Greater Amberjack

About Greater Amberjack

Greater Amberjack is an important recreational and commercial species in the Gulf of Mexico and South Atlantic regions. According to the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), the Greater Amberjack fisheries are above target population levels in the South Atlantic, but significantly below target population levels in the Gulf of Mexico, where a rebuilding plan is in place. Additionally, the 2017 stock assessment for the Gulf region identified Greater Amberjack as overfished and undergoing overfishing.

In fiscal year 2020, Congress appropriated $5 million for the National Sea Grant College Program and $5 million for NMFS for Sea Grant to implement a research program independent of NMFS to support the stock assessment process. The seven Sea Grant programs from Virginia to Texas are managing the program.

The goal of this research program is to develop additional data sources, assessment approaches and knowledge to improve agency and agency-independent estimates of the abundance of Greater Amberjack throughout the Greater Amberjack’s range. Specific approaches will be informed by stakeholder input to provide critical knowledge gaps and may include techniques such as a tagging program, genetic assessment of South Atlantic and Gulf stock connectivity and reproductive dynamics studies.

The objectives of the program are to:

  1. Engage with stakeholders and independent experts to identify and prioritize regional research needs to improve estimates of abundance of Greater Amberjack.

  2. Synthesize regional research needs into prioritized research objectives that address needs of both stocks and are feasible within the budget and timeline of the program.

  3. Develop and release a request for research proposals, solicit proposals and select high priority and feasible projects.

  4. Synthesize and convey knowledge gained from the regional or multi-regional research project(s) to facilitate the incorporation of new data and methodologies from the research program into future Greater Amberjack stock assessments.

Sea Grant is working closely with NMFS, through a steering committee, and using clear guiding principles to make sure that the results can be used to independently confirm or improve existing Greater Amberjack stock assessments. The steering committee has representation from Sea Grant, NMFS, Gulf States Marine Fisheries Commission, Gulf of Mexico Fisheries Management Council and Atlantic States Marine Fisheries Commission.


Project Timeline 

2020
June: Project team implements weekly planning calls.

July: Visioning team and steering committee established.

July-November: Stakeholder input obtained through visioning phase.

December: Request for proposals developed.

2021
January: Request for proposals released.

May-June: Proposal review and project(s) selection.

July: Initiate research projects.

2022
January-December: Research continues.

2023
July: Research ends.

August: Synthesis of research results workshop held.

October: Final report due.

October-December: Data incorporated into stock assessment.

 

Sea Grant Programs Involved

 

Principal Contact: LaDon Swann, Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium, ladon.swann@usm.edu or 251-648-5877.

 

View slides from the Jan. 15 greater amberjack RFP call.