Abstract

Nassau Grouper (Epinephelus striatus) have been historically exploited on fish spawning aggregations (FSAs) until protections were enforced in 2003 to inhibit take on both historical and active spawning sites. Since then a long-term monitoring project has been underway to assess the stock status of Nassau Grouper, an endangered species, on the remain-ing FSA off of Little Cayman Island and on historical sites in the sister islands of Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac. Here we conducted a length-frequency analysis of a Nassau Grouper spawning aggregation; to do so we used underwater caliper laser video captured in February of 2017. The intent of the research is to understand the size structure of the Nassau Grouper spawning stock to see if the species is recovering, in the form of new recruitment. 2017 length measurements were compiled and analyzed in combination with length data previously compiled during the years 2004-2015. Cumulative frequency distribution results of the first quartile of fish lengths for all years indicate an increase in the proportion of smaller fish in 2017 compared to 2004- a baseline year of recruitment reference as used in Heppell et al. (2012). Further-more, 2017 calculated values of mean length and size diversity were comparable to previous years of recruitment in 2007 - 2010 as highlighted in Heppell et al., 2012. Therefore, 2017 may constitute a year of small adult Nassau Grouper recruit-ment.

PDF Preview