Ghost fishing is a term used to describe abandoned and lost fishing gear that catches marine life. One common type of derelict fishing gear in Mississippi Sound are Blue Crab traps. Derelict crab traps are the result of a combination of factors, but not limited to frequent storms, boat traffic, vandalism, deterioration, and negligent trap owners. Accumlation of derelict crab traps has negative impacts on the ecosystem and the fishing industry. Crab traps tend to accumulate marine life over long periods of time due to feedback loops of marine life getting trapped and baiting in other marine life. In the fishing industry, commercial shrimpers may catch derelict crab traps in their trawls causing holes, lost time, and lower catch yields resulting in negative monetary impacts. Historically, traps caught by commercial shrimpers have been discarded back into the water causing further issues. In 2019 and through funding from the EPA Gulf of Mexico Program, the Mississippi State University Extension Center partnered with Mississippi Commercial Fisheries United, Mississippi Coalition for Vietnamese-American Fisher Folks and Families, and the NOAA Marine Debris Program to develop a derelict crab trap incentive program. Commercial shrimpers with valid licensing can sign up and will receive a $5 per trap incentive for every trap that is brought inshore and placed at one of four collection sites along the Mississippi Coast. They are also required to turn in a data card showing the location of each caught trap. The goal of this program is to create a healthier, safer, and more profitable Mississippi Sound. This program collected 1,294 traps in 2019 and approximately 500 traps to date in 2020. The prevalence of derelict traps appears to be decreasing in Mississippi Sound. The results indicate that this program may be more cost effective on a biannual or triennial basis.

Increasing post-release survival of discarded fishes is a critical challenge to the development of effective conservation and management strategies. Among reef fishes, this challenge is further complicated by pressure-related injuries known as barotrauma. To address this, US fishery management agencies are enacting rules requiring fishers to possess descender devices onboard their vessels for barotrauma mitigation purposes. However, requiring possession of descender devices does not guarantee their use. Consequently, any benefits resulting from these regulations rely completely on fishers embracing the use of descender devices. In spite of this, fishers are questioning the survival of fishes released using these devices, claiming that this scenario provides easy opportunities for depredation. If resource managers are to promote descender devices as best practices, they must proactively address fisher concerns about depredation of fishes during descent. To examine if the use of descender devices increases opportunities for depredation, we investigated two disparate fishery-independent camera datasets from the Alabama Artificial Reef Zone in the northern Gulf of Mexico. The first dataset is from a vertical longline survey, and the second is from a mark-recapture study. Both gears were equipped with downward-facing GoProTM cameras, which allowed the fate of fishes from capture to landing (on the vertical longline) and from surface to bottom release (on hook-and-line) to be recorded. Between 2016 and 2018, GoProTM video footage was collected from 1483 vertical longline sets and 1096 descender releases. During vertical longline sampling, 54 depredation events were recorded, whereas none were recorded during descender releases. While far from a controlled study, this opportunistic comparison of ascending fishes on vertical longline and descending fishes on descender devices indicates that fishes on descender devices are substantially less prone to depredation – a finding that could ultimately promote the use of descender devices by stakeholders.

Gulf of Mexico Red Snapper (Lutjanus campechanus) management has been a topic of much scientific debate and intensive public scrutiny. In response to political, public, and management desires for more robust data on Red Snapper populations, a Gulf-wide initiative commonly referred to as the “Great Red Snapper Count” (GRSC) was funded to estimate the absolute abundance of Red Snapper in the US Gulf of Mexico. Here, we describe the results of an online survey designed to: a) characterize the social dimensions of Red Snapper anglers, b) measure satisfaction with current Red Snapper populations and regulations, c) assess overall patterns of awareness of the GRSC, and d) evaluate the potential benefits of GRSC stakeholder engagement videos. A key finding of our survey was that awareness of the GRSC was associated with up to 3 times higher satisfaction with fisheries management. Among the core GRSC components, awareness was greatest of the tagging program; however, satisfaction was greatest among anglers aware of the habitat characterization component. Through an in-survey experiment, we found that anglers presented a video on specific GRSC project components reported slightly higher management satisfaction than those presented an overview video or no video. Collectively, our results indicate that angler awareness, when underpinned by effective engagement and outreach activities, can enhance angler satisfaction.

