, I synthesize available information related to the management of grouper fisheries across the southeastern and Caribbean U.S. I highlight current management challenges, such as managing multispecies reef fish fisheries with growing recreational fishing effort. I discuss management interventions with limited success, such as establishing marine protected areas to improve the populations of groupers that display protogynous hermaphroditism. I also highlight management successes, such as recovering historically depleted grouper stocks, and ecosystem-based considerations in grouper stock assessments. I discuss how climate change and anthropogenic effects are expected to affect groupers. Lastly, I provide examples of stakeholders involved in monitoring and management efforts directed at grouper stocks. The purposes of this review are to demonstrate the complexities of managing grouper fisheries and provide a road map for future research and conservation efforts into these economically and ecologically relevant fishes within and beyond the region.
Keywords
Serranidae; Epinephelidae; Reef fish; Hermaphroditism; Fish spawning aggregations; Sustainable fisheries
Subject
Environmental and Earth Sciences, Environmental Science
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
