Baseline of the Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper Fishery 1874-1986

In the late 1800s and early 1900s a fishery for Red Snapper developed rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico. Shortly thereafter, recreational fishing for Red Snapper became popular wherever access was afforded to offshore waters. These developments occurred decades prior to organized collection of fishing and landings records. However, due to increasing library digital archiving, previous information regarding historical fishing conditions, landings, and size composition was available from formerly difficult to obtain reports, interviews, and particularly newspaper articles. Thirty-two newspapers from the U.S. Gulf of Mexico region were searched providing landings from 3157 fishing trips (93% commercial, 7% recreational) from the years 1874 to 1986. These records document increasing landings of Red Snapper early in the fishery with peak landings-per-trip occurring from circa 1900 to 1915 for U.S. coastal trips and from circa 1910 to 1930 for trips to Campeche Bay, Mexico. By the late 1920s to early 1930s there was evidence of fishery-impacts with reduced catches, decreased average size of Red Snapper and a shift to lower-valued species. Between the mid-1930s to 1950s, the Red Snapper commercial fishery expanded to the outer continental shelf waters off Louisiana and Texas in the northern Gulf of Mexico reaching the areal extent of the present day fishery. After World War II, technologies and exploratory surveys enabled continuing areal expansion and resulted in a period of increased landings from U.S. waters; most notably from the western Gulf of Mexico with peak landings occurring in 1971. Landings decreased through the 1970s and 1980s and reports of fishery concerns and commercial-recreational conflicts followed leading to the implementation of the Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Management Plan in 1984.