Commercial fishing is a culturally and economically important industry in coastal regions across the United States. During the past 30 years, the average age of commercial fishermen has increased substantially. This trend is commonly referred to as the “greying of the fleet” and is attributed to a substantial decrease in the number of new commercial fishermen entering the industry. Fishermen training programs can provide the infrastructure needed to encourage new entrants into this sector, including training and matching entrants with captains; however, no comprehensive lists of these programs exist. We therefore sought to collect information on existing commercial fishermen training programs across the United States. Given the increased popularity of recreational fishing, aquaculture, and stewardship, we also included information on these types of training programs. We first performed a Google search to identify existing programs. Then, we entered program information into an online database, contacted program organizers to obtain additional information and insight, and mapped program locations. We identified a total of 27 programs. Program activity spans from 1981-present; however, 56% of programs were created in the last 5 years. The number of commercial versus recreational programs is relatively equal, and 6 programs are intended for both sectors. Programs are located in most of the coastal and Great Lakes states. Specifically, 36% of programs are located along the Atlantic Coast, 25% along the Gulf Coast or in the Caribbean, 14% in the Great Lakes, 14% in Alaska, and 11% along the continental United States Pacific Coast. Currently, no training programs exist in New Hampshire, New York, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Virginia, South Carolina, Texas, Wisconsin, or Minnesota. Our findings illustrate that while a wide variety of fishermen training programs exist, additional efforts are still needed in specific regions.

Federal fishery management is a complex regulatory world, full of acronyms and obscure processes. Decades ago, the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Legal Program (MASGLP) issued Understanding Fisheries Management, a manual last revised in 2005. Since then, fishery management has changed, as has technology. MASGLP is updating the manual not only in content but in format. The new version, Federal Fishery Management, when completed, will include a website with interactive features to demonstrate some of its components. A published version is also planned, as this is one of the MASGLP’s most requested publications. This online publication explains the underlying legal background of the Magnuson-Stevens Fishery Conservation and Management Act, the structure of Fishery Management Councils, the scientific bases for establishing management levels, and the Fishery Management Plan process. New content includes expanded discussions on FMPs, how they are developed and how they are revised. It explains the vocabulary of how catch limits are set and discusses the different types of limited access fisheries, new sections as a result of the most recent MSA amendments. Additionally, the publication has new sections on observer programs, disaster relief, and other laws influencing fishery management such as the Endangered Species Act and the Marine Mammal Protection Act. It includes new content using specific examples from the eight regional Fishery Management Councils to explain MSA issues such as enforcement, rebuilding plans, bycatch, and observer programs. There is a more detailed discussion of habitat protection. These sections include Legal Sidebars with case law illustrating how these practices are used. This presentation, by Kristina Alexander, the author of the new manual, and a Sr. Research Counsel at MASGLP, will demonstrate the new product, its features, and content.

Blue crabs, Callinectes sapidus, support valuable commercial fisheries throughout much of their range, including the Gulf of Mexico. Over the last five years (2015–2019), Gulf-wide annual commercial landings averaged 51 million pounds for an annual dockside value of over $70 million. Despite active management on the state level, many states have seen declines in blue crab harvest and fishery independent estimates of abundance, potentially indicative of declines in spawning stock abundance, larval abundance, postlarval recruitment, or juvenile survival. Blue crab management and stock assessment efforts in the Gulf of Mexico have typically lagged behind the primary crab-harvesting states of the Atlantic Coast due to a lack of fishery independent data on spawning stock abundance and a lack of understanding of blue crab life history, connectivity, and movements within and among Gulf Coast estuaries. We are addressing this data gap by conducting a 2-year assessment of blue crab abundance, reproductive output, migratory movements, and exploitation rates in the vicinity of the Mississippi barrier islands, a valuable spawning area for blue crabs in the northcentral Gulf of Mexico. Blue crabs are sampled monthly at Horn and Cat Islands using traps and bimonthly using trawls. Egg samples are collected from ovigerous crabs for assessment of fecundity and egg quality. Additionally, 2400 mature female blue crabs will be tagged and released to examine movement patterns and assess exploitation rates. The proposed work will directly benefit Mississippi and the surrounding states by providing data that can be directly incorporated into future blue crab stock assessments and management decisions, thus improving management of this valuable fishery.