CHAPTER I
 INTRODUCTION


 The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery is one of the oldest

(Carpenter, 1965) and most important of the Gulf fisheries in terms of

both quantity landed and total dockside value. The fishery encompasses

a wide variety of fishes, including 15 species of snappers, 15 species

of groupers and 3 species of sea basses. Although the above species

constitute the management unit as defined by the Gulf of Mexico Fishery

Management Council (GMFMC, 1979), several additional species of fish are

taken incidentally. These incidental species include several species

each of tilefishes, jacks, tiggerfishes, wrasses, grunts, porgies and

sand perches (Appendix A). In spite of the sizable number and variety

of species taken, three species, red snapper (Lutjanus campechanus), red

grouper (Epinephelus morio) and black grouper (Mycteroperca bonaci), are

the most desired species and hence the most abundant in commercial

catches (Moe, 1963). All of the Gulf Coastal States participate in the

reef fishery with fishing activity widely dispersed throughout the Gulf

of Mexico.

 The Gulf of Mexico Reef Fish Fishery (GMRFF) is the primary domes-

 tic producer of reef fish, accounting annually for an average of 93

 percent of total domestic catch. Total landings (U.S. NMFS, 1979) in


 1The Gulf Coastal States include Florida West Coast, Alabama,
 Mississippi, Louisiana and Texas.