Assessment of platform effects on snapper populations and fisheries

Abstract

From the text: “There is strong evidence that there is represented in the northwestern Gulf a heretofore unexploited population of [red snapper] spawners over soft bottoms and some indications that this group of fish may be the major source of recruits to the fishery. If this scenario is true, any management plan which does not afford protection of this soft bottom spawning population in the northwestern Gulf of Mexico might be ineffective. However, if the scenario is true and the stock is protected, continued heavy harvest of sub-adult fish around platforms would have little deleterious impact on the stock.”