Project Overview

This project seeks to estimate movements, habitat connectivity, and mortality rates of Greater Amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico and Atlantic Ocean off the Southeastern United States. We are using external tagging and acoustic tagging to obtain these estimates. This project is part of a larger multi-institution study funded by the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium to estimate the regional habitat-specific abundance of Greater Amberjack. A total of 1200 tagged Greater Amberjack (450 with acoustic tags) will be released throughout the Gulf of Mexico (West Texas to the Key West) and the Atlantic Ocean (Key West to North Carolina). This project will provide critical data to fisheries management agencies to help them make informed regulatory decisions.

Based on the latest science, Greater Amberjack in the Gulf of Mexico have been overfished and are continuing to be overfished. This concerns scientists and fisheries managers, who want to make sure that there are enough Greater Amberjack to continue to reproduce and sustain the population. The population of Greater Amberjack in the U.S. South Atlantic is doing better and is not yet overfished. Understanding the movement patterns of these fish and how they connect is important for creating appropriate rules and regulations to help sustain the species as a whole.

Resources

• Greater Amberjack Research Program
• Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant: Greater Amberjack
• Greater Amberjack Project & Tag Reporting Instructions
• A New Greater Amberjack Tagging Study?! Find Out How To Help Science and Get Paid!
• Jackpot: scientific study offers $250 rewards for tagged greater amberjack