Jewfish Remain Protected Thanks to Volunteer Diver Efforts Wednesday, August 30, 2000

KEY LARGO, FL -- It has been ten years since a moratorium was imposed on the harvest of jewfish, in response to a precipitous decline in numbers of jewfish catches and jewfish sightings at spawning sites in the 1980's. Fishermen have been suggesting that the Jewfish population has now recovered enough for the fishery to reopen. However, at a recent meeting of the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, the Council accepted a recommendation by the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) against reopening the jewfish fishery. The recommendation was due, in part, to the important data provided by volunteer divers of the Reef Environmental Education Foundation (REEF). Current research and visual fish surveys indicate that although more jewfish are being seen in the Gulf, the numbers are still small relative to historical anecdotal information. The Jewfish's longevity, long time to maturity, and behavior makes it susceptible to over-fishing.

The NMFS recommendation is based on the results of concentrated NMFS research and REEF volunteer diver efforts off southwest Florida (primarily in 4 targeted regions in the 10,000 Islands area). Due to concerns of some fishermen that jewfish may be eating snappers and groupers, NMFS developed a non-lethal method (placing a plastic tube down the fish's throat to extract contents from its stomach) and have found jewfish to eat primarily crabs, striped burrfish, and fish parts that are clearly bait - there was no evidence of snapper or grouper.

Relative abundance of jewfish populations vs. snapper and grouper populations was monitored through a visual fish survey program carried out in part by the volunteer survey divers of REEF. The results of this visual REEF fish censuses (conducted in 1999 around the Florida Keys and Dry Tortugas) concluded that, at least in the areas examined, there was no evidence of depressed grouper or snapper populations due to the presence of jewfish.

Commented William Horn, of the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, "A job very well done by REEF to assist in protecting the wonderful jewfish. Scientists were able to use data collected by REEF and others to document the very slow recovery of this species and determine that it is not a candidate for the re-opening of the fishery at this time. The collection of valuable fish census data and getting that data to the fisheries managers is one the main reasons REEF was formed: REEF is a "do something" organization that has played a pivotal role in this important issue".

In future years NMFS is planning to expand its jewfish research to other areas of the Gulf while REEF volunteer divers will continue their jewfish monitoring efforts.

A non-profit 501(c)(3) organization founded in 1992, REEF provides valuable data on reef fish populations to researchers, resource managers and development groups to help them make more informed decisions on marine resource management. REEF's 17,000 volunteers conduct REEF fish field surveys (using approved scientific methods) in the U.S., Caribbean, Mexico and Canada. Learn more about REEF by accessing www.reef.org. For more information on REEF's volunteer survey programs contact Laddie Akins, REEF Executive Director, at (305) 451-0312.