Greater Amberjack Study Underway

MOBILE, Ala. — Pending a final decision by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council, those who catch greater amberjack and return their tags will have the opportunity to be awarded $250 per fish and an opportunity to contribute to the Greater Amberjack Count, the University of South Alabama (USA) announced. Dr. Sean Powers of USA is leading a team of researchers in an $11.7-million study of the species. Similar to the Great Red Snapper Count, the Greater Amberjack Count’s overarching goal is to estimate the number of greater amberjack in the U.S. South Atlantic and Gulf of Mexico, among other objectives that focus on understanding movement patterns and collecting biological information. Funded by the National Sea Grant College Program and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Fisheries, the project could have significant implications for commercial and recreational fishing of the species, which NOAA says is overfished in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico but not in the U.S. South Atlantic. The team of 18 scientists from 13 institutions are working on the count. Thus far, they have synthesized existing greater amberjack sightings and catch data from various fisheries datasets. This summer, they will begin a wide-scale tagging effort involving both acoustic and conventional tags.