Workshop on definition of shrimp recruitment overfishing

The Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council requested that the Southeast Fisheries Center (SEFC) convene a small group of shrimp specialists to undertake two tasks. These tasks were (1) to draft scientific definitions of overfishing for each of the shrimp species in the management unit of the Fishery Management Plan (FMP) and (2) to recommend action that might be taken if overfishing occurred in any of these stocks. On June 26-27, 1990, a small group of shrimp specialists convened by the SEFC Galveston Laboratory to undertake the task requested by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery Management Council. Basic data provided to the scientists at this workshop were fishery-dependent data collected by the NMFS for 1960-present. These included catch by species and directed effort by species from which a VPA analysis was utilized to estimate recruitment, parent stock and stock recruitment curves (Nance, Klima and Czapla, 1989). Dr. James Nance utilizing these data developed spawner per recruitment relationships and based all of these determinations using the same methodology as described in the stock assessment report (Nance, 1989). All shrimp stocks considered were considered as Gulf-wide stocks with the exception of the pink shrimp which was considered as a stock only in the eastern Gulf of Mexico (subareas 1-12). This report summarizes the findings of the two day workshop and provides recommendations from the working group (List of Attendees, Attachment I). Important graphs are contained within the document and a list of these figures is provided in Attachment II.