October 1 kicked off National Seafood Month, a great time to remember the importance of effective fishery management that supports sustainable fisheries. It is also a time to reflect on how we can better ensure thriving fisheries and fishing communities into the future, especially in light of the damage to fishing communities from Hurricane Helene. After the immediate need for clean-up and infrastructure rehabilitation, access to healthy and sustainable fisheries is an essential part of getting fishing communities back on their feet. Unfortunately, according to the latest Status of Stocks report, several important fish stocks in the Gulf of Mexico are overfished and managers have struggled to rebuild them. Red grouper was recently declared overfished and greater amberjack is in its third rebuilding plan after the first two failed.   
 
But it’s gag grouper—with rebuilding problems and historic low population levels – that is a poster child for ongoing management challenges to rebuilding struggling fish stocks. Low stock levels negatively impact the fishermen and communities that rely on this important fish stock and seafood staple. 

Three thematic challenges are preventing rebuilding progress in our fisheries: (1) too many stocks are still overfished, (2) efforts to rebuild stocks are struggling and (3) climate change is making the need to rebuild stocks even more critical for fisheries’ resilience. 

Like many of the other stocks that are continuing to fail to rebuild, a simple fact remains: Gag grouper are popular. They are among the most sought-after fish stocks in the Southeastern United States where they are caught both by commercial and recreational fishermen. 
 
Gag groupers have extremely complex spatial distributions that align with different phases of their complicated lives, including sex reversal from female to male. Gag grouper are hermaphrodites; they are all born female and some will change to male later in life. From birth as female, it takes nearly a decade before a gag grouper might transition to male. That means that a large number of fish need to be allowed to get old. High discard rates and impacts from climate change mean that not many fish are getting old enough for the population to reproduce. 
 
This complicated life history, combined with gag groupers’ favored status with fishermen, makes them highly vulnerable to the impacts of fishing and changes in the environment. Let’s take a look at how these three major challenges impact Gulf of Mexico gag grouper.

1. Gag grouper is overfished

Gag grouper was previously considered overfished and declared rebuilt in 2014 after a concerted effort to bring the stock back to healthy levels. However, the most recent assessment by scientists indicates that the gag grouper stock is both overfished (the population is too low) and undergoing overfishing (too many fish are being killed to maintain sustainable levels). Making a bad situation more dire, research has shown that males make up only 2% of the gag grouper population. As a result, the gag grouper stock is once again on the brink of collapse. 

2. Efforts to rebuild gag grouper are struggling

To meaningfully rebuild our fisheries, management actions should focus on reducing the key drivers of mortality. Faced with the catastrophic stock status of gag grouper, managers implemented recent fishing regulations that dramatically cut the amount of fish that could be caught and kept and reduced the days the fishing season was open. To many fishermen, this reduction came as a shock, but more frustrating for everyone is that the reductions don’t actually address the root causes of overfishing. The science shows the reasons for the dramatic decline of this species: red tides and impacts from discards by recreational fishermen. 
 
With discards, fish are caught and then returned to sea—many of these discarded fish die. For every keeper, about eight gag groupers will be thrown back and one will die, likely due to stress, barotrauma or being eaten by predators after release. Dead and discarded gag grouper now outnumber kept fish for a given year. In their haste to implement a plan, fishery managers cut corners and omitted actions that would have addressed the key drivers of mortality (like discards),ending up with a rebuilding plan that leaves no assurance that the stock will rebuild. Fishery managers must look at the root causes of fish population decline and solve those real problems. 

3. Climate change is making rebuilding harder

Rebuilding an overfished stock is not easy, and climate change makes that difficult task even harder. Having a robust age structure of the population that supports a healthy male population is critical. Right now, the majority of the population is juvenile females.

As stated by renowned fishery scientist Dr. Susan Lowerre-Barbiei,

“Two percent male is not a healthy population, by any standard, in any other species, terrestrial or marine.” 

First, protecting the older male population on offshore reefs is fundamental to successfully rebuilding the gag grouper stock. Second, scientists have suggested that heavy fishing pressure in nearshore waters on the female population is a bottleneck that is preventing more fish from becoming old and transitioning to male. To reduce fishing pressure on younger fish, managers need to consider increasing size limits, evaluating gear restrictions, aggregating seasons, exploring spatial refuges and developing adaptive in-season modeling. Third, managers need to consider the climate vulnerability of fish stocks and communities when making management decisions. Gag grouper are highly vulnerable to climate change, meaning that they are expected to be highly susceptible to the impacts of climate-driven environmental changes, yet managers haven’t quite figured out how to account for this climate vulnerability with proactive management. These vulnerabilities should be mitigated in the form of management actions to bolster stocks in the face of climate change. 

The recent devastation from Hurricane Helene on Gulf Coast fishing communities underscores the critical need for healthy, abundant fisheries. The good news for gag grouper in the Gulf of Mexico is that scientists and fishermen are reporting a lot of small fish. If we can take actions to ensure that more of these young fish survive and mature into adults so they can reproduce, these actions could help rebuild the fishery in the future. Rebuilt fisheries are not just essential for marine ecosystems, they are vital for the economic recovery of coastal communities that rely on fishing. As we recognize National Seafood Month this October, it is a great time to push for these solutions. NOAA Fisheries needs to commit to rebuilding fisheries and provide better tools to help managers adapt to climate impacts.

Ocean Conservancy continues to advocate for solutions to the challenges gag grouper management is facing and is hard at work tracking gag grouper landings, management actions and progress to rebuild the stock. Please donate to Ocean Conservancy today; you will make a difference for the future availability of our seafood supply and a healthier future for our ocean.